The Bailiwick Commission is hoping to publish an interim report this September, outlining what the panel has learnt so far about life in our islands, and how it can be future proofed and improved.
Chaired by Sir Robert Neill KC, the panel is looking at constitutional arrangements, operations, and economic links between Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark to see how things may be improved, while maintaining the independence and unique characteristics of each island.
That work is expected to take up to 18 months in total, with a budget of £500,000, but Sir Robert said we’ll get an early glimpse into what they’ve already learnt this autumn.
“The way it’s arranged is we’re going to do an interim report, at the end of September hopefully, and that’s going to be sort of a preliminary assessment of what we’ve found, so we’re largely in the evidence gathering phase at the moment, trying to get as much from as wide a range of sources as possible.
“There are some common themes which won’t surprise people,” he added. “Questions about connectivity, questions about how you deliver health services, education, social services, that sort of thing, in comparatively small communities.”
Meet the Commissioners
People in Guernsey and Sark have got the chance to quiz our Bailiwick Commissioners this week with a number of public drop in sessions and meetings being staged.
They were in Guernsey yesterday and are in Sark today before spending more time in Guernsey tomorrow and on Thursday.
Alderney is involved too, but the Commissioners won’t be travelling to the island this week, having recently made a trip over.
Commission Chair, Sir Robert said “come and say hello, come talk to us, please. That’s really what we want. Come and have your say”.
Lord Carwyn Jones added that they’d like to speak with as many people as possible which is why they’ve hosted different events in different locations, and plan to be at this week’s North Show.
“You have to go where people are. You can’t expect people to come to you all the time because there are people who come to meetings and there are people who pass the door and don’t want to come to a meeting. It’s important for us then to be able to go out and be where the people are, as Bob said, which is why we’ve been to Alderney for a few days, we’re in Guernsey, and we’re going to Sark, and we’ll be back, because you can never have too much consultation.”
Dr Lisa Cameron said the information they’ve already gleaned from meeting people across the Bailiwick has proven to be very valuable.
“The people we have met are some of the most dynamic people that I’ve met, and I can just tell that they want to work together for the future and to see changes and to see progress.
“I think that that has been something that has underpinned the talks that we’ve had, these are resilient people who want to go the extra mile to make these communities work”.
