Setting our society’s priorities

Specifically, these deficiencies relate to the provision of services early in people’s lives and towards the end.

As far as the very young are concerned, the problem lies in the failure to provide free nursery places for all children.

As Colin Powell, the former States chief adviser whose present roles include chairmanship of the

Jersey Childcare Trust, has said, the government has failed to back fine words with action in this vital area.

Mr Powell, who is more qualified than most to differentiate between economic sense and nonsense, is quite right to point out that it is both troubling and paradoxical that funds for universal nursery education cannot be found even though a budgetary surplus of £69 million is being forecast for next year.

There will, of course, always be fierce competition when it comes to the allocation of public funds, but it is difficult to see why such a low priority is being assigned to services which would give all Island children the start in life that educationists agree they must have while simultaneously making the soundest investment in the Island’s future.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the age spectrum, the system is failing other groups who are in dire need of the fullest possible support. The Jersey Alzheimer’s Society has offered evidence to a Scrutiny panel that care for those suffering from dementia is inadequate. In addition, we still have a situation in which many elderly see their life savings and property evaporate before their eyes as they pay for residential care.

It is likely that any shortcomings in the availability of support for dementia victims and their families can be rectified by raising awareness of the issue and the expenditure of relatively small sums. The cost of residential care, on the other hand, is a more intractable problem – the solution of which is, as Scrutiny panel chairman Deputy Roy Le Hérissier has said, is likely to boil down to a supplementary social insurance scheme.

The idea of paying out yet more in compulsory insurance is not attractive, but the alternative – costly care that robs so many people’s children of their inheritance – is far less attractive.