Tag: Tara Rivers
MLAs push for more education cash
(CNS): More than $145 million has been allocated to education in the 18-month budget, accounting for around 17% of the government’s entire 2016/17 spending plan, but opposition MLAs and the education minister pressed for more yesterday, when concerns were raised about failing schools identified in last year’s damning school inspections. Pulling the $2.5 million budgeted […]
Officials begin long road to new disability centre
(CNS): Following Cabinet’s approval of the case to build a new training facility for adults with disabilities to replace the Sunrise Centre facility, a steering committee has been formed to begin the long process towards making it a reality. Education Minister Tara Rivers said there was a need for a new purpose-built facility because the […]
Awareness campaign to start on pensions
(CNS): Following some 50 amendments to the legislation surrounding Cayman’s mandatory, private sector pension regime, Employment Minister Tara Rivers said that the new law would come into effect gradually. While several of the sections will be implemented together, other sections will require a longer transition phase to allow for public education and for the administrators […]
Court ruling raises questions for next election
(CNS): Elections officials say it is unlikely they will stop candidates from standing for election, even if questions are raised about their qualification, and that the onus will be on would-be politicians to ensure they meet the constitutional requirements. Since the chief justice’s ruling on the qualification of Tara Rivers in 2013 stood in sharp […]
Consequences of changes to pension law
‘Equal rights for some’ writes: Want to know the true cost of this pensions raid on us, to me? To you, as an expat? I’m a real estate professional with decades of experience and whilst commonly not respected or listened to here (when is advice listened to here?) you are going to want to listen now.
Rivers steers through imperfect pension bill
(CNS): The employment minister managed to steer through what she admitted was a less than perfect amendment bill that makes more than fifty changes to the pensions law, including an increase in the retirement age from 60 to 65. Tara Rivers lauded the extensive consultation process her ministry held over the amendment bill and said […]
No minimum wage infractions reported yet
(CNS): Enforcement officers from the Department of Labour and Pensions have begun inspections to make sure employers of low-paid workers are not paying employees less than the new national minimum wage of $6, and so far employers appear to be complying with the law. By this weekend, the inspectors will have completed the first 21 […]
Over a third of kids enter school below standard
(CNS): A new quick assessment of the literacy ability of children entering Year 1 of the government school system indicated that 36% of kids who started school in September were below standard. But a new literary intervention programme has been piloted in the primary schools, which officials said has had a positive impact on those […]
Rivers appears as reluctant boycotter
(CNS): The education minister has refused to comment about her involvement in the failed meeting in the Legislative Assembly Wednesday and why she attended. Following two attempts by the speaker to hold a special meeting requested by the opposition to debate motions relating to the police, Tara Rivers declined to answer questions from CNS Thursday […]
Speaker gives government MLAs second chance
(CNS): The speaker of the Legislative Assembly adjourned the special meeting today at around 10:30am until 2pm after her formal summons from the chair to members failed to produce a quorum to allow the House to meet. After Julianna O’Connor-Connolly gave members a second chance to show up for the controversial meeting this afternoon, the […]
Rivers calls for job transparency
(CNS): The employment minister is calling for all jobs available in the Cayman Islands to be posted with the National Workforce Development Agency and not just before a work permit is coming up for renewal. Tara Rivers said that she wants to see employers reveal all the jobs not held by locals long before permit […]
