Deputies Raise Concerns Over Lack of Detail in Government’s Proposed Budget

Backbench members have raised concerns regarding the perceived insufficient detail within the Government of Jersey’s draft budget. These criticisms primarily focus on the absence of departmental plans, which, according to politicians, are essential for comprehending each minister’s spending priorities. In defense of the draft budget, Treasury Minister Deputy Elaine Millar stated that politicians were requesting “for information that hadn’t been provided in the past.” The debate on the government’s 2025-2028 budget is scheduled to commence in the States Assembly on Tuesday. The budget proposal includes an allocation of £710m for the construction of the new acute hospital at Overdale, an additional £31m for other health facilities, and a freeze on alcohol and fuel duties. Furthermore, a support package is planned to assist businesses in paying their staff a living wage. Deputy Helen Miles, who chairs the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel, commented: “We are very concerned about the detail in this budget, every single scrutiny panel has said it’s been difficult to get to grips with the detail in the budget for each area of their remit.” She added: “In the past we have had departmental business plans and we have had ministerial priorities, but those haven’t been available for scrutiny to analyse this year and it’s made our job that bit more challenging.” Public Accounts Committee chairwoman Deputy Inna Gardiner echoed these concerns. Deputy Gardiner’s committee is responsible for scrutinizing government expenditure of public funds. Gardiner stated: “It’s very difficult for us to say we are happy with this budget for this department when I don’t know how much we are going to spend on women’s health or inclusion.” She further noted: “In each department there is no clarity on what’s in and what’s out.” Deputy Jonathan Renouf, a member of the hospital review panel, also expressed frustration regarding the “lack of transparency.” He elaborated: “We have Overdale hospital being built, but there are other hospital projects being built that have little information on what they will cost, what they will be used for and how they will be staffed.” Millar pointed out that the scrutiny panels had received the draft budget in August. She explained: “The main complaint, as I understand it, is that we don’t have ministerial plans anymore.” Millar added that “Ministerial plans were introduced by [Deputy Kristina Moore], so we only had ministerial plans for two years.” She concluded that “Previous scrutiny panels have managed to scrutinise without ministerial plans.”