Call for strategy to encourage young islanders back after university

The government is being asked to develop a strategy for young islanders who want to return to Jersey after university.

It's one of a host of amendments lodged to the government's Common Strategic Policy, which sets out Ministers' priorities for the next four years.

During the 2021 to 22 academic year, Policy Centre Research showed that nearly 6 in 10 islanders who studied in the UK wouldn't return after graduating, with the high cost of living one major reason why.

Deputy Carpenter wants a strategy that seeks to help keep young islanders engaged during their studies, and give them help when it comes to affordable housing and graduate career opportunities when they return.

Speaking to Channel 103, Deputy Carpenter said:

"We all know the struggles that younger people have in finding affordable accommodation and how many have decided to move away from the island on the back of that. This obviously harms our island in terms of families being further apart from each other.

"When it comes to people heading off for university, for me, it makes very little sense really for us as an island to pay for people's education, to encourage and prepare them to head off to university, wave them off, and then do nothing to try and encourage them to try and come back.

"Statistics Jersey found that if our population stays the same over the next 20 years, our working-age population will fall by more than 10% by 2040 and they've also estimated that we'd need net migration of around 325 people per year to maintain the working-age population at that current level.

"So given all of that, I think it makes sense for the government to do what it can to encourage young islanders to come home once they've finished university."

The Common Strategic Policy will be debated in the States Assembly on 10 November.

Ten other amendments have also been lodged to the CSP so far.

They are:

• To ensure that improving employment security, working conditions and access to employment rights forms part of the Government's economic priorities. (Lodged by Deputy Lyndsay Feltham)
• To ensure that improving support for unpaid carers, disabled Islanders and older people with care needs is an explicit priority within the Common Strategic Policy. (Lodged by Deputy Lyndsay Feltham)
• To  secure a commitment to developing and implementing an updated Disability and Inclusion Strategy for Jersey, in partnership with disabled Islanders, and to improve access to government services through departmental access and inclusion plans. (Lodged by Deputy Lyndsay Feltham)
• To ensure that the Government's housing priority includes improving affordability and security for Islanders who rent, alongside its commitments to housing development and assisted purchase. (Lodged by Deputy Lyndsay Feltham)
• To ensure that the Government commits to delivering sustained improvements in household affordability, including through reducing essential living costs and improving financial support for families and other households under financial pressure. (Lodged by Deputy Lyndsay Feltham)
• To prioritise home ownership in Jersey. (Lodged by Deputy Max Andrews)
• To make a just transition to net-zero an explicit part of the Common Strategic Policy. (Lodged by Deputy Lee Carpenter)
• To recognise charities and social enterprises as part of the Island's social infrastructure, introduce multi-year funding agreements with charities and social enterprises that deliver public services and set out in future Budgets how prevention and early intervention will be prioritised, and to commit to fair and proportionate commissioning and procurement that applies social value consistently and treats charities and social enterprises as delivery partners. (Lodged by Deputy Hilary Jeune)
• To ensure that public money delivers clear public benefits, which will include publishing the recipients, value and purpose of financial support, and the public benefits it is expected to secure. (Lodged by Deputy Alex Curtis)
• To improve water quality and address environmental contamination, including taking forward the recommendations of the Independent PFAS Scientific Advisory Panel. (Lodged by Deputy Arlene Maltman)