ANYONE wading through the 258 pages of the first annual review of the States Strategic Plan will be struck by the positive language adopted in the Billet d’Etat expressing how corporate governance is to be improved, how government is to become more joined-up and how the Assembly will act more corporately.

Evidence to support that claim, however, is harder to find and it is not clear whether the report actually sets out to be misleading or is simply articulating a strategy of hope.

As we highlighted yesterday, the plan’s ‘system’ for improving the prioritisation of new legislation is nothing of the sort unless and until those responsible for drafting choose to play ball.

There are other examples in the report – but there is also an indication of what the Policy Council is up against in trying to encourage members to work together for the common good of the island and taxpayers.

After the Assembly decided in April to take steps to try to prevent guerrilla amendments from wrecking or destabilising set-piece elements of the strategic plan, the States Assembly and Constitution Committee came back with alternative proposals.

In a re-run of Environment refusing to introduce paid parking, Sacc put forward its own alternative, which allowed the wreckers a free hand, subject to conditions, and the States then went on to approve it.

So on the one hand, a majority recognise that it’s not a good idea to allow ‘queue-jumping’ in the allocation of resources for policy initiatives, but want to retain the flexibility to do so if they choose.

In this particular case, the Sacc approach will make additional work because a rogue item would have to come back for, in effect, a second reading before being ratified. But it does underline the mindset of this States.

In the event, the States Strategic Plan authors went along with the Sacc alternative with a weary sense of accepting that the second reading with extra information was as good as it was going to get.

And that, perhaps, is what the upbeat words in the Billet are all about.

Create the illusion of joined up government and one day it might actually happen.