STATES members must not attempt to derail the plans they have just approved, according to Chamber of Commerce president Paul Luxon (pictured).
He said approval of the States Strategic Plan and the fundamental spending reviews was only the first part in the island’s government becoming more streamlined and making the changes it needs.
‘It’s good to see the States Strategic Plan has been approved largely intact and that is a very solid step forward.
‘In our view the States Strategic Plan is the second phase of the Government Business Plan, as the Government Business Plan looked to bring all the different strands together whereas this is now a costed road map.
‘But what we must not allow ourselves to do is to think that this, along with the fundamental spending reviews, is the answer to the WAO report because clearly the flaws in our system still remain.’
He said letting the plans and reviews progress without attempts to derail them when they came back to the Assembly in future was key, as was tackling reducing the public expenditure budget of £330m. because attempts to curb had not worked and the island desperately needed to balance its books.
In addition to the eight parts of the States Strategic Plan that were already on the table, including spending £200,000 on external relations initiatives in the EU, £250,000 on the airport firefighter inquiry and £155,000 on protecting vulnerable groups in the community, the States also added three extra areas of spending following amendments from the Policy Council.
The appointment of a disability officer was enabled after it was discovered the funding of the British-Irish council meeting to be staged in Guernsey would cost £125,000 rather than £175,000.
Another amendment saw the £150,000 shown in the plan as ‘available for further developments’ reallocated to get the domestic abuse strategy started to the tune of £100,000, with the remaining cash going to the drug and alcohol strategy.
Mr Luxon said he was pleased to see that the additional parts of the SSP had not come at the expense of investment in the island’s economy, which he said would ultimately aid spending on the social projects the whole island wanted.
‘Spending money on trying to invest in the economy is an investment.
‘It should not be seen as a cost because if you get that return it allows you to spend the money on those social projects.
‘You can only do the things you want to do for a community if you have the money to do it and that comes from taxes, which will be more in a strong economy.
‘Having representation in Brussels is an investment, not a cost, and it’s the same with hosting the British-Irish Council.
‘But Chamber also absolutely recognises that the domestic abuse strategy, the drug and alcohol strategy and the appointment of a disability officer are all important and worthy of prioritisation.’
Article posted on 5th November, 2009 - 2.30pm
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