Category: Press Releases

In response to the increasing concerns of the presence of plant pathogens affecting endemic trees within the Peaks National Park and the potential for these to spread, since April 2023 access to some areas of the Peaks National Park has been prohibited. This prohibition was initially put in place until the end of December 2023, to allow time to assess the impact of the pathogens on the park and for a review on the basis of relevant information and evidence to take place.

Since the discovery of the pathogens over a year ago, the Environment, Natural Resources and Planning (ENRP) Portfolio has been working with the St Helena Research Institute, Centre for Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) and the Birmingham Institute for Forest Research (BIFor). This work has primarily taken place under the Darwin Plus ‘Managing the pathogens affecting St Helena’s biodiversity and food security’ project. It has sought to identify the pathogens present, confirm that these pathogens are causing the tree deaths within the Peaks National Park and monitor their spread. All of this information is necessary to help make an informed decision on access arrangements within the Peaks National Park. 

Whilst much work has been underway since the start of the year, scientific sampling and analysis is time consuming. Inoculation experiments and genetic analysis on our endemics to assess resistance to the pathogens is still to be completed.

This means we are still a few months off from having sufficient information to make an informed decision on future access arrangements. From discussions ENRP held with the CABI team that were here last month, it is now expected that key information following the will be available for consideration by March 2024.

In light of this pending information and the potential level of threat posed by the pathogens, we consider that we must continue to apply a precautionary principle in our approach. Therefore the decision has now been made to keep the current prohibitions on access in place. This means that all sites currently closed will remain so, including the Scotland Nursery site which was closed last month. The only exceptions to this will be some minor adjustments to the Wrangham’s and Halley’s Mount sites, for which a boundary review is being undertaken so that the areas closed will align with the boundary of the Peaks National Park. Once the boundary review is completed, new Environmental Protection Notices (EPNs) will be issued and the public will be informed when this happens.

The process currently in place for limited authorised access will remain in place. This allows those persons who need to access closed sites for essential work to apply to the Chief Environmental Officer for permissions to do so. 

A further evidence-based review of access arrangements will be undertaken in March 2024 which will inform the need, or not, for tailored access arrangements beyond that date.

Chief Environmental Officer, Isabel Peters said:

“We appreciate that many members of the public are patiently awaiting the re-opening of the Peaks National Park and we extend our thanks to everyone who has observed the EPN’s and respected the closures up to now. Your support has been very much appreciated and is vital to protecting the park. The decision to keep the areas closed for a further three months was carefully considered, and was taken for the long term health of our precious biodiversity. We look forward to your continued support in helping us to safeguard our endemic plants, animals and their habitats.”

Note to Editor

The Chief Environmental Officer Isabel Peters, will be off island until 19 December. In her absence, Environmental Risk Manager Mike Durnford will be the point of contact in the interim and can be contacted by telephone on 24724 or via email through mike.durnford@sainthelena.gov.sh.

#SHG #StHelena #CloudForest

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On Saturday 25 November 2023, Minister for Health and Social Care Martin Henry returned to St Helena following two weeks overseas.

During that time Minister Henry attended the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) in London, met with health officials in the UK, and travelled to Gibraltar to meet with government and health officials there, a trip facilitated by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and Professor Ian Cummings, Health Ambassador to the Overseas Territories (OTs).  

The JMC is the highest forum for political dialogue and consultation between the UK and the OTs, and takes place annually in London. This year the St Helena delegation included the Chief Minister Julie Thomas and Minister Henry. This allowed Minister Henry to liaise with delegations from the other OTs, and to undertake a number of other meetings with key health officials and colleagues in the UK. This included meetings with the UKHSA, which provides support to the OTs, and with UK officials currently leading on leveraging digital health approaches to improve health outcomes. The UKHSA also facilitated meetings with leading diabetes specialists, noting that this is one of the most significant public health challenges facing the Island, with approximately one in three people in St Helena either having diabetes or pre-diabetes.

Minister Henry travelled to Gibraltar on Saturday 18 November to build links between the two Overseas Territories, to gain an understanding of how the healthcare operates in Gibraltar, and to exchange knowledge on approaches and best practices.

Whilst on his trip, Minister Henry was taken on a tour of Saint Bernard’s Hospital where he was shown the Dialysis Unit, Intensive Care Unit, Maternity (Neo Natal Unit), Accident and Emergency Unit (A&E), Primary Care Centre and Children’s Health Centre. Minister Henry’s trip also included a visit to Ocean Views, a Mental Health facility, as well as the Elderly Residential Services care homes, Mount Alvernia and Hillside.

Reflecting on his trip to the UK, Minister Martin Henry said:

“During the last two weeks I have had an incredibly busy schedule, but am pleased to have been able to participate in so many informative discussions and build so many great connections with sector leaders. These will be crucial in further improving our health offering to the people of St Helena. These discussions ranged from other OT elected leaders, to key health officials and a Public Health Director. I also spent an entire day with Dr Hatim Abdulhussein, National Clinical Lead in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Medical Workforce NHS England, looking at how we can use Digital innovation to help fill the gaps with operating a limited Health service, which was highly enlightening.”

I am now working with the team in UKHSA to link the professionals I have met in both the UK and Gibraltar with our teams here on Island so that we can further investigate some of the work streams from these initial meetings. This will include some exciting work around personal health monitoring, activities and diet support utilising approved app-based solutions.   

Photo

Minister Martin Henry with Professor Jonathan Valabhji – Nation Clinical Lead of Multiple Long-Term Conditions at NHS England (left), Sarah Payne Riches and Ian Walker (UKHSA Support to St Helena and the OT’s)

#StHelena #JMC2023 #Gibraltar #Health&SocialCare

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The Health and Social Care (H&SC) Portfolio encourage the public to familiarise themselves with the most appropriate way to contact a medical professional for non-emergency medical issues.

Recently there has been a number of instances where members of the public have contacted staff at home, stopped them in the street, or sent confidential medical information via email to staff to ask them for advice. This is not appropriate, can have an impact on staff, and may result in people receiving incorrect advice or jeopardise the confidentiality of their medical information.

If you wish to make a booking for an appointment to see a GP, book a follow up appointment, or book an appointment with one of the specialist clinics (including the dietician and gynaecology), please contact the appointment line by telephone on 22321.

For out of hours advice or for non-urgent cases, please contact the main General Enquiries line at any time on 22500.

The Community Mental Health Team is based at St John’s Villa, Jamestown Hospital and can be contacted by telephone on 22593 between 8.30am and 4pm, Monday to Friday. There is also an on call system for urgent mental health cases out of hours. For this, please contact the General Hospital on 22500.

Community Nurses can arrange home visits for various reasons for patients (dressings, blood tests etc.). Some examples of people who are eligible are patients who are unable to leave their home, are disabled or are receiving palliative care. All requests for home visits are assessed by the team, who can be contacted by telephone on 25189.

Both routine dental appointments and out of hours dental emergencies should telephone 22500.

The public are reminded to call 999 in the case of medical emergencies.

In order to ensure that patients receive the highest quality care possible, everyone is encouraged to follow the contact procedures detailed above.

#StHelena #Health #KnowWhoToCall

St Helena Government (SHG) launched an open procurement exercise for the “design and build” of a New Prison on 2 October 2023 via SHG’s e-procurement portal, In-tend. The closing date for tenders is 22 December 2023.

The Economic Development Investment Programme (EDIP) team has invited potential bidders, via the In-tend portal, to a virtual workshop to discuss this proposal and offer an opportunity for a question and answer session regarding this project.

The virtual workshop will be held via a Microsoft Teams link on Thursday 7 December 2023 at 14:00 GMT. It is scheduled to last for one hour.

The new prison build is going to be a significant project, and will provide opportunities for collaboration between local and international firms.

The EDIP team therefore invites local firms who may be interested in engaging with participating international firms to attend the workshop. This can be done in person at the Essex House conference room or through the virtual meeting link.

For further information please contact Alfreda Yon or Richard Wotton at Essex House by telephone on 22270.

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During the week commencing Monday 6 November, St Helena schools celebrated Parliament Week. As the Children’s Champion, Councillor Rosie Bargo took this opportunity to lead a program to educate young people about how the St Helena Legislative Council and new Ministerial system operate. This aimed to inspire their interest in legislative proceedings, politics and democracy given the impact on these on all of our lives, whilst encouraging them to engage with St Helena Legislative Council.

Each school visit began with a brief educational video featuring the St Helena Legislative Council and Ministerial system. This was followed by a debate on topics such as anti-social behaviour, energy generation, and what the future might hold for St Helena’s young people. Other general themes like shipping and the cost of living were also discussed. At the end of each session, schools received a UK Parliament Activity Pack courtesy of the Governor’s Office.  

Councillors Andrew Turner, Robert Midwinter, Dr Corinda Essex and Karl Thrower participated in these visits. Other Elected Members and Ministers had hoped to attend but were unable to due to other commitments or overseas business.

The Legislative Council would like to thank teachers and students for their engagement during these sessions.

Councillor Rosie Bargo, Children’s Champion, commented:

“It was enlightening to see that children displayed such a keen interest in learning about how Parliament works here on St Helena and even in the UK. Their knowledge of all chosen topics impressed me greatly, along with their questions and concerns regarding current issues faced by our community. I am very proud that we have upcoming bright politicians who will shape the future of St Helenian politics. I encourage everyone interested in joining Youth Parliament to register your name today. We need you now more than ever before – let’s start working towards building tomorrow’s leaders today!”

Whilst a Youth Parliament was formed many years ago, it has since disbanded. Councillor Bargo is in the process of re-establishing a Youth Parliament on St Helena and encourages any young persons aged between 11 and 21, who are interested in joining the Youth Parliament, to register. More information on the Youth Parliament proposals will be made available shortly.

For more information or registration details contact Children’s Champion, Rosie Bargo, by telephone on 22590 / 23663 / 66221 or via email through councillor.rbargo@helanta.co.sh.

#StHelena #ParliamentWeek #YouthParliament

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A delegation consisting of the Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Planning Christine Scipio, and the St Helena Government (SHG) UK Representative Kedell Worboys, will represent St Helena at COP28 as part of the UK delegation.

The Conference of Parties (COP) to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meet each year to review climate measures adopted under the UNFCCC and assess and agree new measures. The UNFCCC is the most significant global mechanism for tackling climate change. There are 198 Parties to the UNFCCC, including the UK, which has extended the UNFCCC to St Helena.

COP28 will be the 28^th meeting of Parties, and will take place in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, from 30 November to 12 December 2023. It will see leaders from around the world gather, including for the first time an elected representative from St Helena.

Minister Scipio will be giving the opening remarks at side events organised by Plymouth Marine Laboratory with the Commonwealth Blue Charter and by Island Innovation whilst at COP28. The Minister will also be taking part in Overseas Territories related side events in the UK pavilion. COP28 will provide the opportunity to network, and meetings are being arranged, which will include meetings with UK Ministers.

Many of the side events will be broadcast live on the COP28 YouTube channel, at www.youtube.com/c/UnfcccInt/playlists.

SHG’s UK Representative Kedell Worboys is the Chair of the UK Overseas Territories Association (UKOTA) Environment Group. In this role she has been coordinating the participation of the Overseas Territories in the run up to COP28. This will include two Overseas Territories side events in the UK Pavilion on 8 December 2023.

The Overseas Territories, St Helena included, are small island nations at the forefront of the impacts of climate change. Being represented at COP28 will allow for the Overseas Territories to have their own voice, network and share the work they have been doing to adapt to, and mitigate against, the impacts of climate change.

Minister Scipio is due to depart St Helena on Tuesday 28 November, and return on Tuesday 12 December. During her absence Minister Henry will be covering the duties of the Environment, Natural Resources and Planning Portfolio.

#StHelena #COP28 #UNFCCC

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In July 2023, Legislative Council approved the SHG budget for 2023/4. To provide a better understanding of how that money is spent, every two weeks we are focusing on a different Portfolio and their plans for the year. Two weeks ago we looked at the allocation for Health and Social Care, and this week we’ll be covering the Safety, Security and Home Affairs (SSHA) Portfolio.

£47,072,000 was allocated for recurrent and capital expenditure. Of this figure, SSHA was allocated £2,463,000. This means that of the six Portfolios included in the 2023/24 Budget Book, SSHA receives 5.5% of the SHG recurrent budget.

Safety Security & Home Affairs

The Safety Security & Home Affairs Portfolio is at the frontline of keeping citizens safe and the Island secure, and plays a fundamental role in the security and economic prosperity of St Helena. Close working across Portfolios, local businesses and the community is required to help to tackle safety issues for the Island. St Helena will prosper significantly from being open, engaged and connected to the rest of the world, and it creates tremendous opportunities for individuals and the Island’s collective prosperity.

What are SSHA’s Strategic Aims?

Whilst all Portfolios contribute to the five national goals, expenditure for SSHA’s 2023-24 budget primarily supports the ‘Altogether Safer’ goal. To deliver this, SSHA work programmes contribute to 10 of SHG’s 33 strategic objectives.

To support these national goals, and strategic objectives, the SSHA Portfolio has five main policy priority areas within the SHG Vision and Strategy Plan 2022-2025, which are informing and directing its work programmes. These are:

• Keeping St Helena safe by reducing crime and working to better the lives of children, young people and those most vulnerable within our community
• Working with partners to secure our borders, both internationally and in St Helena, in order to protect the community and support economic development
• Improving community trust and confidence in the services provided by the Portfolio
• Working with partners, volunteers and stakeholders to minimise and manage identified risks and to maintain public safety and our response to incidents
• Working with the community, partners and stakeholders to help solve the issues most affecting our community to make us ‘Altogether Safer’

Where will SSHA’s allocation be spent?

The Portfolio provides a wide range of services to the communities of St Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha. These services include the Police, Immigration and Customs, Fire and Rescue, Sea Rescue, HM Prison and Offender Management Service, Emergency Planning, Port Control, Maritime Authority. The Portfolio also oversees Cyber Security, the national Resilience Forum, Health and Safety and a range of licensing and inspection functions.

In September 2023, as a result of a restructure, Roads and Building Maintenance, Rockfall Protection and Street Lighting also moved to the Portfolio. The recurrent budget for these areas will remain under the Treasury, Infrastructure and Economic Development Directorate for the rest of this financial year. The Portfolio has 168 staff to deliver its range of work.

It should be noted that while the Royal St Helena Police Service still remain under the umbrella of the Portfolio, they now directly report to the Governor with ring-fenced finances which are also directly overseen by the Governor.

While the Portfolio has a budget of £2.4 million, over the last two years it has reduced its finances by almost half a million pounds in light of the budget constraints across the Public Service, and will continue to identify further efficiencies where appropriate.

To offset the budgetary reductions, SSHA remains proactive in identifying external funding sources via the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to ensure SHG’s core finances are not overburdened.

In 2022, SSHA were fortunate to gain approximately £1 million in support from external stakeholders. This came in a variety of guises from a diverse set of training courses, support on building works, policy development, legislation and specialist equipment. The support was provided from UK Government via the FCDO and the UK Conflict, Safety and Security Fund (CSSF), and is highly appreciated and gratefully received.

The Portfolio will continue to look for further external support in 2023/2024 and beyond. However, the UK as elsewhere, is under significant financial constraints. Nonetheless, SSHA is committed to working in unison across SHG, the community and international partners to enhance safety and security resilience, and safeguard St Helena’s future needs.

 If you would like more information about any areas of SSHA’s work, please get in touch with Mandy Constantine, Admin Assistant, by email through mandy.constantine@sainthelena.gov.sh.

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