Comments on: ‘Grass up those who flout housing laws’

By: boatman

boatman — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:43:18 +0000

Why not live on a boat, no licence required

By: OccupyArea51

OccupyArea51 — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 11:59:04 +0000

I’m more concerned with the number of people on short term licenses who come over from countries which lack any sort of screening for XDR-TB, etc.
This could shortly turn into a health disaster, one infected person living in a house can infect ten others within a few weeks.
The problem is that the early symptoms can resemble a severe cold which is when the infection can spread most easily via aerosol and contact with door handles etc.

In no way is suggesting screening everyone who comes into the island for XDR-TB and other opportunistic infections racist, it is simply a good idea for health reasons.

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By: Johno

Johno — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 10:01:16 +0000

Dave Jones

Thanks Dave, I

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By: Dave Jones

Dave Jones — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 17:16:59 +0000

Johno

I will ask the staff to dig out the stats when they are less busy, as we are very short staffed at present.

Although the stats will only tell you how many live licences have been issued to the public sector. not which posts they have gone to.

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By: Johno

Johno — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 16:11:21 +0000

Dave Jones

Thanks for the reply. It would be interesting to see how many there are, its certainly a question that gets asked more and more, mainly because of the increasing red tape, legislation etc we seem to come across day after day.

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By: Dave Jones

Dave Jones — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:21:32 +0000

Johno

I don’t have those stats to hand but I also have to say that we do have a number of local people in senior posts, although I do share your concerns when it comes to the lack of local knowledge amongst many of our civil servants who have moved to Guernsey which can effect the way they do their job.

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By: Johno

Johno — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 08:33:04 +0000

Dave Jones

Is it possible to say how many licences are currently active for jobs in the civil service.
It seems to me that all of the top level jobs these days go to licence holders who have NO understanding of the way this island works!

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By: Dave Jones

Dave Jones — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 20:38:22 +0000

Every check is made before these licences are extended, we do expect people to train local employees into these jobs and that does happen, there are also occasions where licences will be extended in senior posts but that will always be based on the individual circumstances of the case at the time the application is made. It maybe that the training was not successful and people have left before they could move into the post, or that the employer felt that even after training the person remained unsuitable to take over role.

We ask for evidence of this of course and we have to be satisfied that what we are told is the case before any licence extension is granted.

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By: Interested

Interested — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 18:50:45 +0000

Deputy jones, I have friends in both the private sector and states who have been working for licence holders and expected to get their job when their licence runs out and done the training nd got qualifications only for their boss to get a 15 yr licence. This seems very unfair to me, what checks do housing do to make sure that there is no local suitable to do a job before extending a licence.

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By: Dave Jones

Dave Jones — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:22:50 +0000

That issue is being looked at by C&E

It depends why they are here, if someone has bought something from a UK company and its workman have come to the island to install it in someone’s home, then that is not breaking any of the rules because they are in and out.

If however it is someone coming to the island touting for work on a regular basis, then that is a different matter and they should be checked out by SSD inspectors to make sure they are not breaking any of our rules.

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By: States House

States House — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 13:34:21 +0000

What about private householders who use the white van man general builder that would be staying in a hotel?

What could be done to stop these?
.

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By: Dave Jones

Dave Jones — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:51:48 +0000

States House

This monitoring already happens, I might remind you of a very well publicised case where a take away owner was fined hundreds of thousands of pounds for employing people without the right documents and thereby allowing those employees to evade tax and social security payments.

We do also rely on information being passed to us and we warn all employers and landlords of the penalties for allowing emplyees or tenants who are flouting the Housing control laws.

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By: States House

States House — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:17:50 +0000

Ok Dave, disregard Jacks comments but do you think what I have suggested could be workable? I do!

Like I said, anyone hiring these unregistered workers is contributing to the problem as much as the workers themselves. Supply and demand. Cut the demand off!

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By: bcb

bcb — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 22:44:57 +0000

I think your post may fall into the category “not worth responding to” on Daves list which would be the appropriate response i reckon.

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By: Dave Jones

Dave Jones — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 22:05:08 +0000

Jack

I will no longer respond to you as an individual, as I am so thick.

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