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A business was recently blocked from moving to Jersey due to unrealistic workforce and salary expectations, the Chief Minister revealed yesterday, as she pledged to ensure “islanders' needs are put first” by changing the criteria around relocations.
Deputy Kristina Moore said Ministers are "frustrated" and “chomping at the bit” to hold a meeting with a statutory body called the Housing and Work Advisory Group, which advises on applications and the development of polices in support of the Control of Housing and Work Law.
Addressing the States Assembly yesterday, Deputy Moore said that she and fellow ministers who form a Ministerial Population and Skills Group, created last month, want to hold a formal meeting with ‘HAWAG’ to redefine the criteria for new individuals and business who want to relocate to Jersey.
“We have been asking for a meeting so we can sit down and reconsider our criteria, so we send a clear message,” she said. “We understand that we need to make our criteria very clear to people making applications to us – whether to come to the island as an individual or as a business.
“We are chomping at the bit to hold this meeting; we have been asking for it for some time, but it has not been able to happen in our diaries.”
Pictured: Chief Minister Kristina Moore expressed her frustration in the Assembly over the inability to hold a meeting about work and housing controls.
Deputy Moore added: “It has been a matter of some frustration that a formal meeting has not yet occurred for this particular group.
“We have had some informal meetings where there have been some specific decisions to take, and at those times we have expressed our frustration that we haven’t had a formal meeting as such. We have asked for it to be put in the diary several times.
“We... need to give to clear view to those people working in Locate Jersey [the Government department set up to attract people and businesses to move to the island].
“We have taken one decision in relation to a business, and we rejected it because we considered that the level of employment that they were looking to achieve was not going to be fulfilled for the proposed salaries that were described in the application.
“This is another reason why we need to get our meeting in our diary and set some clear criteria, so everyone knows where we’re moving forward.
“We absolutely need to support islanders and put their needs first, by supporting recruitment and retention of people in critical services.”
The Population and Skills Ministerial Group has been set up by the Chief Minister to "ensure there is a central political forum to consider and deliberate matters relating to population policy; the employment market and the skills needs for the Island's economy and public service."
Chaired by the Chief Minister, its other members are the Economic Development, Social Security, Home Affairs Minister and Housing Ministers.
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