ALL departments are facing financial pressures and need to make savings, the Environment Minister has said – but he stopped short of telling Members not to vote for a Budget amendment which would replenish his funding.
Deputy Steve Luce also said that the next government should look carefully at how the Environment Department is funded as its reliance on fees and charges meant planning ahead was difficult should projected income fail to materialise.
Under the government’s 2026 spending plans, which are being debated this week, the Environment Department is set to see a reduction in its budget. In 2025, the department was given £11,763,000 to spend – but the proposals would see this reduced to £11,107,000 in 2026, if they are given approval by the States Assembly.
However, an amendment from The Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel could see an extra £656,000 transferred from the Strategic Reserve – also known as the Rainy Day Fund – to the Environment Department to restore funding to the 2025 level.
The panel, in its amendment, said restoring the department’s budget would prevent “an unnecessary baseline cut at a time when the department was already forecasting an overspend”.
However, the Council of Ministers has urged the Assembly to reject the amendment.
During States question time yesterday, the panel’s chair Deputy Hilary Jeune asked Deputy Luce what discussions the Council of Ministers had had regarding the amendment and whether the government had considered reinstating the 2025 funding levels.
Deputy Luce said: “The Council of Ministers have discussed all budget amendments. However, funding departmental budgets from the Strategic Reserve is not an option supported by the Treasury for the reasons set out in the Government Plan.
“Whilst the department’s work will be constrained by the proposed reductions in the budget, I accept that I, and my department, must take proportionate cuts along with all other departments to achieve our government’s future objectives.”
He added that his department is “not considered to be a frontline” service and is more reliant on income from fees and charges that other areas.
“Our income from planning applications over the last two-to-three years – certainly this year – is down. The shortfall in expected income from that revenue source is somewhere between £800,000 and £1 million. That is a significant amount of shortfall,” the minister said.
“That is something we cannot plan for. I would certainly say that, in the next government, I think somebody should look at the way the environment and regulatory department is funded because how can we plan ahead when we have a circumstance where the construction industry gets into challenging times and we can receive less income that we cannot plan for? It is a very difficult way to try to balance your budget when we are employing a significant number of staff.”
He added that he will use the proposed funding as “best we can” and that, while he would always welcome more money in the pot, he acknowledged he is “part of a team” that is trying to be more efficient across the board.
When asked by Deputy Montfort Tadier whether he was being “thrown under the bus” by his ministerial colleagues, Deputy Luce quipped that there were more on the road these days due to “great job” Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan had done.
And in response to being questioned as to whether he had fought hard enough for funding for the environment and whether he secretly hoped the Assembly would support the amendment to restore funding to his department, Deputy Luce said he “accepted that every part of the government is making some efficiencies and has less money”.
“This is a tricky one,” he continued. “Everybody supports the environment. I try my best to promote it as best as I can. We all do because we live in a wonderful place where the environment is fantastic.
“But when we sit down around a table where people are arguing for more money for healthcare, arguing for more money for some additional footpath work is a very, very difficult argument to make and I cannot look people in the eye and say ‘I am going to prioritise certain parts of the Environment Department over something that the Health Minister might be promoting for the benefit of everybody on the Island’.
“It is really, really difficult to call – I wish I had more funds. I fight as hard as I can for my funds. Having said that, I am part of a government which is trying to deliver better things for everybody on the Island and I have to accept my responsibilities as part of that team.”
