GOVERNMENT cuts to Statistics Jersey’s budget mean “two key pieces of data” will not be published this year, a Scrutiny panel has heard.
During a hearing of the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel, Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham faced questions about how these cuts would affect the government’s ability to plan and monitor issues.
In a letter published last month, chief statistician Ian Cope said: “Statistics Jersey’s share of Cabinet Office budget reductions means reductions to existing outputs are necessary.
“Statistics Jersey have reprioritised our work and outputs to focus on those we understand to be of greatest value to users.”
“As part of the Cabinet Office, Statistics Jersey has had to reassess and prioritise which reports will continue to be published.
“This means that statisticians focus on the outputs considered most valuable, such as the Retail Price Index, Average Earnings, and the House Price Index.”
The letter also revealed that the Jersey Opinions and Lifestyle Survey – which asks around 1,500 Islanders about their habits, health and views on various aspects of Island – has changed from an annual schedule to being published every two years.
The letter meanwhile said the Business Tendency Survey – which gauges the opinions of local firms on business activity, employment levels and the economy – will be discontinued.
Panel chair Deputy Helen Miles said: “On the one hand, you’re saying that you’re very keen on making sure that you’re on top of things, that you’re monitoring things, that you’re moving forward.
“And yet, two key pieces of data and information that actually feed into the Jersey Performance Framework, that actually contributes to understanding wellbeing, have been dropped as a result of reduction in budget to the Cabinet Office.”
Responding, Deputy Farnham said they were looking to “prioritise” how they gathered information.
He added: “Sometimes we don’t do enough in some areas, while sometimes in other areas we tend to perhaps over report.”
The performance framework is a tool to measure how the government is doing against long-term goals like feeling safe, or how healthy Islanders are. It helps analysts to measure Jersey’s progress towards community, economic and environmental wellbeing.
Since his new government took office in late January, Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham has repeatedly stated his belief that government tries to do too much and has cited the Cabinet Office as an area where cuts should be made.
Just last week it was revealed that cuts to the government’s communications unit has seen the central Press Office shut down and at least 11 members of staff redeployed or made redundant.
