‘It’s for all States members to own the plan’
POLICY & Resources might be presenting the Government Work Plan to the States next month, but ultimately it wants all 40 States members and their committees to take responsibility for it.
That is why the senior committee said it would welcome amendments from the floor of the Assembly in the hope that members would take ownership of the plan to see them through to the end of this States in 2025.
‘We welcome amendments as this is the Assembly’s plan,’ said P&R president Peter Ferbrache.
‘P&R is bringing this report but it has to be owned ultimately by the assembly. When we debate it, it is for the Assembly to decide, and then for the committees to deliver these actions.’
The committee presented to States members yesterday on the eve of the report’s publication.
‘It went OK,’ said P&R vice-president Deputy Heidi Soulsby.
‘They asked the questions we expected, and there shouldn’t be anything in the report that’s a surprise to them.’
Deputy Ferbrache said that the plan, although produced quickly by States standards, was considered, and he hoped it would mean the States would operate in less of a scattergun fashion as a result.
‘In the last few years we have added things with no idea how to achieve them,’ he said. ‘This is integrated – we have a plan which leads to action.
‘Time is short and money is tight, but let’s get things done.’
Policy developments, capital projects and legislation are aligned in the report, and broadly costed.
The initial focus has strong elements of Covid running through it, with a list of recovery actions for the community and the need to finalise the response to the pandemic.
Then there are internal issues in reshaping government and reviewing the island’s tax system, considered alongside more external-facing responses linked to Brexit and the need to meet international standards in financial services, climate change and trade.