Politicians and senior officers from Policy & Resources will again be hauled before the Scrutiny Committee tomorrow in a public hearing diving into the headline fiscal policy set for the States.

P&R published revisions to the States’ long-term fiscal rules in November which called for tens-of-millions extra to be spent on infrastructure and rebuilding reserves every year.

But recalculations of the structural deficit, the long-term imbalance between government revenue and spending, pushed it up to £98m per year every year, up from £77m. 

The policy will be debated by the States from 28 January, but ahead of that the Scrutiny Committee will examine it publicly.

The hearing, Scrutiny’s second of the political term, takes place at the Castel Douzaine on 14 January between 10:00 and 12:00.

The public is welcome to attend but cannot ask questions as it is a formal parliamentary hearing, with proceedings also livestreamed on YouTube:

Deputy Andy Sloan, President of Scrutiny, will be joined by non-States member Mark Le Page and former Chief Minister Advocate Peter Harwood on the panel. 

Deputy Sloan said: “The Fiscal Policy Framework is not an abstract exercise — it determines how much flexibility the States has, how fiscal policy is conducted, risk is managed, and how future generations are affected by today’s decisions. 

“This hearing is about bringing that discussion into the open and, perhaps most significantly, testing whether the framework does what it claims to do.”