The overarching Government Work Plan, agreed in January, directed the seven principal committees and the senior committee, Policy & Resources, to draw up work plans setting out their policies until 2029. At that time, P&R said it ‘anticipated’ that they would be published in the first half of the year.
The committees have provided a variety of reasons for the delays and different dates by which they now expect their work plans to be published, with some imminent but others potentially still weeks from being finalised.
P&R defended the committees’ approach to work plans and said that ‘operational service delivery’ was not affected by the delays.
‘The proportion of new deputies in the Assembly, and therefore on committees, is no doubt a factor – they naturally need to understand their mandates fully in order to agree their plans,’ said P&R president Lindsay de Sausmarez.
‘We know that committees are now making progress through their priorities and we are expecting substantive policy letters and legislation to come forward this year.’
It is understood that one or two committees could be ready to publish their work plans next week, but it is likely to be the end of September before all of them have been released.
Committees’ work plans were previously presented to the States Assembly, but earlier this term deputies agreed a recommendation from P&R for them to be made public, but not taken to the Assembly.
Since the general election in June 2025, the Assembly has debated an unusually low number of policy letters from committees.
Business has been agreed up to and including the States meeting starting on 30 September. At this point there is no indication of the number of policy letters increasing, but P&R said there would be no reconsideration of the decision to keep committees’ work plans away from the Assembly.
‘Committee work plans are live documents to bring focus to the Government Work Plan, which has already been debated and agreed for the term, and aid its co-ordination,’ said Deputy de Sausmarez.
‘I am sure most people will want committees to get on with delivering their work, rather than diverting resources into policy letters and debates when the critical priorities have already been established.’
Each committee is expected to use its work plan to set out its policy agenda for the political term which ends in June 2029 and how it will contribute to the Government Work Plan.
The Economic Development and Housing committees said they were hopeful of publishing their work plans next week.
The Environment & Infrastructure Committee has agreed a work plan which is now being prepared for publication.
Education, Sport & Culture had been awaiting the outcome of the States’ tax debate but, following the adjournment of that debate until the autumn, said it would look to publish its policy agenda in the summer.
Health & Social Care hoped to publish its work plan before the end of September.
Home Affairs said it had been focusing on its 2027 budget submission and could not publish its work plan until it was ‘confident of delivering the committee’s stated objectives’. It had considered a draft work plan but was understood to be some way from publishing a final version.
Employment & Social Security partially blamed turnover in committee membership for delaying its work plan. Deputies Garry Collins and David Dorrity were leading a savings sub-committee which ESS said was going to inform its work plan, but both recently resigned from the committee within weeks of each other.
P&R will publish one of its own as the last piece in the work plan jigsaw.
‘Part of our committee’s mandate relates to co-ordination of the States’ business, so our work plan has to be informed to an extent by the work plans agreed by the principal committees,’ said Deputy de Sausmarez.
‘We were pleased to bring forward the Government Work Plan in a much shorter timeframe than previous iterations, so the whole Assembly could guide individual committees on where their main areas of focus should be.
‘We have also delivered other key policy letters to help organise the States’ work, including the review of States resolutions remaining extant, the prioritised list of legislative drafting, and a new approach to managing the prioritisation of major projects by the Assembly.’