HELP given to Islanders affected by local disasters should be improved, a long-serving States Member said after the Assembly rejected his proposition to set aside a fund specifically for emergencies.
Deputy Lyndon Farnham spoke to the JEP after States Members voted down his proposition by 27 votes to 18.
The proposition referred to the explosion at Haut de Mont and flooding at Grands Vaux which, it said, had highlighted that resilience funds lacked ‘structure and continuity’.
The proposition requested that the Treasury Minister establish a clear financial support mechanism, and the terms of that support, for Islanders affected by disasters in Jersey.
Deputy Farnham was also asking for that support, which was intended ‘to strengthen Jersey’s resilience’, to be covered in the next Government Plan.
With strong pushback from ministers, including Treasury Minister Ian Gorst, who argued that appropriate funds were already in place, Deputy Farnham said he believed the proposition had been ‘misunderstood’.
‘The proposition was trying to enhance the support and options already available to the government in these situations,’ he said.
‘While we have excellent emergency services, quite often when people are impacted by emergencies like flooding, they lose everything and there is very little financial support for them to rebuild their lives. This was designed to offer hand-ups, instead of hand-outs, to those affected by local disasters, particularly those who are vulnerable.’
He continued: ‘The powers that the government have are largely reactive and we tend to rely on third-party and generous contributions and Bailiffs appeals to provide that necessary swift financial support. I’m not saying that what we have now is not good, but it could be a lot better.’
Following the proposition’s rejection by the Assembly, Deputy Farnham said he hoped to meet the Treasury Minister to ‘find a way to achieve what the proposition hoped to achieve’.
He added: ‘That said, I won’t rule out coming back to the Assembly in the not-too-distant future with a better explanation and proposition if I’m not able to get a commitment from the minister.’
The government has already announced it will prioritise the introduction of a new civil-contingency law – to replace the 32-year-old Emergency Powers and Planning Law – to govern how ministers prepare for, and respond to, emergencies.
Deputy Farnham said it would be helpful for bodies under the umbrella of this law ‘to know there is a ring-fenced fund there for them’.
