Call for climate emergency in amendments

The words ‘climate change emergency’ will be added to a proposal implementing a new policy priority area of mitigating climate change, if deputies Dawn Tindall and John Gollop’s amendment is passed.

Deputies Lindsay de Sausmarez and Andrea Dudley-Owen want to go further, saying that the island needed to recognise the seriousness of the global situation and giving some suggestions for actions and policies that could be undertaken now – and Guernsey ‘must urgently address the climate and ecological crisis at both local and international level’.

Another of the 14 amendments is from deputies Jennifer Merrett and Rhian Tooley and would replace a proposition that all committees should point out the likely impact of climate change on their proposals. They want this also to include any anticipated impact on health/wellbeing or any financial implications to the States.

One of the new ideas in the plan is the setting up of a policy supervisory board for each of the 22 priorities. Deputy Matt Fallaize and Deputy Tooley’s amendment would remove reference to these boards. Since the idea of these boards seems to indicate that Policy & Resources feels there is a problem with cross-committee working, deputies Sarah Hansmann Rouxel and Emilie Yerby suggest P&R should liaise with the States’ Assembly and Constitution Committee on how this can be achieved instead of the proposed boards.

An amendment from deputies Yerby and Fallaize proposes replacing five sections of a proposition affecting the nature of the plan and procedural matters involved in both its preparation and the work of committees ahead of the election. This would also do away with the renaming of the plan as the Future Guernsey Plan.

Deputy Merrett and Deputy Chris Green’s amendment is aimed at P&R’s review of in-work poverty and wants it made clear that the committee should liaise with relevant States departments as well as some third sector organisations.

The St Sampson’s deputy’s second amendment, seconded by Deputy Yerby, calls on P&R to bring a formal proposition to the Assembly to enable members to decide whether to make any changes to the anticipated value and timing of the savings targets set out in the Medium Term Financial Plan.

An attempt to have the States re-negotiate a reciprocal health agreement with the UK is the subject of an amendment from Deputy Rob Prow, seconded by Deputy Merrett.

Health and Social Care committee president Heidi Soulsby and Deputy Mark Dorey would like members to approve the creation of a lead member role for Corporate Services within P&R itself. This, they say, ‘will allow more of a focal point for political accountability’.

This amendment, if approved, will also lead to the holding of summits of all States committees allowing them to evaluate performance against a set of common standards.

Deputy Soulsby is leading another amendment that points out that since its contribution to the appendix was published, HSC has identified gaps in services between primary and secondary mental health care, and would add addressing these to its priorities for this year and next.

A further amendment from Deputy Michelle Le Clerc, seconded by Deputy Soulsby, addresses the issue of civil servants’ accountability in the wake of the structural changes taking place in the service and wants mechanisms put in place ‘to ensure that the new structure is truly cross-governmental’.

A simple change of date of a States meeting is being proposed by Deputies Tooley and Lindsay de Sausmarez, who believe it would be better if debate on the final P&R plan of this term be moved form 5 May to 21 April, since they say there could be a lot of business at the States’ final meeting.

Development and Planning Authority president Dawn Tindall is leading an amendment seconded by DPA member Alderney Representative Alex Snowdon, which would ensure that the authority would be called upon to contribute to the P&R Plan in future.