Highlighting problems and finding the answers

A good politician doesn’t just moan when things are going wrong or policies aren’t right, they voice their dissatisfaction and follow it up with a way of doing things better. For there is no point whinging and whining if you aren’t going to at the very least try and come up with an alternative.

Deputy Tracey Vallois is, by this definition, a good politician. The latest example of how and why she is just that came this past week when she said the States urgently needed a whistleblowing policy.

According to the Deputy, with the Island currently without a Comptroller and Auditor General since the controversial resignation of Chris Swinson in the wake of the Lime Grove saga, and with the power and independence of that role now undermined because of the nature of that departure, civil servants currently have no one to turn to with their concerns.

And, she is absolutely right. The States doesn’t have an effective system for employees to report their concerns without fear of retribution and it really does need one.

But, the Deputy being the kind of politician she is she didn’t stop there. She has an idea of how this issue can be tackled. Her solution involves the States employing the services of a UK company ‘Safecall’ which specialises in taking complaints from employees in a wide range of industries via ‘whistleblowing phone lines’. They would then have a duty to report any concerns back to a person or a body within the States – the States Employment Board being her suggestion.

But, Deputy Vallois being Deputy Vallois, she didn’t stop there. She has formulated a plan, even costed up the options (as little as £1 per employee for a 12-month trial) and put the proposal to the Chief Minister and the head of HR in the States.

And, being the kind of politician she is, Deputy Vallois is following up with them to ensure that they have considered her idea and, if they don’t go for it, she will want to know why and what else is being done instead.

Now, you’ll notice that during all of this the Deputy has not brought a proposition to the States about it. And that is because, being the kind of politician she is, she knows she shouldn’t have to.

She knows that in an effective, inclusive government it saves time, money and energy to try and discuss these things with the relevant ministers and heads of departments first.

If it comes down to it in the future, if she feels she isn’t being listened to or that her idea is still much better than anything else they come up with she will have the option to bring a proposition.

And, Deputy Vallois being Deputy Vallois, a whistleblowing policy isn’t the only thing she has been working on. She has ideas about housing, about Health, about spending and about tonnes of other things.

She knows her ideas may not be perfect, but they are a starting point at the very least and show that those in power should not ignore the wealth of experience, creativity and, crucially, willingness, that is right under their noses.

However, the ‘don’t-moan-unless-you-have-a-better-idea’ argument falls down when it comes to a big piece of work like the Medium Term Financial Plan – a beast of a document that sets States spending for the next three years.

It has taken ministers and countless civil servants months and hundreds of hours of work between them to formulate and is detailed, extensive and pretty heavy going.

So, and here’s the problem, if a backbencher, or even a group of them, doesn’t agree with it or even parts of it how are they supposed to come up with an alternative?

It’s not really feasible given the lack of civil servant expertise to back them up or the resources that ministers do as well as a limited time frame.

Sure, they can – and some probably will – lodge amendments to the plan but these have to be focused, specific and extraordinarily convincing if they are to have the faintest hope of getting anywhere.

Other than that their only option, it would seem, is to voice their concerns and hope that the powers that be will listen. For completely rejecting the plan with no alternative option would leave the States in the pretty tough and completely ridiculous position of having no spending plan and no real time in which to formulate one.

In this regard backbenchers – even the ‘good’ ones – really do appear to have their hands tied.

Finally, let’s spare a thought for deputy Chief Minister Senator Ian Le Marquand who this past week has been a bit of a one man Council of Ministers. He’s been acting Chief Minister while Senator Ian Gorst has been away, has filled in for Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf and Economic Development Minister Alan Maclean and the week before was Housing Minister too.

He’s been talking about everything from the chief executive appointment to average earning indexes, youth crime and spending plans. In fact, he’s been wearing so many hats I’m surprised his head is still on straight and he probably feels a bit like a circus attraction trying to keep all those plates spinning.

But, and this is my real point, at least it was planned like this. Senator Le Marquand and Senator Gorst got together before the summer and planned their holidays so at least one of them would always be in the Island. And, it may be a really basic organisational thing but it is a big improvement on how things have been done in the past.