- There are ‘no plans’ to raise GST, the Chief Minister confirmed in the States on Tuesday
- None of Jerseys psychiatrists are registered with the UK-based professional body, The Royal College of Psychiatrists
- ‘Too early’ for the Health Minister to say where he will be making cuts in department
- The JEP’s political commentator Christine Hebert enjoys a lively Question Time
THERE are no plans to raise GST in this political term despite a predicted shortfall of £125 million in four year’s time, according to Chief Minister Ian Gorst.
- £60 million public sector savings target
- 260 planned new posts for nurses and teachers
- 1,000 potential States jobs under threat
- £1.5 million shortfall that would have been filled by incinerating Guernseys waste
- 400 new jobs in the finance sector[/breakout]
Senator Gorst has moved to reassure Islanders that although Jersey’s public finances faced a significant funding gap, everyday items would not be subject to a tax rise.
During questions without notice yesterday the Chief Minister was asked by back-bencher Deputy Sam Mézec if he could guarantee that he would not raise GST during the current term of office, which runs until 2018.
In a short response Senator Gorst said: ‘I have no plans to raise GST.’
Last week senior politicians outlined the £125 million funding shortfall, which ministers say is largely due to proposed spending on health, education and capital projects.
At the same time the Council of Ministers proposed a budget-balancing programme designed to generate £130 million through jobs savings and cuts, a new health charge and other efficiencies.
Many of Tuesday’s questions without notice to the Chief Minister related to the proposed savings and income generation.
Deputies Geoff Southern and Andrew Lewis asked if methods outlined under the Transfer of Public Sector Employees (Topse) – a policy designed to help safeguard conditions for States workers during departmental restructuring or when departments change from public to private bodies – rules would be used when the States attempted to redesign the civil service to save money.
‘There are, however, smaller areas where we will have to use different methodology.’
‘I can’t give the Deputy the guarantee he wishes, because there must be smaller areas across the organisation where it will not be an appropriate tool to use.’
Later during the session Senator Gorst said that the process of finding £60 million in savings from staff restructuring and cuts could mean compulsory redundancies for public sector workers.
NONE of Jersey’s psychiatrists are registered with the UK-based professional body, The Royal College of Psychiatrists, it emerged during Tuesday’s States sitting.
Senator Zoe Cameron asked the Health Minister whether it was acceptable that none of the Island’s psychiatrists were part of the organisation ‘given the level of mental health problems in the Island’.
The professional body is responsible for the education and training of psychiatrists as well as the setting and raising of standards in psychiatry.
Senator Andrew Green said he had been unaware that psychiatrists in the Island were not members but added that they were ‘all qualified’.
He also told States Members that a consultation paper regarding the Island’s mental health services was in the the final stages of development.
During questions without notice, the minister said that over the last year, a mixture of ten senior and junior staff had left posts within child and adult mental health services. However he said ten new staff had also been recruited.
Meanwhile, Senator Green was questioned by Deputy Sam Mézec about the new health charge which was announced last week to help plug the £125 million shortfall.
Senator Green told the Assembly that discussions were ‘ongoing’ about where the charges would occur adding no ‘concrete’ decision had yet been made.
The Health Minister also faced questions about where he was going to cut jobs in his department.
Senator Green said that he wanted to move towards a ‘virtual hospital’ model such as one in New Zealand, where people are treated in the community. However, he stressed that there was still a requirement for front-facing staff such as nurses and consultants.
‘We are under obligation to make savings where we can, and it could be in administration and reduced waste,’ he said.
Deputy Judy Martin asked about the financial burden on the Social Security Department if health staff become unemployed and need benefits.
‘When someone leaves we have to look at whether to replace that person or see if it could be done in a different way,’ said Senator Green.
‘There could be increased costs to Social Security, but if you are going to make fundamental changes now then this is the time to do it, when the economy is on the up. Our job is to ensure we have a public sector that is sustainable and affordable.’
THE benefits system is currently being reviewed but it is ‘too soon’ to be specific about which areas will be affected by cuts, according to the Social Security Minister.
Deputy Geoff Southern asked the minister during States questions what proportion of the proposed efficiency savings has been targeted for benefit changes.
To plug the £125 million shortfall the Council of Ministers have proposed to make £60 million in staff savings and cuts, create £35 million income from a new health charge as well as a further £35 million in efficiencies which includes changes to the benefit system.
In response, Deputy Susie Pinel said: ‘All benefits are being reviewed just as all areas in the public sector are. As the review has just begun, it is too soon to be specific about which ones will be affected.’
She added that details will be finalised over the next two months, and that the new medium financial plan due to be published on 30 June, would outline which areas will be affected by cuts.
Later, Deputy Jackie Hilton asked if the department would consider reviewing the current sickness benefit policy because she said at the moment apprentices could be left out of pocket if they fall sick during their first year of training.
This is because they have not earned enough to pay contributions to the minimum earnings threshold to be entitled to sickness benefit.
Deputy Pinel said that ‘significant changes’ needed to be made in the near future in order to sustain social security funds over the next few decades and that minimum wage rates were subject to annual review by the employment forum.
FIVE Members were excused on Tuesday. St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft, St Saviour Constable Sadie Rennard and Deputy Murray Norton were on a visit to Bad Wurzach, Germany, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the release of internees. Senator Sir Philip Bailhache was out of the Island on States business and Deputy Rod Bryans was ill. The Deputy Bailiff, Tim Le Cocq, was presiding.
She added: ‘I must balance the needs of individuals against the needs of the population as a whole.’
However, she said that there would always be individuals that fall through the net when the system that is in place is ‘designed to cope with a whole population’.
The minister hopes that the review will be available by the end of the year.
IT is perhaps something of an exaggeration to say that backbench knives were out yesterday morning, but Question Time was certainly a good deal livelier than it has been for some time.
With the Strategic Plan as the main item for debate there were plenty of political goodies on the table, not least the £125 million income shortfall by 2019 disclosed last week, and with that the £60 million of cuts envisaged for the public sector.
But it was not until question nine that the full force of the proposed efficiencies started to make inroads into the collective consciousness: How many jobs would be ‘removed’, asked Deputy Southern, in order to achieve the £60 million savings target?
I wondered, as I peered out through the glass of the JEP’s box room in the corner, how it would feel to be a States employee in April 2015. What concerns might I have about job security?
Deputy Southern had worked out that around 1,000 jobs would have to go in order to meet the £60 million target. Ah no, that was just a headline grabber, smiled Chief Minister Ian Gorst. For a start, around 550 States workers were leaving or retiring every year anyway, as part of ‘natural change’.
It wasn’t long before Deputy Montfort Tadier piped up that the coterie of ministers were to be congratulated on keeping all those cuts ‘secret’ until after the elections – and was duly ticked off by former Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf, in turn called to order by the presiding Deputy Bailiff. ‘It’s called political sparring, Sir,’ shouted Deputy Tadier.
By then the Chief Minister had forgotten what the question was supposed to be and happily admitted that he had ‘stopped listening’. To which Deputy Tadier retorted that Council of Ministers meetings must be strange affairs indeed.
Unfortunately for the Chief Minister, Deputy Mike Higgins had done his homework. Was it not true that during a previous briefing Senator Gorst had indicated that something like an extra 260 jobs would need to be created in the Health and Education departments, to ensure an adequate supply of nurses and teachers? In which case, wouldn’t that mean that an extra 260 existing jobs would have to go in order to make room for the new ones?
It was Deputy Judy Martin who ultimately exposed the ministerial spade. Was anyone counting the real cost? she asked. What about the man with three children and a mortgage, about to lose his home?
Health Minister Andrew Green replied that these things were ‘always difficult’, but that the ministerial job was to make sure the public sector was ‘fit for purpose’. Perhaps he was hard of hearing – or just not listening.
