By John Henwood
BETTER Jersey is a fictional party, it does not exist. I created it as a device for the purposes of promoting those policies I would like to see adopted by Jersey’s next government.
Over the last two weeks I have examined the malaise that has overtaken our government and how it has squandered the goodwill of people and lost the feel-good factor we once enjoyed. Having started by examining the way a £1.2 billion budget is spent and how it can be changed. This time, the third-biggest area of public spending: education.
Children, Young People, Education and Skills
In March, a new partnership plan for schools was unveiled. All schools, excluding Hautlieu, Highlands and fee-paying schools, will be put in four groups each with its own supremo.
The government’s announcement began not with additional benefits to children, but with reducing workload for teachers and making better use of staff. That is not surprising. The plan was developed by head and deputy head teachers, education department staff, input from the UK and a special needs support group. The head teachers’ union supports it.
Nowhere was there a reference to consulting school governors or parent teacher associations.
Our current Education Minister was a teaching union official; indeed, he was president of the local National Education Union. The same minister agreed an inflation busting deal with teachers aggregating to a 20% increase and a £7.5 million cost to taxpayers.
As recently as last August, government employed 983 teachers and lecturers. The Department (Children, Young People, Education & Skills) also employed 904 non-teaching staff of which around 640 were civil servants. Why almost as many non-teachers as teachers? Better Jersey would direct more resource to the classroom.
A major shortcoming is the lack of vocational education. Instead of providing adequate learning in wood and metal work, electrical principles, plumbing, mechanics, bricklaying and similar trades, we import those skills. We should be offering learning in trade skills in our schools. Education is too important to be left to educators alone. Better Jersey would take an holistic and business-like approach to offering greater opportunities. This should be a priority.
Strangling the economy
Turning now to the vital matter that is at the very core of our problems: the economy.
Welfare, health and education, the big three, cost the taxpayer a billion pounds. It’s our money, hard earned, and Better Jersey would want to make sure taxpayers get the best possible value for every pound.
People are struggling under the high cost of living, and government wrings its collective hands, blames external factors and does nothing meaningful to tackle the problem. The uncomfortable truth is that government has fuelled rising prices.
The shift towards the left has been marked by ever-increasing regulation. Turn back the clock a few years: do you remember “Fair Play in the Workplace”? It led to a new employment law that most agreed was needed, but it went too far, swinging the pendulum strongly against employers. Today, for practical purposes it is impossible to sack anyone (following the leftist EU model) and a new legion of lawyers, specialists in employment law, has sprung up. Dismissing an incompetent or unsatisfactory employee is so difficult that employers take the legal advice to negotiate a compromise agreement. The inept employee is given a generous cash sum to leave. The process is costly for business, but guess what? It is the consumer who picks up the tab as it is passed down the line and up go prices.
Another area of overreaching regulation is health and safety. Of course we want people to be safe, but why treat everyone as if they are incapable of assessing risk and using their own judgement? As just one example, we are led to believe ladders are dangerous and so a scaffolding industry has emerged. One cannot blame the scaffolders for making a good living, but scaffolding is costly and it is popping up everywhere. This is nanny state stuff – and who do you think ultimately pays the increased cost? Yes, it is us, the consumer.
Perhaps the most unnecessary regulation is to be found at Planning. Better Jersey would not advocate a free-for-all, but regulation is open to interpretation and somehow the default position seems to be to put up as many barriers and make things as difficult as possible. A recent planning application was challenged on its business plan. What has that got to do with planning? It a matter for the applicant to determine, not a planning bureaucrat. The planning process is too slow and many provisions are completely unnecessary. The Environment Minister said recently that things are getting better, they need to. Almost 30% of applications fail to be met within their own target time. The cost of planning is high and it is passed on in the cost of construction, be it businesses or new homes.
The percentage for art, introduced as a voluntary scheme, adds 1% to the cost of construction. If the International Finance Centre costs the projected £237 million (it will probably be much more) the percentage for art will have added nearly £2.4 million to the cost. This works its way through to the consumer. Public art is a good thing, but it should be entirely voluntary. One may think it a small enough sum, but every incremental cost adds a little to the cost of living.
At around the same time there was a wholesale listing of buildings. It went much too far and included buildings that were not of sufficient merit. The cost of repairs to these buildings is higher as uncompromising planners make pointless demands. It has also taken properties out of the available housing stock on cost grounds alone. The whole catalogue of listed buildings needs to be reviewed and revised.
More on the way
Coming down the road is another truck load of new regulation on, as examples, food, unlicensed taxi services, whistleblowing and pets, and we are already beginning to see the effects of new rental controls. Whether any of it is necessary is highly questionable. Better Jersey would review all areas of regulation with a view to doing away with unnecessary, excessive and disproportionate provisions. It would be challenging and time consuming.
Nevertheless, it would be a vital step in taking the hand brake off the economy.
Better Jersey would ensure the push for ever more regulation moderated. All new proposal to be subject to an economic impact assessment before any new legislation is passed. Bit by bit, government measures which have fuelled the cost-of-living crisis should be revised or reversed. At the same time enterprise should be encouraged to invest.
