P&R under fire for missed finance plan deadline

Guernsey's top political committee has been criticised for missing a deadline to publish a new plan for how the States manages public finances.

In January the States forced the Policy and Resources Committee (P&R) to re-write its fiscal policy framework and bring it back to the assembly before 15 July, after it had been labelled a "prospectus for future borrowing".

Scrutiny Management Committee (SMC) president Andy Sloan, who forced the re-write, said missing the deadline showed a "worrying trend" of P&R not following States resolutions.

P&R president Lindsay de Sausmarez said the deadline was "unrealistic" and the new fiscal policy framework would be looked at later in the year.

De Sausmarez added: "There is a substantial amount of overlap between the fiscal policy work and tax reform, not least that it requires the same very small team of staff to do the work."

Deputy Haley Camp, who seconded the proposal to force P&R back to the drawing board, said she was disappointed, but not surprised, at the delay.

"We see prospective resolutions fail on their language and yet P&R ignores clear, unambiguous directions.

"I am still trying to explore the direction on zero-based budgeting for a similar reason."

Camp's colleague on the SMC, deputy Sloan, said he expected P&R to miss the deadline.

"I think it generally points to a lack of fiscal maturity by the committee to try and push through tax reform before the fiscal rules were agreed, and that's as much a concern."

At the end of the meeting in January, in which P&R was forced to rethink its plans, the then vice-president of P&R Gavin St Pier warned the deadline set may not be deliverable as many of the staff who would work on the policy were working on the tax reform plans.

A debate on tax reform is set to restart on 30 September.

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