Bermuda is to take part in a virtual forum organised to promote good governance and strong oversight of public finances across the Overseas Territories.

The event will involve key players from the UK and its Overseas Territories, including politicians, as well as internal and external auditors and electoral officials.

Members and staff from Bermuda’s Public Accounts Committee, led by Cole Simmons, the committee chairman and Opposition leader, will also take part.

Dennis Lister, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, said: “I am pleased to see that our members want to enhance their understanding of best practices for effective oversight on our recent Covid emergency relief spending and other public finances.”

Anguilla, Ascension Island, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn, St Helena, Tristan da Cunha and the Turks & Caicos Islands will also take part.

The forum was designed to improve financial oversight and good governance while and look at how delegates could collaborate on pandemic recovery, scrutiny and communication.

It is a continuation of the UK Overseas Territories Project which was set up to assist the Overseas Territories with good government practices.

The project, now in its second phase, is delivered by the UK branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in partnership with the UK’s National Audit Office and Internal Audit Agency.

Lord Foulkes, the chairman of the UK Overseas Territories Project and vice-chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK, said the forum was “a fantastic opportunity to take stock of progress since we entered the second phase of the project and to explore mutual challenges and opportunities as we all continue to navigate the global pandemic”.

The Oversight of Public Finances and Good Governance Forum will run from November 30 to December 2.