And it’s that beautiful economy which means there is no ambiguity in the 66-page executive summary, and the many volumes of the full report.
So when she found that Deputy Andrew Lewis had ‘lied’ to the inquiry about his role in suspending Graham Power from the police force during the Haut de la Garenne investigation, she didn’t mean misled or fudged.
When she described Senator Sir Philip Bailhache’s infamous 2008 Liberation Day speech, in which he said that the real scandal of the time was the damage being done to Jersey’s reputation, as ‘a grave political error’, she didn’t mean he’d made a slip of the tongue.
And when she recommended that the States introduce a new oath which obliges politicians to consider the best interests of children in all they do, she wasn’t calling on them to sign up to an empty platitude.
Yet, within hours of Justice Oldham’s report being published, holes were being picked, findings were being questioned and recommendations were at risk of being watered down.
We had Deputy Lewis using a debate which was, surely, meant to be about turning the inquiry’s findings into action instead – twice in two days – taking up around an hour of debating time to launch a forensic defence of his actions some nine years earlier. It seems to me the right forum for such arguments would be when the Privileges and Procedures Committee meet to discuss whether his ‘lie’ to both parliament and the inquiry warrants some kind of sanction.
There was, also last week, Senator Bailhache issuing an apology for any distress caused by his speech, which he described as ‘unfortunate’, adding that he accepted the inquiry’s finding that his words were ‘ill chosen’. Except, remember, that’s not what the panel said in their final report. They said: ‘We cannot accept that a politician and lawyer of his experience would inadvertently have made such an unfortunate juxtaposition. His linking of Jersey’s reputation to the child abuse investigation was a serious political error.’
And, on the day politicians began debating the inquiry’s findings and recommendations, we had one politician saying it would be wrong to swear an oath to protect children, as their job is to serve all Islanders. That so many other politicians, both publicly and privately, concluded that Constable Chris Taylor had spectacularly missed the point, highlights the need for everybody, inside and outside the States, to ensure that there isn’t any sense of drift when it comes to action.
The Chief Minister, Senator Ian Gorst, just days on from a debate about his own political future, set the scene for the weeks and months that lie ahead, reminding his peers that there are ten months until the general election. That’s ten months to effect change, ten months to take action and cut through inaction, ten months to satisfy themselves and the rest of us that the Island’s look-after children have the protections and support they need so the horrific events described in the care inquiry report can never happen again.
Senator Gorst said it was THE issue all politicians should be held accountable for when we head to the ballot box next May. The clock is ticking.
AS I’ve written, ad nauseam, in this column over the past couple of years, the ability of the States of Jersey to communicate effectively with the rest of us is, repeatedly, woeful.
I wonder whether now is the time for two of our most significant industries to play their part in helping the government with its efforts to implement the care inquiry recommendations?
First, could Digital Jersey help create an online platform where all action and decisions are open and available for all to see? A transparent, real-time ready-reckoner of progress. Helpful to those on the front line in Children’s Services, for politicians, for all of us to be able to see what’s happening.
It could show when actions and decisions are due to be taken and then when they are actually taken, for minutes of meetings to be published, and for everyone to feel the days of cover-ups, abuse and wilful ignorance are consigned to the history books.
Second, could Jersey Finance use its skill in promoting the Island to the world share its expertise with those struggling to recruit the very best people to Health and Social Services? The care inquiry report highlights that, again and again, a shallow pool of talent means there are front-line workers – and managers – who don’t know what good looks like.
If we’re to attract the best, we need to show them that both the job they’ll be coming to do and the Island they’ll be coming to live in are worth the move.
If nothing else, the often glacial pace of action in some sections of the public sector could be aided by the more fleet-of-foot approach of these two quangos.
