States Publishes £650m Government Work Plan

The States of Guernsey has further set out its plans for this political term - with action points totalling £650m.

The Plan pulls together the government's intended work into a single document.

It follows initial agreement of the authorities' priorities in the States in March.

*responding to the Covid-19 pandemic.

*managing the effects of Brexit

*delivering recovery actions

*re-shaping government

The Top 10 list of 'recovery actions' announced today are:

o Housing: scope and deliver urgent measures necessary to address housing pressures;

o Education: Commence the reorganisation of secondary and post 16 education;

o Skills: set out and resource proposals to grow knowledge and skills in our community;

o Digital infrastructure: determine and begin implementation of the approach to enhanced digital infrastructure;

o Children: support vulnerable children through revision to Children’s Law and action on the Outcomes Report;

o Population: assess the fitness for purpose of our population and immigration framework, recognising the need to balance economic needs with maintaining quality of life;

o Finance and tourism invest additional funding into promoting Guernsey’s finance sector and establish a tourism plan and campaign to expand Guernsey’s tourism offer;

o Regeneration: establish a development agency and enable work to begin on the development of the seafront masterplan;

o Transport: set out a clear and coordinated transport connectivity and infrastructure policy and further develop the general and commercial aviation sector;

o Health recovery: support the physical and mental health recovery of islanders through new occupational health schemes and a pilot mental health centre.

The plan also aims to address underinvestment in infrastructure by borrowing £200m.

"There has been underinvestment in critical national and economic infrastructure – capital investment is now vital to deliver this Plan. The recommendation, which is affordable in the medium term, is to utilise existing financial assets and borrow a further £200m to invest in our infrastructure, improve our financial resilience and boost economic recovery and expansion." - Deputy Mark Helyar, Treasury Lead for Policy and Resources.

The Government Work Plan will be debated at the July States sitting.