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Next week, our elected representatives work out how to spend the £1bn or so that taxpayers hand over to the Government every year.
We have known the Council of Ministers' plan for a couple of months – including its intention to borrow £1.7bn over the next five years to fund its covid response, pension liabilities and the hospital.
We also know that the Treasury Minister plans to freeze duty on beer but add 5% to wine and spirits and 5p a litre on fuel.
And we also know about the Government’s capital programme – which includes money to fund a new joint ambulance and fire headquarters and extensive renovation work at Elizabeth Castle.
Looking at the bigger picture, we know that the Government plans to spend more money that it will receive every year until 2024-25.
But since the draft plan’s publication in September, all politicians have pored over the detail and some are seeking to challenge it.
Here, Express reviews what those changes are and what they might mean...
The Senator believes that asking social housing tenants to pay 90% of market rate in rent is too high and wants to lower it.
He proposes making this viable by reducing the dividend that Andium Homes has to pay the Treasury, so its planned development programme will not be disrupted. He argues that the projected government spend on Income Support is also reduced as a result of this.
Pictured: Former Housing Minister Sam Mezec wants to reduce the maximum social housing rent by 10% and the dividend that Andium Homes pays to Government.
The former Housing Minister says the system is flawed: Andium provides the Treasury with a financial return of around £30m a year, which is £10m more than Social Security pays out in Income Support payments to Andium tenants to pay for their rent.
Rent caps also mean that very few tenants pay 90% anyway, says Senator Mézec. Fixing it at 80% makes it fairer and more sustainable.
He argues: “The primary objective of reforming social rent setting in Jersey is to improve affordability for tenants who do not receive Income Support and make it more likely for more social housing tenants who receive small amounts of income support to afford housing costs without relying on Income Support.”
Senator Mezec estimates that accepting his amendment will cost the Government £2m over the course of the Government Plan.
The Constable of St. Brelade wants a small inquiry panel of four or five people to be set up to establish what the Government could have been done better in its covid-19 response.
Pictured: Constable Mike Jackson wants to allocate £500,000 for a covid response review.
He argues: “Some jurisdictions have begun to establish their pandemic lessons learned inquiries.
“It is time now for Jersey to meet the widespread public expectation that we also need to harvest, analyse, learn, and apply our own lessons from the pandemic in order to safeguard our population.
“We must demonstrate that we can be agile when required. We can best protect Jersey by authorising a rapid, short, bespoke lessons learned inquiry so that urgent lessons can be learned and applied.”
His amendment echoes arguments made by Brigadier Nigel Hall, who has been calling for an inquiry for several months.
The Deputy wants to widen the Health Access Scheme, which provides free or subsidised GP visits to those on low incomes, and lower the cost of GP visits by increasing the subsidy to GPs.
He argues: “To suggest, as the [Social Security] Minister does, that in order to improve the delivery of health care services, we need to abandon the present system, and await the results of a review that has barely started, is at best misguided.
“To suggest that we can only do this if we deliberately allow the HIF to be run down to just £48m, or one year’s income, is reckless. The Minister’s words describe ‘a full review across all areas’ but the reality is that the proposals to remove a total of £44.3m from the HIF between 2021 and 2025 will effectively close down the fund, leaving it with barely one year’s reserve.”
If approved, this amendment would restore the budget for environmental regulation – in areas such as listed buildings, places and trees, housing, food, nuisance, public health and planning services – to the £1.5m earmarked for 2022 in the original business case for such a service.
The Senator asks: “I have heard time and again about the risks associated with capital programmes, and planning is one that comes in at number one every time.
“If there is sufficient resource to reduce backlog and address forthcoming plans, capital programmes and private construction for homes, then why wouldn’t we want to alleviate the risk to enable the supply to be brought forward earlier?”
Pictured: Senator Tracey Vallois wants the Government to spend money on environmental regulation.
She continues: “There are legal duties placed upon the regulatory directorate and the business case originally provided, I believe, is a strong evidence and argumentative basis for the need to bring practices into a modern day offering for the public.”
The Deputy wants to increase the Education budget by £80,200 to allow the service to retain a full-time and assistant Youth Worker and employ a part-time assistant Youth Worker to work on a two-year pilot ‘transition programme’ within the Inclusion Project.
She says: “The amendments seeks to cover the cost of the Inclusion Project youth worker, 75% of which historically has been funded by a voluntary charity. Charity funding will not be available to support wages for the programme going forward.
“The continuation of these services is essential to so many young people and will ensure a consistent, comprehensive and sustainable offer for future generations of young people with special needs and disability.”
The Deputy wants to encourage more people to use the bus and reduce school traffic.
He argues: “Aside from a significant reduction in living costs for young people and families, the introduction of this scheme will support the aims of the Sustainable Transport Policy by enabling a mode of travel to school and college that reduces car use and congestion around schools at drop-off and collection times, thereby reducing carbon emissions from idling cars and improving air quality.
Pictured: Deputy Rob Ward wants the Government to subsidise free bus passes for under-18s.
“Should more school buses be needed to meet service demand, then this will demonstrate a success in the project. The issue of diesel buses can be solved by use of RD100 renewable diesel in school buses.”
The Deputy says he cannot be certain at this stage how much the pass would cost the Government.
So far, the Government has borrowed £29.6m of the £50m it allocated for Fiscal Stimulus Fund projects. This was in two tranches last year: £22.8m in the first and £6.8m in the second.
The panel has been critical of the fund since it was first mooted, questioning whether it will achieve its aim of boosting the economy during and after the pandemic.
It wants to cap the fund at £29.6m so the Treasury Minister would have to come back to the Assembly if she wanted to allocate more funding.
The panel say that the Government’s decision to cut the trust’s grant next year is wrong. They argue such a cut will force the trust to close its Nanny Accreditation Service, which is “the sole provider of vital checks to safeguard children, their families and nannies within the home care environment”.
It argues: “Considering the Jersey Child Care Trust is a charity, the panel observes the Trust has added significant value to the Government’s grant to date.
“The Panel notes, as a result of the Trust’s 2021 Government grant of £133,800, that vital services to the value of £623,689, benefiting children and families, have been delivered.
“The Panel notes that the reduction of £30,000 to the Trust’s Government Grant in 2022 is significant in respect of the income the grant presents.
“Moreover, it will result in the loss of the sole provision of the Nanny Accreditation Service and will directly impact children, families and the Jersey workforce.
“The panel emphasises that a choice to not support this amendment, will go against the Common Strategic Priority ‘Putting Children First’.”
The panel wants to increase the funding for Mental Health Services by £500,000 in 2022 in order to assist services which are experiencing pressure as a result of the pandemic. It believes this should be funded from the Covid-19 Reserve.
The panel says that, through its own evidence-gathering, it has identified shortfalls in funding and resources, such as the frontline Listening Lounge and Jersey Talking Therapies, which it wants to address.
The former military police barracks in the Royal Square is currently empty, although it is earmarked as a base to provide victim support services. However, that will only be for a few years as a new facility is in the pipeline.
Pictured: PPC is proposing a £100,000 feasibility into whether Piquet House could provide meeting rooms for States Members.
PPC want to take £100,000 from the proposed £20m Technology Fund to give to Jersey Property Holdings to assess the feasibility of Piquet House turning into a safe and secure space for States Members to meet each other and their constituents.
The body in charge of Assembly business estimate a full conversion of Piquet House, if the JPL gave their idea a thumbs up, would cost £1.4m, which would need to be allocated in a future Government Plan.
Deputy Ward, a former teacher, wants all schools have a guaranteed minimum 15% ‘headroom funding’, which is what’s left after fixed costs such as wages are removed.
Pictured: Deputy Rob Ward wants to increase funding for island schools.
“Without this safeguard in place, schools will continue to struggle to fund the basic teaching materials,” he says. “They will also struggle to plan long term in the changing world of curricula and resources required.”
The Deputy does not know how much his amendment will cost because the Government’s new funding formula for schools is yet to be worked out. However, he estimates it could be around £8.5m.
The leader of Reform Jersey believes that capping contributions to these funds is “regressive and unfair” because it means that the highest earning islanders pay the lowest effective rates.
He argues: “No moral justification has ever been given for why those in Jersey most able to pay are given the privilege of lower effective rates than everyone else.
“If Islanders were taxed at equal rates - let alone progressive rates - substantial extra revenue would be raised to fund more generous support through the range of benefits Islanders who pay into these funds are entitled to.
“Only those earning over £250,000 a year would be affected by these changes, and so the effect of this amendment would exclusively be felt by the highest earners in Jersey.”
The Constable of St. Martin is asking the Government to follow a similar process followed in the UK and Ireland, where a group of people were charged with making recommendations about eliminating pay inequality and gender gaps.
She also wants the panel to consider improvements to women's safety.
Pictured: Constable Shenton-Stone is proposing creating a Citizens' Assembly to look at gender inequality.
She argues: “Such an Assembly would give Islanders the opportunity to more closely examine the divisions within their everyday lives, and challenge and hopefully begin to dismantle structural barriers that continue to persist to this day."
Under the organisational reforms of former CEO Charlie Parker, the civil servants supporting the External Relations Minister came under the Office of the Chief Executive. If accepted, this amendment would reverse that.
Senator Gorst is not asking for extra money but believes that a separate ministry offers greater clarity on the international stage.
Pictured: External Relations Minister Ian Gorst believes that there should be a distinct External Relations Ministry.
He says: “I hope Members will agree that this is a straightforward, logical change that will deliver clarity and greater accountability for this Assembly and the public we serve.
"In addition, it will ensure a greater awareness among our global partners as to the constitutional autonomy we enjoy.”
The panel supported the Jersey Care Model – which sets out a new community-based approach to health care with less focus on admission to hospital – but it has concerns about how it will be funded.
This amendment includes seeking an assurance that an independent non-executive board keeping a close eye on the implementation of the JCM publishes its first review by March, that a digital team focused solely on the model is created, that reports on how it is funded are regularly published, and calling for a commitment that paying back any money taken from the Health Insurance Fund should be considered.
Pictured: The Jersey Care Model focuses on providing care at home, if possible, thus reducing the need to go to hospital.
It says: “The panel is concerned that the HIF, as the current source of the funding for the JCM is being depleted without: i) a review being undertaken to understand the impact that the withdrawal of funds will have on it in the long term, ii) an alternative sustainable funding plan in place; or iii) further detail readily available about the future of the JCM.
“The Panel therefore requests that [an] actuarial review of the HIF is prioritised in 2022.”
The Government has increased the hourly rate and number of hours that it pays private nurseries to look after 3 to 4-year-olds. The panel, however, believes that budgets don’t match this extra provision so believes £2.05m is the appropriate shortfall.
The Government set up an ad hoc ‘Early Years Policy Development Board’, chaired by the then-Education Minister Tracey Vallois, which published its final report in September before closing down.
One of its recommendations was the establishment of a "Best Start Plus part-time early education offer for 2 to 3-year olds, initially to children at risk of disadvantage."
However, the panel say that funds have now been diverted to an older age bracket and more money is needed - £2.25m – to pay for extra hours of teaching/supervision from private-sector providers.
The £750,000 is a third of this amount to “allow for further work to be completed to identify the full costs of purchasing these hours, while at the same time providing for the scheme to be accessed from September 2022."
The panel has asked the Education Minister to let it read reports his department has written proposing changes to how pupils with special educational needs are supported and how the ‘school funding formula’ – which allocates money based on the needs of pupils – should be updated.
Deputy Scott Wickenden, however, has said that the former needs to go to the Council of Ministers first and the latter isn’t ready yet.
Pictured: The Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel want to allocate £10m to fund the implementation of a review into inclusion.
Panel Chair Deputy Rob Ward took the unusual step of giving a statement in the last Assembly sitting to voice his frustration.
Without the details it has asked for, the panel is asking for £10m to be set aside.
It says: “The panel would conclude (without the full details being provided) that it is highly likely that additional funding will be required in order for any gaps or issues to be resolved.
“Therefore, to state that the funding for education in 2022 is not related to these projects is not, in the panel’s view, an accurate statement.”
The Council of Ministers has now discussed the Inclusion Review so the panel may have more details by the time the Government Plan is debated next week.
The Government Plan outlines funding for a ‘Political Oversight Group’, chaired by the Chief Minister, which will identify where islanders might have fallen behind due to the pandemic and find ways to support them.
Allocating this money to CYPES rather than the Government’s ‘strategic planning’ arm will make the accounting more transparent, the panel argues, and will make budgeting easier when the Covid Health and Social Recovery Fund ends at the end of 2023.
The panel wants the Government to fund degree courses for staff working in the private sector from next September.
It argues that there are 28 private registered nurseries in the Island, and funding should be allocated to ensure that one member of staff from each nursery is able to take the £8,295 full-time, one-year Childhood Studies degree course at Highlands College.
The panel recognises that CYPES is working on a plan to fund nursery training but it wants to set the ball rolling next year with this amendment.
The Government Plan proposes taking £20m from the public current account to be ringfenced for investment in technology projects, including “incubating and supporting new high-value initiatives”. This money is half the £40m windfall that the public received from JT selling its ‘internet-of-things’ business.
The panel, however, says that more information about and more scrutiny of the fund is needed.
Pictured: The Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel want to stop the creation of a £20m Technology Fund until they know more about it.
It argues: “The Assembly has not been advised of any terms in relation to governance, risk assessments, selection procedures and any manpower or financials arrangements for the fund to be reassured on its delivery.
“Other funds which have been established have laid out any working groups to be established to oversee the programme, the involvement of internal or external parties in decision-making and ministerial accountability.
“Providing such detail retrospectively does not enable the Assembly to hold sufficient information to consider this matter in the Government Plan.”
The amendment seeks to raise “reasonable tax revenue” from those purchasing buy-to-let investment properties, second homes and holiday homes by applying a higher rate of Stamp Duty and Land Transaction Tax.
The panel is proposing a 2% surcharge, however, it acknowledges that a figure should only be set following a review by the Treasury Minister so has not fixed a date of introduction or rate. It therefore can’t estimate how much extra revenue it will bring in.
However, the panel say that action to reduce demand from investors and help first-time buyers get on the property ladder is needed as a priority.
The St Helier Deputy, whose 3/4 district includes First Tower, wants to create a £150,000 pot within the IHE budget to buy field H1533 - which is at the bottom of Tower Road making the corner with Bellozanne Road - and create a playing field for the nearby school.
The field was safeguarded for educational use in the 2011 Island Plan and remains safeguarded in the draft Bridging Island Plan.
Pictured: Deputy Inna Gardiner wants the Government to buy this field at the bottom of Tower Road for First Tower Primary School.
“This development will create multiple opportunities for the pupils to learn outdoors, to exercise, to be sociable and to play,” she argues.
“There is equally an opportunity for the school field to become a ‘community field’ allowing additional extracurricular activities for pupils but also the community at large.
“The school can share resources with the community which would be a major benefit in this area of St. Helier where there are currently limited options for pupils, staff and families.”
This Government Plan proposes to freeze Alcohol Duty on all strengths of beer and cider while increasing the duty on all wines and spirits by 5%.
This amendment seeks to level this increase across all alcohol to 1% below the June inflation figure of 3.5%, so a 2.5% increase across the board.
The panel argue this is “sympathetic to the impact that this will have to parts of the Island’s economy recovering from disproportionate impact of the pandemic”. It will also in “keep the duty broad, simple and fair”.
“The Panel believes that an increase of 1% under RPI is a reasonable compromise between revenue raising, public health and economic support,” it says.
The former Chief Minister doesn’t like the £1.74bn of debt proposed in the Government Plan and gave an indication that he would try to cut it down when he backed borrowing £756m for the new hospital.
In this amendment, Senator Gorst proposes that the Government should pay off its £259m of covid debt far quicker than it plans. At the moment, it will be paid off over about 20 years (by 2043), but he wants the bill settled by 2026.
This would be possible, he says, by using unspent funds at the end of 2021 and 2022 to pay back the banks as well as the tax receipts of those moving from Prior Year Basis.
Pictured: Senator Gorst supported the Government borrowing £756m for the new hospital but wants to reduce borrowing elsewhere.
He said: “My colleagues might view this as an ambitious proposal, but I again stress that having debt hanging on our balance sheet for longer than is necessary carries its own risks.
“It not only means we ultimately spend more on paying it back, but it leaves the Government with less room to manoeuvre when we next face a crisis or the usual shocks and bumps that come with being heavily intertwined with the global economy.
“I believe the Government should at least attempt to bring forward proposals to repay the debt by 2026, and certainly much earlier than 2043.”
Senator Gorst is also against the Treasury Minister’s plan to be take out a further £480m of debt to cover all of the Government’s long-term pension liabilities, which are held in two funds covering teachers and civil servants.
He only wants to pay off the £135m liability of the teachers’ pension and hold off paying off the £435m of the civil servants’ fund.
If adopted, the amendment would reduce public borrowing to £1.4bn. The Senator doesn’t rule out borrowing to pay off the rest of the pension debt at a later date, when Covid is hopefully a thing of the past and there is a better understanding of how much the hospital will cost.
“I do not wish to see generations of Jersey people saddled with a legacy of debt, especially when more sensible and balanced options are available,” he said.
Constable Mike Jackson wants to move £250,000 from the £23m Climate Emergency Fund to the Environment Department so it can monitor the quality of air around schools and other high pollution ‘hotspots’.
An air quality monitoring project did start in 2019, which included sensors being placed at every school around the island but only two out of 46 are currently working. The St Brelade Constable wants to kick-start the initiative with this allocated funding.
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