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The Committee notes the Government’s brief report in reply to its previous comments. It also notes the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1997 (Cap. 99:10).

Article 10 of the Convention. Staff of the labour administration system. In its request made in 2000 and reiterated in 2004 and 2005, the Committee asked the Government to provide detailed information on the composition of the staff of the public labour administration and on any developments in the situation with regard to the conditions of service and the material and financial resources made available to the staff for the performance of their duties. The Government indicates briefly in its report that the staff of the public administrations has been strengthened by 22 new staff members and that their conditions of service are identical to those of other civil servants, without giving details of the composition of the staff as a whole. It also states that the financial resources are adequate. The Committee considers this information to be insufficient to serve as a basis for an assessment of the human and financial resources of the labour administration system and once again requests the Government to provide useful details to this end.

Articles 1, 4 and 6 of the Convention and Part IV of the report form. In its previous request, the Committee requested the Government to provide the detailed information required under each of these provisions and a copy of the texts governing the structure and operation of the principal bodies competent in the fields of the preparation, administration and review of the national labour administration policy, as well as extracts from the periodic reports and other information submitted by these bodies. The Government states briefly in reply to this request that it has not received the report form for the Convention and indicates that it has not delegated any responsibility for labour administration to non-governmental organizations. With regard to the description of functions set out in Article 6, it merely indicates that these functions are performed by the departments under the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security. The Committee points out to the Government that it can access the report forms for the ILO Conventions through the following Internet link: http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/reportforms/reportformsE.htm and draws its attention in particular to the following requests which appear under each of the Articles mentioned above in the report form to this Convention:

Under Article 1: Please give particulars concerning the manner in which the system of labour administration is organized in your country.

Under Article 4: Please indicate the arrangements made to ensure the effective operation, and the coordination, of the functions and responsibilities of the system of labour administration.

Under Article 6: Please give details of the measures taken to give effect to each provision of this Article.

The Committee hopes that the Government will do its utmost to provide all this information.

Article 5. In the Committee’s previous request, the Government was asked to indicate the functions of the tripartite committee chaired by the Minister of Labour, as well as those of the six subcommittees to which it referred in its 1999 report. The Government states in reply that this question was dealt with comprehensively under the Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144). While the Committee has not found the information requested in the Government’s report, it wishes nevertheless to emphasize that the tripartite consultations referred to in that instrument are distinguished clearly by virtue of their purpose – activities of the International Labour Organization – from the tripartite consultations referred to in Article 5 of this Convention, which concern the various areas of national labour policy. The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to indicate the functions of the tripartite committee chaired by the Minister of Labour, as well as those of the subcommittees referred to in its report received in 1999, and to report to  the Office any other arrangements made, at the national, regional and local levels, to ensure the consultation, cooperation and negotiation provided for by Article 5. It would be grateful if the Government would also provide copies of any reports or extracts of reports relating to the work of these various tripartite bodies, their purpose and their results.