The Government expects to raise $50,000 by introducing controversial Public Access to Information fees in the coming fiscal year.

Vance Campbell, the Minister of Tourism and Cabinet Office, revealed the figure as part of his Budget brief on the Cabinet Office departments in the House of Assembly on Monday.

Mr Campbell did not reveal how much the fee would be.

He said: “Fees applied for Pati requests are being implemented to offset onerous costs of administrating requests, some of which require copious hours to conduct research.

“It is not unusual for Pati fees to be charged in one form or another as it the case in other jurisdictions such as the UK. Revenue from these fees is projected to be $50,000.”

Mr Campbell said the Public Access to Information Act and Personal Information Protection Act Unit was allocated $918,000, an increase of 4 per cent compared with last year.

Cole Simons, the Leader of the Opposition, expressed reservations.

“We have a right to access our own information – it is very controversial,” he said.

“ We are following it – there are concerns that we may inhibit access to information.”

Total expenditure for the Cabinet Office was $31.8 million, a decrease of $399,000 of the original budget of 2022-23.

The decrease included the defunding of two vacancies as well as a cut to grants.

The Bermuda Tourism Authority’s grant was reduced by $1 million to $19 million. Mr Campbell said the BTA’s grant would help it to “revive the crucial tourism industry for the purpose of rebuilding our economy by creating more jobs and business in this vital sector”.

Mr Campbell said: “While Bermuda has not yet returned to 2019 visitor volumes, we saw significant growth in 2022 when compared to 2021 across key tourism measures, including air capacity, leisure air visitors and cruise travel.”

He said that a fee for operating a rental unit would be implemented in this fiscal year and would be based on the annual rental value for each property. There will be greater support for art, culture and entertainment.

Craig Cannonier, the shadow tourism minister, opposed the BTA grant allocation. “If we are going to get somewhere, we have got to invest,” he said.

Mr Cannonier suggested that money should be pulled from other ministries.

“We need to put our money where our mouth is,” he added.

None of the Opposition’s questions were answered as Mr Campbell’s brief, along with the questions, took up the full five-hour debate. Mr Campbell committed to responding to them at a later date.

Among the questions asked by Mr Cannonier were whether the 1,700 available rooms referenced by Mr Campbell – representing 73 per cent on 2019 volumes – included Airbnbs, whether the BTA’s 42 headcount will be increased to the pre-pandemic level of 55 and whether any of the 200-plus expected cruise visits would be made to Hamilton and St George’s.

The Washington DC Office saw an increase of $192,000 to $436,000. This included $119,000 – up 4 per cent – on professional services. In the middle of last year, Bermudian Anthony Howell was hired and charged with “restoring operations of the DC office as well as strengthening positive dialogue with business and government stakeholders in promoting financial services”.

Mr Campbell said: “Mr Howell is an expert in US politics and international relations. He will maintain a robust and healthy relationship with the US and work to solidify economic, geopolitical and cultural ties.”

Mr Simons supported the hire and said that Mr Howell was “well qualified”.

The London Office was allocated $1.2 million and the Brussels Office received $343,000.

Speaking on the performance measures of the Cabinet Office, Mr Campbell said a health and safety audit was conducted at the Department of Corrections and assistance was provided by an officer on implementing a plan to address legacy buildings. He said an officer would inspect Tynes Bay Waste-to-Energy Facility and would do likewise at schools throughout the year.

The Bermuda Post Office was allocated $9.3 million – a decrease of $189,000 on the revised 2022-23 allocation. There will be three stamp issues in the year ahead, including one to honour the King.

Mr Campbell said postal rates were set to rise in 2024 from 50 cents to 60 cents to help offset operational costs.

He said the new My Bermuda Post and product unit had generated $600,000 and that the use of digital NFTs (non-fungible tokens) was under consideration for out-of -circulation stamps.

Mr Simons highlighted an ongoing operating deficit and said nothing substantial had been done to reduce it.

He criticised the Government for dragging its feet over cybersecurity and questioned what resources would be committed to “crafting a model that will be proactive”.