The previous States agreed in principle that they should become incorporated businesses – similar to Guernsey Electricity and Guernsey Post – and be given more freedom to operate commercially while remaining fully under States ownership.
The States Trading Supervisory Board was directed to present more detailed recommendations in 2026, but it now expects to reconsider the status of the airport, harbours and States Works later in the current political term, and does not anticipate making any recommendations before the end of this year.
However, more advanced preparations to commercialise Guernsey Water are still being progressed as intended, after the States identified it as the most ready for incorporation, and the process is expected to be completed next year.
‘Assuming that goes ahead as planned, the work undertaken through that process will help to inform whether and when Guernsey Ports and States Works should also be incorporated,’ said STSB president Mark Helyar.
‘In particular for Guernsey Ports, we need greater clarity about future harbour requirements, the treatment of non‑commercial operations such as Guernsey Coastguard, and what, if any, ongoing contribution from general revenue is appropriate for the airport’s role in economic enablement.
‘Until those points are resolved, the benefits and costs of incorporation will remain unclear, and consequently the board is unlikely to present any further proposals during 2026.’
The previous STSB had claimed that all three trading operations – water, the ports and States Works – were being prevented from developing their full potential and that commercialisation was needed to free them from civil service control over functions such as IT, recruitment and pay.
At that time, there was no date put on the commercialisation of the ports and States Works, but there was a direction that Guernsey Water should be incorporated by the end of 2027.
Officials from STSB and Guernsey Water are working on the practical and legislative changes which are necessary to commercialise before a report is taken to the States some time next year on how incorporation would work in practice.
In the previous debate, the Assembly accepted the board’s advice to rule out commercialisation of its other three States-owned trading operations – the dairy, waste services and the lottery – because it believed they were either unviable as incorporated businesses or better suited to more hands-on government control.
Deputy Helyar said his STSB ‘had no reason to reconsider’ the status of those three trading operations.
The incorporation of Guernsey Water, and investigations into commercialising the ports and States Works, were expected to cost not more than £500,000, to be funded by the businesses themselves.
‘The current STSB has no concerns regarding the original budget being sufficient to complete all the anticipated incorporation work that the States has already agreed to in principle,’ said Deputy Helyar.