Truth about island finances welcomed

Many of us have been uneasy about the apparently uncontrolled expenditure which previous States have authorised, the repeated commissioning of expensive reports, unthinking mirroring of UK policies, and the pursuit of vanity projects seemingly aimed more at satisfying the desire of some deputies to go down in history rather than being the product of a cool and realistic appraisal of the cost-benefits to a small jurisdiction such as Guernsey.

What Deputy Helyar has now brought into the open is how the current structure of government provides such a fertile environment for profligate expenditure and, in particular, permits the creation of a bloated civil service through lack of overall control of increased numbers. Of course, competent civil servants are necessary for efficient administration, but their work does not directly produce economic growth, and their increasing numbers are subject to the law of diminishing returns.

As Deputy Helyar now points out, it is the lack of centralised and coordinated control of States expenditure which has produced the present lamentable situation. First, the States is effectively trustee of their taxpayers’ monies. They and their executive officers therefore need to observe the principle that expenditure must be justifiable on the grounds that it will produce a demonstrable benefit for the island’s citizens, rather than just being something which it would be noble or convenient to do, or would flatter the reputation of the instigator. Secondly, the only way to achieve this focused objective is to accept the necessity for an organ of government with the power to control, coordinate and coherently prioritise the expenditure of taxpayers’ money. This means dismantling the proliferated, competitive, silo culture of the present States’ government and administration, where individual committees and departments can proceed with their own projects without the need to coordinate with others, without being accountable for duplicated effort or wasted expenditure, and without being answerable to an overall supervising body.

The present system panders to the egos of individual deputies in charge of committee portfolios, but at huge expense and detriment to the overall efficiency, and therefore prosperity, of the island’s economy – and it hampers the power of those with the necessary expertise and skill to drive forward the strategic policies so badly needed.

I would suggest that two basic things are required to remedy the situation. The first is to recognise that it is the Policy & Resources Committee which should have the overall remit, and the power, to put into effect the coordinated strategy for all States expenditure that is needed. It should be endowed with the necessary authority by its membership, including the presidents of the six principal States committees, the deputy responsible for finance, and the chief minister, who should have a casting vote.

The second is that a strategic five, 10 and 20-year plan for the island’s economy should be compiled to provide guiding principles to enable that committee, and the States in general, to move forward coherently, with a structured objective rather than a haphazard sequence of individual projects.

For once, though, we appear to have a deputy responsible for finance whom we can trust to take the attitude that money cannot simply be allocated to disparate wish list projects without regard to where it is to come from. This is a step in the right direction, and Deputy Helyar is to be congratulated and supported in courageously exposing the home truths which he has highlighted.

HARVEY MARSHALL

St Saviour’s