The companies which will tender for the Holiday Inn will be asked to give a commitment there will be no redundancies from the hotel for a certain period of time following the purchase of the hotel, Investments Minister Austin Gatt told Parliament last night.

The minister was replying to a spontaneous question by Labour MP Leo Brincat who asked the minister to confirm that the workers will have their jobs guaranteed for the next three years.

The minister agreed to the commitment but was not drawn into stating the period of time. He also said he had met the union over the past days on this matter.

Job experience scheme

A total of 78 young people took part in the Job Experience Scheme. Thirty-nine of them found work but only six were kept on by the same employer, Education Minister Louis Galea told Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi.

Consultancies

Labour MP Joe Debono Grech found issue with the Privatisation Unit paying no fewer than 15 private companies to provide it with advice. He added that the unit should be more responsible and take its decisions on its own.

But Dr Gatt soon put him right: the Privatisation Unit consists of two or three people and its work is to manage the process which leads to the sale of the government’s interest in some entity. It chooses the consultants and coordinates the work between the entity and the consultants as well as leads the negotiations which lead to the closure of the process.

It is just impossible for the unit to do the work it commissions consultants for because it is impossible to get all the necessary expertise when the unit is composed of two or three people.

Research on students

The Education Department is using National Curriculum Council money to commission a research programme on students with behavioural, social and emotional problems at primary school and at secondary school

levels.

The study will also look into the students’ background to identify the social and other factors which may protect or put the students more at risk.

The research began in 2005 and the results will be published in 2008, Education Minister Louis Galea told Labour MP Carmelo Abela. Mr Abela had asked whether any study had tried to look into whether drug taking or alcohol abuse contributed to the discipline problems in schools.

The minister replied the department felt the study should be wider than that.

PBS and the World Cup

Public Broadcasting Services is still awaiting the outcome of a tender process to see whether it will be broadcasting the World Cup games in June, Dr Gatt said in Parliament last night.

The minister told Mr Abela that four years ago PBS had paid Lm120,000 for the rights (plus a further Lm30,000 for technical facilities and production).

The minister was then involved in a verbal altercation with Angelo Farrugia who said this would be the first time ever that PBS would not be broadcasting the World Cup, despite PBS being paid for by the Maltese taxpayer.

Dr Gatt put Dr Farrugia right: PBS does not get one penny from the licence fee and this is the first time the World Cup is not free to air. Previously FIFA used to give the rights to anyone who paid the fee; now everything is got through competing for the rights.

On this very same subject, Mr Abela asked the Competitiveness and Communications Minister if the Malta Communications Authority has investigated the whole issue.

Minister Censu Galea replied that MCA does not regulate the content offered by the operators on their networks.

The recent changes are the result of a number of factors, including technological changes, competition in the television distribution networks, and exclusive rights to broadcast content that used to be free to air in the past.

Many have asked MCA to intervene. MCA has listened to these complaints and it is working together with other regulators, including the Office for Fair Competition, the Broadcasting Authority and the Competition and Consumer Division to study the position of the two operators in the sector (Melita Cable and Multiplus) to ensure that all operators are providing their customers with all information on the programmes that will be broadcast.

As regards exclusive rights, MCA understands that when exclusive rights are given for certain content, these rights must be protected.