One year in, just what is this States actually doing?

NEARLY a year into the first term of the States of the "Sarnian Spring", much is being made of the sense of stagnation.

It was perhaps inevitable that an election campaign that spoke so much of the need for change would, in the end, raise expectations too far and leave a whiff of failure for the lack of delivery.

This is, is it not, the States that likes to plan but is not so keen on action?

Or at least that is where one damning strand of the argument takes you, a view that is much more widely held among the more experienced politicos than the new breed who have taken on the challenge.

It is these criticisms of the first year that get Chief Minister Peter Harwood particularly animated.

Normally it can be difficult to detect in his measured delivery much of the emotion that some politicians muster, but he is resolute about the progress made so far.

'Each department was deluged by work in progress left by the previous States, particularly from the last six months,' said Deputy Harwood.

'The previous States set an agenda that departments still have to work through. You can't suddenly ignore everything that the previous States set in motion – it would be wasteful in time and resources.'

Allied to that in-tray was the process of financial transformation that the States is going through.

'We can't afford new services. This has been an interesting period – the focus and one of the priorities has been to get a budget reduction through the FTP. That's a major exercise and takes up a lot of time.

'While we have that progressing, we can't suddenly be introducing new policy.'

He admitted that there was frustration.

'It's an unusual period – I don't think the States has been in this period before. The focus is to reduce baseline expenditure by 10% and to achieve it is difficult. It does frustrate people that they can't suddenly move forward with new initiatives.'

It will be 2015 before any new policy initiatives that require expenditure can be brought to the States.

But Deputy Harwood reels off a list of reports that lay the foundations for more to come, including the waste and transport strategies, disability strategy and the visions released by Health and Social Services and Education.

There's also work on the population policy, due for debate in July, the ports master plan, the tax and benefits review and the finance strategy.

All are at various levels of development.

For something more concrete, he highlights the amount of civil service time that went into negotiating the details of Fatca.

He also points to the forthcoming government service plan debate in July as something that will show the volume of work going on and policies being worked on.

'There's a lot going on below the radar,' he said.

The FTP programme might easily be the yardstick by which this States is measured.

Will it deliver the promised £30m.-a-year reduction in spending, or will members simply come to the public to pay more?

Deputy Harwood said the FTP 'has to deliver'.

'The people expect it, the electorate expect it, but it's a tough time.'

Much of exactly what departments now have up their sleeves remains a mystery, although last week saw the publication of the strategic asset management plan, which through selling off unwanted States property and better management of other parts could eventually produce a seven-figure annual saving.

When he took up the post, Deputy Harwood pledged to bring new thinking to the way the island was represented on the international stage. This is evident in the way different ministers have travelled to meet their counterparts in other jurisdictions whereas once that was almost purely the domain of the chief minister.

'I think it's entirely appropriate. The Ministry of Justice is very keen to encourage departments of government in Guernsey to speak to departments of government in the UK. Previously, all those contacts were through me. But it's crazy if I'm meeting busy departments in the UK only then to report back to the minister here on the outcome of those discussions – it's far better the minister has those conversations directly.'

Deputy Chief Minister Jonathan Le Tocq, who has contacts in France and is a French speaker, takes the lead in relationships with Europe.

Treasury and Resources minister Gavin St Pier is currently in Washington for meetings that centre around tax and finance.

'I don't regard international relations being the sole responsibility of the chief minister. Again, it's a good example where we can get a corporate approach.'

There is an interesting dynamic that exists between the old and the new States, those members who have seen it all before and those still fresh.

One of those relationships to watch is that between former chief minister Lyndon Trott and Deputy Harwood – especially when the former is asking the latter questions which reflect on the role.

But they seem in agreement about the shortcomings of the chief minister position.

'If you speak to Deputy Trott, he would say the difficulty is that there are very few tools in the box – that's a point we perhaps both agree on. I have no inherent authority, so the only form I have is what I can create through the co-operation of the ministers. You have to work with people,' said Deputy Harwood.

'I think I have been very fortunate that the ministers that sit around the Policy Council are working very genuinely as a team and have been able to maintain ministerial respect. There's some quite interesting discussions, but I said from the outset that one of the key objectives was to build a team of people that can work together and provide a corporate approach.'