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The Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture has become the latest Government official to adopt a new name, becoming the Minister for Sustainable Economic Development.
The Minister's new title hopes to indicate Deputy Kirsten Morel’s commitment to achieving lasting economic prosperity.
The newly-rebranded Minister for Sustainable Economic Development said: “This is an important change, as the overall priority for the economic development of our Island is that the economy should flourish long into the future.
“By highlighting the focus on sustainable economic development, I and future Ministers will be focused on the long-term and on building an economy that works within the island’s social and environmental limitations."
The Chief Minister has today signed a Ministerial Decision enabling the title Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture to be changed to Minister for Sustainable Economic Development.
— Government of Jersey (@GovJersey) October 16, 2023
Read the full update here: https://t.co/nlAszcjblS pic.twitter.com/LVJGIGxOGf
This change does not alter the Minister's responsibilities, which cover various areas like tourism, sports, culture, agriculture, marine, and digital sectors, all considered equally important.
The shift in language is in line with the Future Economy Programme, which outlines the Government's economic development strategy through 2040, addressing significant challenges posed by the island's changing demographics.
Deputy Kirsten Morel said: “This change reflects the aims of the Future Economy Programme, which seeks to develop an economy that works for all Islanders and the Island itself by leveraging technology, our own environmental resources and everyone who lives here – all of whom contribute their hard work, talents and knowledge in different ways to deliver the high standard of living that we all enjoy and want to continue enjoying across generations.”
This renaming follows the Environment Minister's recent change to 'Minister for Energy and Environment', reflecting a growing emphasis on carbon neutrality and sustainable energy solutions.
Pictured: Deputy Jonathon Renouf was recently renamed as 'Minister for Energy and Environment'.
This move was initiated by Deputy Jonathon Renouf, who has been exploring the possibility of establishing a wind farm in the island's territorial waters.
Deputy Sam Mezec took to social media to criticise these rebranding efforts, describing the current Government as "obsessed with vibes over substance".
For a government obsessed with vibes over substance, they’re not even any good at the vibes.
According to the government, there’s now two Ministers for Energy. No idea how they let that one slip through.
It would be better if they just focused on making our lives better. pic.twitter.com/oH9nqzwRpc
— Deputy Sam Mézec (@SamMezecJsy) October 16, 2023In today’s episode of “vibe over substance”…
He continued:
In today’s episode of “vibe over substance”…
— Deputy Sam Mézec (@SamMezecJsy) October 16, 2023
It’s one of those things where if your actions alone aren’t enough to let people know “sustainability” is part of the remit, then maybe you’ve got bigger problems than the labelling of it. pic.twitter.com/edPZ5KXdqs
The offices of the Environment and Economic Development Ministers aren't the only part of Government to have undergone a rebrand in recent years.
Kicking things off was a decision to drop 'States of Jersey' and adopt 'Government of Jersey' as the public service's new identity.
This came as former CEO Charlie Parker worked through his 'OneGov' plan to tear up the structure of Government and create several new departments.
This also meant renaming and merging existing ones.
In 2021, the Education Minister became the 'Children and Education Minister', while the Minister for Housing also became the Minister for Housing and Communities.
The changes followed several departures from the then-Chief Minister John Le Fondré's Government, with the top politician explaining at the time:
“As we have seen during the outbreak of covid-19, education and the well-being of children and young people are intrinsically linked.
“Joining the portfolio for Children and Education will enable the Minister to focus on joining up legislation, policy and practice to make sure that children’s needs are understood and met through our work."
This change also presents us with an opportunity to reconfigure the role of Minister for Housing: by introducing a focus on communities into this role, we will therefore have a champion and support for good housing but also for critical elements of our community.”
The now-Infrastructure and Environment (I&E) department was first created in 2018 as the Growth, Housing and Island Environment (GHE) department.
In 2019, the then-Economic Development Minister Senator Farnham suggested that work to do with the economy should be removed from the department's remit.
That suggestion was acted on in early 2020, with a decision taken to create a separate 'Economy' function, sitting within the Office of the Chief Executive.
With the 'Growth' (economy) section having left, GHE's name was then changed to Infrastructure, Housing and Environment (IHE) in late 2020.
This year, the department – one of Government's largest – recently underwent its third rebrand in just five years.
The change removed Housing from the department, leaving just Infrastructure and Environment.
Infrastructure alone has gone through several rebrands, having been known as Transport and Technical Services (TTS) and, before that, Public Works.
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