Guernsey Press

Forget education – this is the real debate

They may be political rivals, but deputies Ferbrache and St Pier appeared to be singing from a remarkably similar hymn sheet over the need for government reform. Richard Digard explains

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Guernsey needs to move away from toxicity in politics and get back to doing what is right for the community. (Shutterstock)

PUT education to one side for a moment if you would, please. For there have, in the last couple of weeks, been two significant contributions to the much-needed and even more serious debate on how Guernsey is to save itself. The discussion isn’t badged that way, of course, but that’s the essence of what we should all be considering.

And because the island actually needs saving from itself, but few wish to see it in those terms, it is very hard to get the focus or the urgency needed on the conversation we should all be having.

Policy & Resources president Gavin St Pier got close to it in his speech to the Guernsey Chamber of Commerce the other day when he spoke of the need to improve the political process, remove some of the toxicity and get back to doing what was right for this community.

So too did former Economic Development president Peter Ferbrache in his edited letter to this newspaper and which, given its near 9,000-word length, was published in full online.

I recommend reading it (the link is at the foot of this piece), because it’s the closest you will get to a warts-and-all overview of the dangers and difficulties the Bailiwick of Guernsey is exposed to and yet, largely, is ignoring.

Deputy St Pier could have articulated something similar in his Chamber speech of course as he is equally aware of the issues. But, being head of P&R, to have done so would have generated the wrong sort of headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Instead he was more nuanced, but both politicians covered substantially the same ground. The reason they did so is simple. There are now two sorts of folk in the island – those who get it and those who don’t.

What’s to get is that we’re at a crossroads. As Deputy Ferbrache put it, he (and many of us of similar age) are part of the lucky generation and that opportunities for advancement for young people are much more difficult today.

To paraphrase them, so too are the opportunities open to the Bailiwick as a whole.

Sticking with the lucky generation theme for a bit, it’s now clear that previous States were fiscally prudent and generally business-minded. That, combined with the good fortune of a nascent financial services sector, propelled the island into effortless prosperity.

Today, if we’re honest with ourselves, now that things are getting harder we see that the public sector and political processes are not producing the results required.

To give just a small example of that, Deputy John Gollop’s Development & Planning Authority attempted to derail Economic Development’s green paper the other week with a series of pettifogging questions that had no purpose other than to cause mischief.

Here’s a small example:

How many local stakeholders have raised concerns over the island’s current and future economy and performance and who are they? About which areas of the economy have they raised concerns, in what capacity have they raised concerns and in what fora? What are the concerns that have been raised?

There are pages more of such guff and you wonder why Deputy Gollop allowed civil service time to be wasted in such a fashion, far less putting his name to such nonsense.

Yet it’s endemic. As Deputy Ferbrache noted: ‘I do find [P&R’s] current senior leadership is more concerned with form, procedure and “consultation”, whatever that means in this context, than getting on with the substance needed to invigorate our economy.’

Having decided to embrace ‘evidence-based’ policy making, the patient can now die before government collectively decides that, yes, it can safely conclude that there are signs of illness before going out to consult on possible treatment.

Deputy Ferbrache’s 8,800-word essay contains much that would address some of the island’s current difficulties, including a state-owned lifeline shipping service, subsidised air fares and a longer runway.

Interestingly, Deputy St Pier criticised that approach, asking how could we make decisions on air and sea links, on ferries and runways, without a clear vision of the type of economy that we, collectively, want to build?

‘We need a manifesto for growth and public-private partnership. Not a consultation paper that will lead to a suite of boundaried strategies,’ he said.

Well, possibly, but haven’t we just put in place a Policy & Resource Plan to stimulate the economy, the same plan that Deputy Ferbrache says is being used as a strait-jacket and as a bar to any kind of growth?

Where the two deputies do agree, however, is that the islands can no longer carry on doing the same old things and expect a different, better outcome.

Personally, I’m with Deputy St Pier that we need a better kind of politics, and have been saying so for years.

I also agree with his analysis of the underlying problem:

‘Most sensible people, most of the time, don’t have the capacity, resources or inclination to put themselves forward to join an inherently frustrating and dysfunctional organisation whose effectiveness is impeded,’ he said.

He didn’t discuss the consequences of trying to pilot this community through increasingly turbulent waters under such a system. Perhaps he felt there was no need, given the evidence all around us that only Deputy Gollop’s Development & Planning Authority cannot see.

Anyway, Deputy Ferbrache has helpfully provided a pretty good exposé of how poorly things lie for the island, and Deputy St Pier has very passionately called for a new, better form of government because, self-evidently, we need it.

It reminded me of something another senior member said to me earlier this year, that perhaps too often the States try to detach issues of policy from issues of leadership, pretending that as long as the policy is right any old collection of characters can lead it.

Well, Education has shown how right that observation was and it’s no coincidence that Deputy St Pier has also put the focus on the capabilities and capacities, as he termed it, of those in the Assembly if things are to improve.

So do respond to his campaign for better politics, because if I’m right that we need saving from ourselves, only we can do it. And time’s short.

I WAS intrigued by the joint statement from Unite the Union and the States of Guernsey on pension litigation earlier this month – but largely for what it didn’t tell me.

Yes, it’s pleasing that government has negotiated a way ahead that removes the risk – likelihood? – of losing a court case on changing contracts without consent, but two things flow from that.

The first is at what cost to the taxpayer has this occurred?

The pension reforms were already a bad deal for islanders before Unite, presumably, watered them down even further.

Secondly, how can a consensus system of government that prides itself on members being involved in key decisions accept a settlement on something so significant and far-reaching without even being aware of the details?

As Deputy Jonathan Le Tocq, the Policy & Resources member who leads on employment matters, said:

‘Details surrounding the proposal remain confidential to the parties, with further specifics of the proposal to be made available in due course.’

That really isn’t good enough, but although the scheme deficit stands at in excess of £1bn – more even than collapsed Carillion’s – no one is demanding to know what’s really happening with the Bailiwick’s biggest single liability.

Worrying, really.

PS: I merely note in passing that since we remunerate States members these days, it has cost the taxpayer approaching £400,000 for members of Education, Sport & Culture NOT to get a coherent education policy together. On that basis, the £92,000 spent on the alternative and preferred two-school model looks rather good value.

https://guernseypress.com/news/voices/2018/01/16/views-of-a-backbencher/

https://gov.gg/article/163367/President-Policy--Resources-Committee-speaks-at-Chamber-of-Commerce-Lunch