On Tuesday, 8 September, the Standing Public Accounts Committee (PAC) held the first of two public hearings to examine the Office of the Auditor General’s (OAG) Report, “Summary of Outstanding OAG and PAC Recommendations” published in April 2026.
When presenting a brief overview of the report, Auditor General Patrick Smith, noted that at the time of the report, a total of 249 recommendations remained outstanding across government. He explained that close to 60 per cent of the outstanding recommendations are spread amongst five public bodies all of whom will be questioned by the Committee over the next two meetings.
In her statement to the Committee, Deputy Governor Hon. Gloria McField-Nixon outlined steps being taken by her office to address the outstanding recommendations and strengthen the Government’s approach to future recommendations.
The Deputy Governor said that within her first two months in office, she identified addressing the backlog of outstanding recommendations as a priority. She also emphasised the need to shift the Government’s approach to future recommendations from reactive to proactive through procedural innovations. Deputy Governor McField-Nixon explained that a newly implemented tool was assisting her office in categorising and defining recommendations received from both the OAG and PAC.
Deputy Governor McField-Nixon further advised the Committee and Auditor General that the seven Government Minutes that are currently outstanding will be tabled during the next meeting of in Parliament.
Chief Officer for the Ministry of Social Development and Innovation, Ms Nellie Pouchie was called to provide an update on the status of outstanding recommendations. She reported that of the 22 recommendations, 14 are completed, seven are in progress and one was not implemented. Chief Officer Pouchie explained that the recommendation for the government to adopt a governance framework for major capital projects was not accepted because it is not a good fit for e-Government information technology projects, most of which fall significantly below $10 million.
In her statement, Chief Officer in the Ministry of Education and Training, Ms Cetonya Cacho shared that of the 14 recommendations in the report only four are still in progress. These include the career guidance policy, refocusing of the Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman budget, installation of cameras in schools and reporting on scholarships.
As it relates to the career guidance policy, Chief Officer Cacho highlighted that there is a national workforce committee that shares information on scholarship opportunities, identifies gaps in employment and scholarship, areas of duplication and work permit needs, among other things. She noted the work of this committee would feed into policy. She added that cameras have been installed at Clifton Hunter and John Gray High Schools and there is a proposal to assess the cost and implications of putting cameras in other schools.
Chief Officer Cacho noted that due to the wording of certain recommendations, it was difficult for the Ministry to determine the closing point thus allowing them to mark them as formally completed. This echoed a statement made earlier in the hearing by Deputy Governor McField-Nixon regarding some of the recommendations for her Office.
The hearing will continue Wednesday, 9 September at 10:00 a.m.