THE Jersey States is gradually relaxing the strict controls on immigration. In the latest move, the Housing Department has removed time limits on most J-category consents for essential employees which it said was unnecessarily bureaucratic.

The change will not mean an increase in employees with that category of licence, just lower staff turnover, the department said.

A total of 271 J-category consents were issued last year, nearly half of them in the finance and legal sectors.

There are about 1,200 such employees living in Jersey.

The Isle of Man’s cost of living index, excluding housing, increased for the first time since October to reach 3.7% in May.

This compares with 3.1% in Guernsey and Jersey.

Jersey’s Council of Ministers has agreed a new policy for the development of the retail sector which could mean a 15% increase in floor space.

The council said the island needed at least another 50,000sq. ft of supermarket and 50,000sq. ft more for DIY, furniture and electrical.

Minister for Economic Development Philip Ozouf said that the policy tried to strike a balance between protecting existing businesses and increasing competition for the benefit of consumers.

The framework will be used to guide decisions made under the Regulation of Undertakings Law and by the Planning Department.

THE Isle of Man Government has rolled out the first of a series of online services for islanders.

The pilot covers just eight farmers who will be able to go online to enquire about cattle passports and track the animals’ movements.

The full farming community will soon be able to undertake most of its transactions with government online instead of sending in paper forms.

The services are aimed at improving the way citizens and businesses interact with government by organising information and services around their needs.

Key to the project is the creation of reusable common shared services which use technology to join up rather than duplicate services, making them more effective and efficient to design, deploy and operate.

Income Tax and Customs and Excise will offer online enquiries, electronic return filing and

payment for some customers by April.

A survey of financial institutions in Jersey has found that the total profits of the sector last year increased by 3.6% to reach an estimated £1,054m., the first annual increase in five years. Profit per employee is now approaching £100,000.

A leading Jersey businessman has called for the establishment of a Strategic Economic Diversification Plan to boost growth.

Chris Evans, managing director of the large datacentre, Foreshore, said that a States objective was 2% real annual growth in the economy, but there was no strategic plan.

‘Economic diversity is not a ﾓnice-to-haveﾔ, it’s an absolute prerequisite for the economic prosperity of future generations in Jersey,’ said Mr Evans.

The plan should look at ways of exploiting Jersey’s ability to create its own laws to mitigate the costs of doing business in the island, he said.

Another independent trust company has grown through acquisition.

Minerva Holdings has acquired Professional Trust to create a local company with 66 staff, one of the biggest independent trust companies.

There are a further 20 staff based in London, Switzerland and Mauritius.

Following public consultation, the Isle of Man Treasury has decided to look further into capping tax relief on mortgage interest.

A majority of people agreed that buyers shouldn’t receive relief for second properties.

However the Treasury says that if it does introduce a cap, it will be high enough not to affect the vast majority of taxpayers.