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The College of Policing defines Community Engagement as ‘the process of enabling citizens and communities to participate in policing at their chosen level. This ranges from providing information and assurance, to empowering them to identify and implement solutions to local problems and influence strategic priorities and decisions.

Community engagement in neighbourhoods should provide an ongoing two-way dialogue between the police and the public and enable the police to develop a better understanding of communities and their needs, risks and threats.

St Helena Police have three teams on the Island and each team has a defined area of responsibility for engaging with the community:

Some examples of how St Helena Police teams have engaged with the community are through:

St Helena Police will continue their community engagement activities to ensure St Helena is a safe place to live and work.

SHG
7 September 2021

The following is a public announcement from the Education, Skills & Employment Portfolio:

The Public Library will be closed again tomorrow, Wednesday 8 September 2021, to allow the continuation of tree surgery works in the Castle Gardens. The Library will reopen as normal at 9.30am on Thursday, 9 September 2021.

The public is thanked in advance for their continued support.

SHG
7 September 2021

During the period of Monday, 30 August, to Sunday, 5 September 2021, St Helena Police dealt with a total of 47 reports resulting in three arrests.


One person was arrested for Threatening Behaviour and Threats to Assault, they have now been charged to appear before the Court.


One person was arrested for being Over the Prescribed Limit and failing to stop, the person was interviewed by officers and has now been summoned to appear before the Court.


One person was arrested on suspicion of Burglary, they were interviewed and then released without being charged.


Other reports included Theft, Fraud, Anti-Social Behaviour, Malicious Telecommunication, a Complaint against the Police and a Missing person, all of which are currently under investigation.


This week Police proactively carried out a number of Community Engagements as well as serving Court summons.


Until next time, have a good week and stay safe.

SHG
7 September 2021

The Virtual Island Summit (VIS), organised by Island Innovation, is taking place between Monday, 6 September, and Sunday, 12 September 2021.

The VIS invites participation of people from varying backgrounds within island communities around the world to share their ideas, examples of good practices and solutions. 

The St Helena Community College (SHCC) will be open to the public on the following days/times to allow people to view the discussions:

Persons interested in viewing these discussions at the SHCC should book with Dr Rebecca Cairns-Wicks via: rebecca.cairns-wicks@sainthelena.gov.sh

Various sessions will also be rebroadcast on local TV via the promo channel, kindly sponsored by Sure South Atlantic Ltd.

The Grand Opening Plenary will be aired at 3pm this afternoon. Other sessions to be aired are:  

Tuesday, 7 September

Wednesday, 8 September


Thursday, 9 September

Friday, 10 September

Saturday, 11 September

Anyone who may be interested in registering to participate in the Summit can still do so via the link below.  If you are unable to attend any of the live virtual events, then do continue to register as Island Innovation offers to forward links to replays of the events once completed: https://islandinnovation.co/virtual-island-summit-2021/

SHG
7 September 2021

http://www.sainthelena.gov.sh

The Incident Executive Group (IEG) met on 1 September 2021 to discuss progress towards achieving the trigger points that are required in order to initiate Phase 1 of the modifications to St Helena’s entry and quarantine arrangements.

At this time, not all of the criteria for local trigger points have been met, therefore IEG have decided not to move to Phase 1 in October.  IEG will meet again at a later date to consider the progress against triggers and decide whether a move to Phase 1 can be agreed for travellers arriving to the Island from November.

The phased quarantine approach is a risk-based approach which takes into account the effectiveness of vaccinations in reducing the likelihood and severity of COVID-19 infection. Phase 1 would enable a fully vaccinated person to quarantine for seven days if they had spent the last 10 days within a red list country or five days if from a non-red list country. A non-vaccinated person would quarantine for the full 10 days if they had spent the last 10 days within a red list country or seven days if from a non-red list country.

The IEG discussed whether critical frontline healthcare workers would be allowed to enter St Helena and have a reduced quarantine period to allow them to provide critical health services.  Critical frontline healthcare workers are individuals providing, or directly facilitating, frontline health services and whose presence on St Helena is required to keep critical health services running.

These staff would undergo a reduced quarantine period of five days after having had a negative PCR test 72 hours before travelling to the Island, as well as receiving a negative result from a PCR test on arrival and undertaking daily lateral flow tests.  Staff members will only be released after five days following negative results on Days 1 to 4 and a negative PCR test result on Day 5. 

In the case where a staff member might be required to exit quarantine in an emergency situation they would adhere to COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedures on the use of PPE. 

Operating the Health Service in a safe and efficient manner is of utmost importance, especially in the midst of a global pandemic. Therefore, to facilitate the continuation of critical frontline services, the IEG agreed that the Portfolio Director of Health & Social Care would be able to authorise reduced quarantine for essential frontline health workers on a critical needs basis. It was noted that this practice was fairly typical in other countries, even ones with no or low COVID-19 prevalence. This exemption applies only to health workers and not their families.

SHG
6 September 2021

The St Helena Chevening Alumni – Dax Richards, Pamela Constantine, Tracey Williams, Tara Wortley and Zedella Young, and current scholar Gareth Drabble will shortly be embarking on a project to educate young people on St Helena on the Island’s governance structure.  This Project is being pursued under the Chevening Alumni Programme Fund (CAPF) facilitated by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). CAPF allows alumni groups within countries running the Chevening Programme to submit bids for funding to carry out projects that will make a positive change within their country. Back in February this year the St Helena Chevening alumni submitted a bid entitled ‘Governing Our Future’ and were informed in July that they were successful.

CAPF Projects are usually of an educational nature and are delivered through a range of promotional activities and events which provide a forum for debate and discussion. Projects are centred around various thematic areas that the UK Government gives focus to, and can include topics such as education, human rights, governance, climate change, media freedom and public health etc.

Since the Governance Reform has been a hot topic on the Island, the St Helena Chevening Alumni decided to base their proposal on educating the youth on the Island’s political structure and the change that it is currently undergoing. During the Governance Reform consultation exercise conducted by the local Governance Commission earlier this year, it had been identified that there was a high proportion of young people wanting to be better informed on how the local Government works, as this is not routinely taught in schools.

St Helena is at an historical moment with the upcoming elections for a new council to take forward the Ministerial Government. The alumni will use this as a springboard to engage with students of Years 11, 12 and 13 of Prince Andrew School.  They plan to hold meetings and workshops and invite relevant stakeholders to help students learn how the new Ministerial Government will function. Students will be encouraged to give their visions of a future St Helena and how they would like to be governed. The outcome of the Project will be twofold – In addition to improving students’ political knowledge, the planned activities will also improve their presentation and debate skills and build confidence to openly interact and engage with an audience in any subject.

In continuing the work of the alumni, it is hoped that the Project will pave the way for some form of political affairs subject to be incorporated into the school curriculum, the aim being to inspire young people from an early age to become involved in St Helena’s political arena and instil aspirations of leadership.

Chevening Scholarships

Applications to study for a Chevening Scholarship are now being accepted.  The Programme allows postgraduate study in the UK for a period of one year in any subject.  Visit www.chevening.org or contact Kerry Lane at Kerry.Lane@fcdo.gov.uk for more information on applying.  On completion of your studies you will join the Chevening alumni community, numbering over 50,000 worldwide and made up of a highly regarded network of individuals from a range of different professions. Apply for a Chevening Scholarship and make a positive change.

#StHelena #BeChevening #CheveningFCDO

Governor’s Office, St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

6 September 2021

The following is a public announcement from the Education, Skills & Employment Portfolio:

The Public Library will be closed tomorrow, Tuesday 7 September 2021. The Library will reopen as normal at 9.30am on Wednesday, 8 September 2021.

The public is thanked in advance for their continued support.

SHG
6 September 2021

The Titan Airways Charter flight, scheduled to arrive at St Helena Airport on Monday, 6 September, from London, Stansted, has now been delayed a day. The flight will now depart at 4.15am on Tuesday, 7 September.

This is due to poor weather conditions forecast for St Helena.

St Helena Government (SHG) and Titan Airways are planning to operate the flights as follows:

We anticipate check-in at London Stansted now opening at around 1.15am on Tuesday, 7 September. 

All passengers are advised that as this is a one-day delay from Stansted and Accra, they will not be required to obtain a new pre-departure test result. 

In the interim, passengers are advised that they should social distance, avoid large gatherings and follow best practice hand and respiratory hygiene.  Passengers should not proceed to Stansted Airport if they, or any person they have been in contact with, experience symptoms of COVID-19.  Alternative testing arrangements will be in place on arrival at St Helena.

Shuttle flights between St Helena and Ascension Island are now anticipated to operate on Wednesday, 8, and Thursday, 9 September, with the return to London Stansted from St Helena (via Accra) being Friday, 10 September. Actual departure and arrival times are as previously announced albeit with this one-day delay.

All passengers are currently being contacted and should there be any changes to the above, this will be communicated as required.

SHG

4 September 2021

http://www.sainthelena.gov.sh

St Helena Government (SHG) recently announced the schedule of the Titan Airways Charter flights up until March 2022.  This included additional flights during the peak season through November and December 2021 as well as double shuttle flights to Ascension Island.

It has since become necessary to cancel the second Ascension Island shuttle flight that was scheduled to operate on 1 December. This is due to insufficient numbers for this particular flight.  The demand for Ascension Island passengers can now be accommodated by the remaining scheduled flights.   

The schedule below indicates the revised times for flight operations during the period 29 November to 1 December:

DateFlight NoDeparture TimeDeparture AirportArrival AirportArrival Time
29 NOV 21ZT01410015 
Local		London, Stansted Main terminal STNAccra, Kotoka ACC0715  Local
29 NOV 21ZT01410800 
Local		Accra, Kotoka ACCSt Helena HLE1210  Local
30 NOV 21ZT01421000 
Local		St Helena HLEAscension Island ASI1210  Local
30 NOV 21ZT01431410 
Local		Ascension Island ASISt Helena HLE1620  Local
01 DEC 21ZT01440900 
Local		St Helena HLEAccra, Kotoka ACC1300  Local
01 DEC 21ZT01441345 
Local		Accra ACCLondon, Stansted Main terminal STN2055  Local

SHG apologises in advance for any inconvenience that may be caused by changes to the departing flight from St Helena to London, Stansted which will now depart 24 hours earlier on 1 December, due to the cancellation of the second Ascension shuttle flight. 

Reminder of full timetable:

Details of the anticipated days of operations* are listed below and the flight timings will be similar to those flown previously:

Bookings

Bookings are on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. A number of seats are reserved on each flight for emergency travel i.e. medevac patients.

Persons wishing to book travel may do so via the Shipping & Travel Department of Solomon & Company (St Helena) Plc. Bookings should be submitted to the Solomons Travel team via email: flight.reservations@solomons.co.sh or telephone: (+290) 22523 or visit in person at the Shipping & Travel Department, Malabar, Jamestown, between 8am and 3pm, Mondays to Fridays.

For those based on Ascension Island, or wishing to travel to or from Ascension Island, please contact the Finance Office via email: flight.bookings@ascension.gov.ac

Please note that SHG reserves the right to change dates of travel without notice even after payment has been received.

Customers wishing to book commercial or government airfreight for carriage on these flights are advised to use an appropriate freight forwarding agent to make the necessary arrangements.

*Days of operation subject to weather conditions at St Helena Airport.

SHG
3 September 2021

Following the arrival of the flight from the UK on Tuesday, 24 August, and as part of St Helena’s robust COVID-19 testing regime for passengers completing their 10-day quarantine period, a family in quarantine together have tested positive for COVID-19.  As a result and per Standard Operating Procedures in the Health Service Directorate these passengers will not be released from quarantine at this time. 

The quarantine period for the family has been extended by a further seven days and a revised testing regime has been put in place. They will only be permitted to leave quarantine at the end of these seven days if they all test negative from a PCR COVID-19 test.

The family, whose symptoms are mild and asymptomatic, will therefore remain in home quarantine and the Health Service Directorate will continue to monitor them over the next seven days.

All other passengers that arrived on the same flight have tested negative and will therefore be released from quarantine at 7pm today, Friday 3 September 2021.  No other contacts have been identified.

This is a scenario that St Helena Government (SHG) has planned and prepared for. Robust measures for effectively managing arrivals to St Helena have been in place throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. These protocols have been developed in liaison with experts from Public Health England and are designed to ensure that any person arriving to the Island is kept separate from the general public until the Senior Medical Officer can be assured that they do not pose a risk of introducing COVID-19 into the community.

The identification of the positive cases demonstrates the effectiveness of the Island’s current quarantine and testing regime.  The positive cases are contained in quarantine and there is no community spread of COVID-19 on St Helena at this time.

Due to there being no community spread of COVID-19 on St Helena the existing Travel Corridor between St Helena and Ascension Island will continue to operate for the upcoming shuttle flights. 

SHG
3 September 2021