Horace Camp’s article in the Press the other day set me thinking and chimed very well with my own experience of doing project work with several States departments. Few, if any, have any measure of efficiency or any clear objectives to improve it.
Many civil servants work hard, but with outdated and inefficient systems. The States senior management squandered a golden opportunity with the Agilisys contract to achieve a major step forward by taking services online. Admittedly, many departments were coming from a very low baseline of paper-based systems and obsolescent IT, but much could have been achieved. The Population Management system is now all handled online and the staff numbers to administer it are significantly reduced, so it can be done.
The proposed smorgasbord of measures reminds me very much of Gordon Brown’s introduction of systems to take away with one hand whilst giving back with another, which has led to the hideously complicated set-up in the UK, which requires more and more civil servants to administer.
The States have already estimated that the introduction of GST will cost £1m. to administer, and that takes no account of the cost impact on local businesses which will flow through to the cost of living, which is already driving young people away from the island.
The current proposals will not be accepted by the people of Guernsey. The way forward needs to include a greater contribution from the corporate sector and clear objectives to increase efficiency and reduce government costs, before blithely raiding the pockets of the people of Guernsey.
Mike Tidd
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