A SERIES of disgruntled backbenchers have challenged Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham on the government’s commitment to transparency and how much information it intended to produce ahead of the States’ Budget debate.
During oral questions yesterday, Deputy Farnham told Deputy Karen Wilson that departmental plans would not be available ahead of that debate, something he said was entirely consistent with the approach of previous administrations in recent years. But his answer generated a series of exchanges in which the government’s commitment to transparency was called into question.
“Is [the Chief Minister] going to produce something on a certain date that is going to help Members scrutinise his government’s Budget? At the moment we don’t know – the story keeps changing,” Deputy Philip Ozouf said.
The Chief Minister responded by saying that some 160 pages of Budget information had been produced. There was a long period for scrutiny and, if Members required more information, all they had to do was ask, he continued.
“I reiterate: there is a detailed budget and budget annex, a good Scrutiny process that’s under way, and a government that is prepared to share any information that is asked for, and we will produce our business plans in 2025, as has been the case in the last five years,” he said.
However, Deputy Hilary Jeune was among those not entirely satisfied.
She asked: “As someone who is in their first term in the Assembly but is also new to Scrutiny, I would just like to ask what happens if Scrutiny doesn’t know what it doesn’t know? I hear the minister saying that it’s up to Scrutiny to ask for the information, but if Scrutiny doesn’t know what to ask, how do we know?”
The Chief Minister replied: “If Scrutiny doesn’t know what to ask, how do they know what to ask? I don’t know, Sir.”
