Latest News

The Policy Centre held a discussion meeting on the subject of improving the consultation process on the morning of 28 June. 35 people participated - members of the Centre’s Advisory Council and representatives of business, government and charities.The discussion followed the publication of the Centre’s research paper Improving the consultation process .The meeting was chaired by Simon Soar, Director of the Centre. Opening comments were made by –Sir Mark Boleat, the Centre’s Senior Adviser and author of the research paper.Paul Wylie, Group Director of Policy, Government of Jersey.There was then a lively discussion.

The Policy Centre has published a new Policy "Brief Regulation of taxis". The taxi service in Jersey has been the subject of much discussion over the past 15 or so years. However, there is little published information about the regulatory regime or relevant statistics. The Brief brings together the available information in a coherent way and analyses public policy issues.

The Policy Centre has published a Policy Brief on dogs. The Brief provides some basic information about dogs in Jersey – their number and characteristics, laws and regulations governing their ownership and control, and policy issues.

The Policy Centre has responded to the Statistics Users Group 2024 Survey. The surveys undertaken by Statistics Jersey are immaculate. High quality statistics are produced strictly in accordance with a published schedule. There is scope for some minor improvements in the presentation of statistics.

The Jersey Government fails to comply with its own code of practice and policy on consultations with an adverse effect on the quality of policy-making. This is the principal conclusion in a report published today by the Policy Centre Jersey. The report Improving the Consultation Process was written by the Centre’s Senior Adviser, Sir Mark Boleat.The report argues that a major deficiency is that consultations are not always meaningful, rather they are going through the motions with the objective of claiming that consultation has been undertaken and that there is broad agreement with the proposals. There are reports of charities or businesses being invited to events labelled as consultations but which in practice comprise a PowerPoint presentation with little opportunity for discussion. A second major deficiency is that little notice is taken of points made in the consultation, combined with the absence of a meaningful analysis of consultation responses.

The Policy Centre has updated its comprehensive brief on the proposal for an offshore wind farm in the south-west of its territorial waters following the decision of the States Assembly that the issue should be pursued. Key points include -The wind farm would cost between £2 billion and £3 billion to build and would take about 10 years from approval to producing electricity.The role of the Jersey government would be to negotiate a leasing arrangement for the seabed with the operator and develop the appropriate financial arrangements, and policies in respect of planning, taxation and regulation.

On 26 April 2024 the Policy Centre held a discussion meeting based around the Centre’s research paper Low Income in Jersey . Simon Soar, Director of the Centre, chaired the meeting.Sir Mark Boleat, Senior Adviser to the Centre, opened the meeting by summarising the report. Comments were made by –Deputy Lyndsay Feltham, Minister for Social SecuritySam Ray-Chaudhuri, Research Economist, Institute for Fiscal StudiesFiona Vacher, Executive Director, Jersey Child Care Trust.

The Policy Centre has published a new research paper Problem Gambling in Jersey. The paper brings together relevant information on problem gambling in Jersey. There is little data specific to Jersey, but relevant UK and Guernsey statistics and analysis are drawn on. The summary of the paper is set out below.If the UK experience applies in Jersey, 500 people experience problem gambling, nearly 4,000 gamble at elevated risk and around 7,000 people are negatively affected by someone else’s gambling.

The Policy Centre has published a new report Low income in Jersey https://www.policy.je/papers/low-income-in-jersey. The report brings together available statistics and research in a form designed to facilitate an informed discussion about the nature of low income in Jersey and policy options for addressing the issue.

The Guernsey Policy and Economics Group is a non-for-profit apolitical organisation committed to providing independent research, analysis and advocacy relating to growth strategy, social policy and the economy of Guernsey. On 8 March 2024 the Group published a report The Machinery of Government. The Report drew on a survey which had been conducted among States members. The summary of the report commented that – Concerns expressed over the last twenty or more years that government by consensus is not working are becoming a clamour. Our government should be able to make increasingly difficult and important decisions readily. No system of government is perfect, but we should be doing better.

The Policy Centre Jersey has published a comprehensive report Social mobility in Jersey. This report brings together detailed research on two areas – the impact of high housing costs on social mobility and the provision of university education on-Island – and extracts from relevant reports on other areas relevant to social mobility – the school system, early years provision and action that employers can take. The work that has been done is sufficient to identify that there are significant barriers to social mobility in Jersey and the areas where action can be taken to improve social mobility.

The Policy Centre Jersey has published a new think piece – Vision CI, written by Guernsey-based economist and consultant Chris Brock.The think piece is a thought-provoking case study designed to generate positive debate on the potential integration of public services across the Channel Islands and sets out possible next steps options for consideration by all potential stakeholders and interested parties. The paper argues that the impact of common challenges facing both Jersey and Guernsey set against the current escalating backdrop of long-term international and national tensions and events is a daunting scenario: “Therefore, it is unlikely that there will ever be a better opportunity to review a pan-CI approach to the provision of many key public service functions.”

On 9 February the Policy Centre held a discussion meeting on the ageing population. Key points included: the population of Jersey is ageing rapidly; this has significant implications for the structure of the economy; policies are needed that help people stay healthier for longer; people can be nudged in various ways to adopt healthier lifestyles, but equally some are concerned about a nanny state mentality; Government policies need to be based on a vision, taking account of the ageing population.

We are hosting a breakfast meeting at BDO Ltd on Friday 9th February. The subject of this event is Ageing Population. We have attached a policy brief as a reference point ahead of the event.

A new Policy Brief has been published on progress on the implementation of Jersey’s Carbon Neutral Roadmap (CNR).The brief summarises the Carbon Neutral Strategy and the Carbon Neutral Roadmap, agreed by the States Assembly, noting that “the objective in the CNR is “at a minimum reduce emissions by 68% compared to the 1990 baseline by 2030, and reduce them to 78% from baseline by 2035”.We have noted that Jersey has made considerable progress in reducing emissions – a 46% reduction between 1990 and 2021, an annual rate of about 2%. However, a significant proportion of this was accounted for by electricity supply being switched from an oil-fired