Ensure Government does what’s in its power to reduce costs to the public, including by its arms-length organisations.

Jersey's government only has a select number of ways it can help reduce costs for islanders, but its no less important that we play our part in ensuring tax and fees are as low and fair as possible.

We have to be realistic with what the States and Government can do to influence the costs bourne by the public and businesses. Many of the factors that drive these are hard to directly or even indirectly control, such as food and energy costs, and the cost of construction (and from this the supply and renovation of housing and economic land).

Despite this, how Government works and serves the public does impact some costs, and where these exist, the policy should be to aim to make sure these are as low as necessary, to remove burdens within control.

The States Owned Entities (SOEs)

We must review the role of the States as shareholder (majority or total) in our SOEs, to ensure they are receiving appropriate steer from Government on our priorities. Whilst they operate with directors and boards, their ultimate responsibility is to serve the shareholder, and we should be direct and clear in what we (the public) want from them.

Examples

JT (Jersey Telecom) provide a range of products for telecoms services including phones and broadband. They recently doubled the price of their cheapest PAYG (Pay as you go) fee from £5 per month to £10 per month. Whilst there may be a commercial case, was enough weight given to ensuring a low-cost package remained for islanders?
Ports of Jersey have been allowed to increase the fees they charge by RPI+ 1.8%, as set by the JCRA (Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority). Alongside prior rate increases, this has resulted in dramatic increases to services such as moorings. Not all of these are ’luxury’, with the tidal moorings offering many islanders an affordable way to enjoy our natural environment.
When it comes to housing, the States of Jersey Development Company (SoJDC) have built, and plan to build, new open-market housing for sale. To date, this has been large apartment developments such as Horizon, College Gardens, and soon to be South Hill. The service charge on development such as Horizon are reported to be considerable amounts and on the upper end of Jersey’s service charge for apartments. We should ensure that Government’s priority is sustainable development, which considers how buildings and homes are affordable to run, not just build and sell.