‘Now is not the time to relax States' discipline on spending’

Gavin St Pier presented the audited accounts for 2017, which recorded a £22.1m. surplus out of a financial position where overall revenue outstripped expenditure by £113.9m. ‘I will reiterate how pleased we should all be that 2017 was a very good financial year, which is a really encouraging indicator of renewed strength in the economy, the growth in many sources of revenue such as personal income tax, corporate income tax, document duty receipts and investment returns,’ he said.

‘Committees have collectively underspent their budgets, there had been a real-terms reduction in expenditure compared to 2016 and a full transfer to the capital reserve in line with our policy.

‘This is all positive, but I have to sound a bit of caution.

‘We did benefit from some one-off income receipts in 2017, and we will be facing significant expenditure pressures in the coming years from the anticipated demographic changes and increases in the dependency ratio.

‘These are starting to materialise. For example, there is a significant increase in demand for services provided at the PEH.

‘However, we should not under-estimate the success of achieving a surplus, and a significant one at that, for the second year in a row.

‘For the first time in a decade we were able to make a transfer to the Core Investment Reserve at the end of last year. This is a huge step and reflects financial strength in the long-term sustainability of public finances.’

Deputy St Pier warned that ‘now was not the time’ to relax the fiscal discipline that has rebuilt States funds.

While a surplus was generated last year, there are prevailing concerns over public services and the need to make headway on priorities identified in the Policy & Resource Plan. ‘It is incumbent on all committees to challenge the status quo and to ensure that opportunities to change the way public services are delivered are fully explored and implemented,’ he said.

‘I am pleased that we have now put in place the architecture to oversee and drive the objective of more effective working with Jersey and the oversight of the three largest spending committees, HSC, ESC and Home Affairs.

‘We have prioritised and approved our portfolio of capital programmes and projects for delivery in the period up to 2021 along with a series of pipeline projects.

‘It is becoming increasingly apparent that there are delays in delivering the capital portfolio. My committee recognises its commitment to facilitating acceleration where reasonable and practical to do so and will sympathetically consider requests for funding to supplement existing resources available for project planning and management.’