Is the work that these civil servants are doing really necessary?

From Darius Pearce.

I WAS moved to write by the headline of 8 March: 400 Health jobs ‘in cash crisis threat’.

I had hoped that Senator Ozouf was going to make genuine cuts in public expenditure in response to the ongoing financial crisis, which in truth is caused more by planned increases in government expenditure than anything else.

The figure of £600 million planned spending in 2010 consists of £540 million spent in 2009 and £60 million increase in expenditure. The plan to return to £540 million pounds expenditure is therefore not a cut, but merely a continuance of existing spending.

It is a start, but Jersey spends beyond its means or indeed needs. The burden must fall on the States Assembly to start looking at which legislation is surplus to requirements and begin to repeal laws. This may lead to a loss of employment, but the government should be looking at whether the work that many civil servants do is necessary.

It is clear that many civil service posts exist simply to keep someone off benefits and to justify promotions and higher pay for the upper echelons of the civil service.

The police are a prime example of an over-funded department. Moving plain clothes officers back into uniform, getting them out from behind their desks and putting them on the streets would not only cut expenditure but also fulfil the wishes of the electorate. Reducing the number of sitting States Members by ten per cent would be a good start to any plan.

I hope that Senator Ozouf will achieve his aim and begin to deliver cost-effective services to the people of Jersey. It is possible – Constable Crowcroft has previously achieved this in the Parish of St Helier.