Government Administration
New WORC system shows huge client numbers
(CNS): The rollout of a new ticketing system at Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman revealed that WORC dealt with almost 7,000 customers during the three-week soft launch last month. The new system, called Qlogik, will track service delivery times and give an overview of the customer numbers at one of the government’s busiest departments, given […]
Procedure still an issue 15 years after FOI law passed
(CNS): As Cayman marks Right To Know Day, Ombudsman Sharon Roulestone has said that last year, the number of freedom of information requests was above pre-pandemic levels after 452 were made to the government, the most in one year since 2018. As the public continues to make use of the law, managers are releasing more […]
Premier says civil service must stop growing
(CNS): Premier Wayne Panton has said the civil service headcount cannot continue to grow at the current pace and that a request for 1,100 new posts in the upcoming budget would not be fulfilled. He said there would be no job cuts in this coming spending plan and that the government finances remain solid, but […]
Staff face false fire alarm and power cut at GAB
(CNS): Public servants at the Government Administration Building in George Town faced a power cut and a false fire alarm on Monday. A power outage in the morning, blamed on CUC maintenance work, automatically triggered the emergency power generators, which powered the building for 30 minutes without any problems, officials said. Then around 1:45pm the […]
Acting chief lands top post at MIISD
(CNS): Fourteen months after she began acting as chief officer for the Ministry of Investment, Innovation and Social Development, Tamara Ebanks has been appointed to the actual role. Officials said she secured the post following a “rigorous open recruitment process”, including a panel interview.
PR refusals unlikely to stick, say lawyers
(CNS): Many of the points-based applications for permanent residency that have been refused over the last year are likely to be overturned on appeal because the process leading to those decisions remains flawed, according to Nick Joseph of HSM, which specialises in immigration work. As WORC tackles the application backlog administratively, Joseph says that those […]
CBC pay inequities addressed, says minister
(CNS): Four years after the immigration department and customs merged into the Customs and Border Control Service (CBC), some officers will be getting a pay rise to regularise all staff salaries, which is part of a commitment management had made to resolve the pre-merger salary inequities within the services. Officials said in a press release […]
Dart duty waiver relates to ‘inherited obligation’
(CNS): A refund to the Dart Consortium of over CI$1 million for stamp duty and land registry fees is related to the purchase of land for the planned ReGen facilities, which was an “inherited obligation”, according to Jennifer Ahearn, the chief officer of the Ministry of Sustainability and Climate Resiliency. Ahearn said that because the […]
Minister: We must enforce immigration laws
(CNS): Labour Minister Christopher Saunders has commended staff from his key department, Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman (WORC), for the work they are doing enforcing the immigration laws. Over the nine months from the start of the year through September WORC issued fines totalling CI$273,000 to rogue employers and people working illegally after several workplace […]
ESO compendium paints last year in numbers
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Compendium of Statistics 2021, which has now been released by the Economics and Statistics Office, pulls together all of the information collected by the ESO over the course of last year. Many of the figures have already changed dramatically since the data was sourced, not least the overall population. When the census was […]
Minister urged DG to deal with ‘troubling’ report
(CNS): CNS has received several records in response to a freedom of information request relating to commitments made shortly before the 2021 General Election by the former premier’s ministry to open overseas offices and attend the Dubai World Expo. One record shows how the new PACT minister, André Ebanks, was “troubled” by a report by […]
