 Welcome to Nation Beat. I am Genelle Norville bringing you this brief on the purpose of our nation and highlights around the heart of St. Lucia. The Government of St. Lucia Terrain State's study live with pay in the public service, consultations on how best to raise the profile of sports on the island are underway, and the Consumer Affairs Division guarantees of value for money. The Government of St. Lucia is getting set to tangibly demonstrate its commitment to the development of the public service, more specifically public servants, with a reinstatement of study live with pay. The announcement was made by Minister for Public Service Senator Hon. Dr. Ubalda Sariman, as he addressed the Senate on Thursday 22nd November 2018. Did they see the importance of training our public officers? They are public officers, one training, Madam President. Some of them cannot wait for the Government to do it for them. They want to take it on their own, Madam President, to go ahead and further their education, further their studies. And the last administration took it away from them, and this administration will bring it back very soon, Madam President. Meantime, the Senate joined the Lower House Thursday in granting approval to the Minister for Finance for the borrowing of US$4.9 million for the purpose of financing the services of consultants to conduct implementation labs workshops and a subsequent establishment of a performance management and delivery unit. This has positioned St. Lucia to pilot a new approach to project development in the region. The Caribbean Community, CARICOM in August, announced its intention to refine the approach of member states towards the implementation of projects and programs with the introduction of a results-based management RBM system. The RBM, according to CARICOM's Deputy Secretary-General Dr. Manoma Suknandan, is to ensure all projects and programs are completed in a timely manner and that all relevant resources are sourced before any initiative is embarked upon. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Development Philip Dalso cited that St. Lucia was one of the many countries that has had difficulty ensuring the successful undertaking and implementing of programs and projects. He explained that St. Lucia was in discussions with the Caribbean Development Bank, CDB, to assist in the implementation of the system. According to Dalso, job descriptions were also being developed with a results and performance orientation framework that would align more closely with performance appraisal and development instruments. A delivery unit was to be set up as well in the Ministry of Economic Development. Or by using RBM, you can track down the progress that is being made at the regional level but also at the national level when it comes to achieving community regional results or results at the national level, which means when you track down the progress, if you see that it is going slow or stakeholders are not meeting that line, or you see that the targets will not be reached on time, you then can hold the respective stakeholders be it the parliamentarians who have to pass law or ratify, be it the ministries who are not, for example, doing the consultations, etc., be it the carry-on secretariat, right? So you can hold them responsible. Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Alan Shazne, at the last sitting of parliament sought approval for a loan for the financing of the services of consultants to conduct implementation labs workshops and to set up a performance management and delivery unit. He explained that the government or St. Lucia was approached by the Caribbean Development Bank after the government had made clear its development goals with the introduction of the Strategic Development Plan. Pomando associates a consultant on the project selected by the CDB will be undertaking phase one of the project which consists of the labs engagement or intensive stakeholder workshops. During the sitting of Senate on Thursday, Senator Hon. Timothy Mangal highlighted the significance of the government undertaking this initiative. And I believe this government is on the right track. I believe that setting up a framework, setting up a performance management unit, okay, for delivery is brilliant. It would assess the performance of our civil servants to be able to give us the platform for them to be more accountable, right, and for them to be able to be appraised properly, for them to have workshops and for them to be able to deliver what is supposed to be delivered in for our so far more persons and for our citizens in this country and to also improve on our productivity. While there have been questions about the amount of money spent on the consultancy, independent Senator Hon. Mauricio Thomas-Francis highlighted that there is a need for continuous training and development. Madam President, I would also like to know whether there will be developmental training in project management and preventative maintenance. Our country is in a state of crisis at this point in time, Madam President, especially as it relates to our health sector. Because we've commissioned the construction of two hospitals. I'll say three for that matter, San Juan Hospital, OKU, and Demary. And all three have halted because the elements of project management are so critical to ensuring successful execution and completion of projects have not been applied sufficiently well to ensure that we protect the country's investment. I'm not about getting involved in who should take responsibility, that's not my role. My role is to highlight the fact that as a country with educated professionals, there seem to be a huge gap in terms of the application of knowledge, the applications of skills that have been acquired through education to ensure that projects are implemented successfully. That was independent Senator Hon. Mauricio Thomas-Francis. Discussions on how best to raise the profile of sports on the island were held recently. Ryan O'Brien has the details. Members of the local media were engaged on Wednesday for their input on the consultation and to share their views on the advancement of sport development in St Lucia. Patrick Matry is the acting director of sports. He gave the participants an insight on what the ministry was planning. We are looking to create a framework of a sporting strategy for St Lucia where it speaks largely to programming and how we move in terms of the sports. So we're looking at necessarily a sporting policy. We're looking at a general framework as to how we operate in terms of the development of sports, the different aspects that we operate, whether it is sports tourism or the national teams. And this is what Andy is doing. Strategic planning consultant Andy Bell will prepare a report for the ministry after the two months project. So certainly the media has a huge impactful role to play with that with whatever direction is that we end up going forward with. So the media was one of the first groups on my list to make sure that we got an initial reach out to and continue to really form a long-term partnership with in an understanding that we can help each other out even more. The media can help the sport and then I hope through this effort we can identify as well how the direction forward can even help out the media in achieving some of their goals more effectively. Various stakeholders and interest groups will be consulted during the process in an effort to gather varying views on the way towards a more strategic policy for development of sports here. From the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports, I'm Ryan O'Brien. This is Nation Beat, still to come, the Consumer Affairs Division guarantees value for money. Small household electrical appliances when faulty can give rise to big problems. If you have just purchased a small appliance from a store and you are concerned about the safety of the item, an appliance has been at home for some time subjected to wear and tear from regular usage. Have it tested by the St. Lucia Bureau of Standards. It is better to be safe than sorry. For more information, contact the St. Lucia Bureau of Standards at 456-0546 or email slbs at candw.lc or visit the website at www.slbs.org.lc St. Lucia Bureau of Standards, making quality and standards our way of life. Welcome back. Motorists have been assured that they will get value for their money at the pumps. This assurance comes from the Consumer Affairs Division and the St. Lucia Bureau of Standards as it undertakes its regular verification exercise. Here's Marvin St. Louis. A joint verification of gas pumps between the St. Lucia Bureau of Standards and the Consumer Affairs Division continues in November. The island-wide seven-week-long program will ensure that motorists receive value for money when purchasing fuel and provide fairness in trade between the supplier and the consumer. Anselm Gittens, head of the Metrology Department at the St. Lucia Bureau of Standards, explained that the fuel dispensers must meet the requirements by law. Normally, we use a calibrated standard test measure to do the verification and when the process is complete and the fuel dispenser is found to actually meet the requirements of the law, then we apply a green pass sticker on each pump or each nozzle and a seal is placed inside the pump to prevent any tampering after we've completed the test. It is a requirement of the Metrology Act that any price indicator fitted with the fuel dispenser should clearly indicate the price per litre and regulate the registration of the indicator. We urge all consumers when purchasing a fuel, motorists to ensure that the price indicator is actually functional on that pump. The price indicator will give you the price per litre of the fuel at the time of your purchase. And on that indicator, the price of the fuel should be clearly visible, maximum retail price. If when you purchase in your fuel, you notice it's not visible, then you should contact the Bureau of Standards as soon as possible so that we can alert the petroleum companies to have the particular price indicator repaired. The St. Lucia Bureau of Standards Islandwide Verification Exercise occurs every six months and is one of the best programs of its kind in the eastern Caribbean region. From the Department of Commerce, International Trade, Investment, Enterprise Development and Consumer Affairs, I am Marvin St. Louis reporting. Mayor of Castries, his worship Peterson D. Francis has announced major progress in mayoral diplomacy and strengthened relations with Trinidad and Tobago, along with opportunities for investment. Mayor Francis and a small contingent recently returned home after an official visit to the Twin Island Republic. The Mayor's official visit to Trinidad and Tobago began on Sunday, November 4th, 2018, with a series of meetings which would pave the way for better relations between cities and townships in St. Lucia and the Twin Island Republic. The very good thing that happened to me is this, apparently I'm being followed by the Mayor's in Trinidad and who are encouraging me that they like what I'm doing and one of the things we spoke about mainly is as I said before I left here, that if you do not look, local government is going to die. Discussions pertaining to local government and strengthening relations through city to city partnerships were held with the mayors of Port of Spain, Arima, San Fernando, Meyarro, Rio Claro and Point 14. Each TNT Mayor welcomed developmental twinning proposals. But nobody look at the bigger picture. When I travel and I have not traveled to talk about, I've traveled on about three times in my two years, only three. But whatever I go and do is make sure it's for the benefit of council. And I'm not going to go all wrong and just go for jolly wide. So when I go there, when I go and make contacts, I go and see how, for argument's sake, I have to discuss the Minister of Agriculture. While I was there, there was somebody who is very serious who is now in St. Vincent trying to pursue the establishment of a fish processing plant, okay, which they send things to Canada and the rest of the thing and so on. Right, that person was in discussion, sent me a proposal. I'm now going to try to see the Minister of Agriculture to see how we could. So these are the things that we are looking at. Before leaving Trinidad and Tobago, the castries may have met with representatives of the mounted and canine branches of TNT Police Service and Commissioner of Police, Mr. Gary Griffith, to discuss crime control strategies. The mayor's series of meetings in Trinidad and Tobago formed part of strategies to build strong partnerships in an effort to improve and develop the city of castries from an economic and security perspective. Reporting from the office of the mayor, I am Jason Holland Seed. That's Nation, we join us next time on NTN at 7.30pm, with a repeat at 7.30am and on this station as we fill the pulse and heart of our community. You can also catch up with us anytime on the St. Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I am Channel Novel.