The Government Work Plan 2022-2025: Investing in Islanders, Our Island and Our Future is the States' integrated action plan for this political term.

The Government Work Plan was agreed by the Assembly in July 2021. The corresponding Government Work Plan - Stage 2 Policy Letter is available here.

A further policy letter reviewing and refreshing the GWP was agreed by the Assembly in July 2022 and can be downloaded here. The Assembly also approved a revised Top 10 action list which can be downloaded here, and can also be found in the FAQ section below.

The first Government Work Plan Annual Monitoring Report on progress of the Plan in general and its Top Ten recovery actions in particular was released in May 2022. This is available in the downloads section along with a summary of the Plan and the previous Monitoring Reports.

About the Government Work Plan

After the 2020 election, the Policy & Resources Committee took a fresh look at the States' policy planning and reporting process.

In previous years, the States' intentions had out-stripped fiscal and human resources, even before the impact of COVID-19 and Brexit had taken their toll. The result had been a list of policy initiatives, capital projects and extant Resolutions that couldn't all progress in a timely manner.

The States agreed that what was needed was a single, integrated, phased and funded Government Work Plan to address the Island's immediate economic, social and environmental needs and position Islanders for a thriving, sustainable future. 

The most recent revisions to the GWP (July 2022) identified the following as the key areas to progress:

  1. The remaining activity to move to living responsibly with COVID-19;
  2. The essential external work for the Bailiwick to secure its resilience and maintain its competitive economy as it manages the effects of Brexit, moves to meets necessary international standards, and the response to external issues such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine;
  3. The investment activity for this political term in the mechanisms to deliver government functions and maintain the Bailiwick’s infrastructure; and
  4. The phased recovery actions, now categorised as –
    1. Category 1 - 2022 priority recovery actions in which to invest resource and funding for short and long-term benefits;
    2. Category 2 - Other recovery actions for the coming 12-18 months which are resourced as far as possible, and which may be follow-on activity implementing previous actions, may result from previous decisions of the States, or may be new recommendations from Committees;
    3. Category 3 - Recovery actions to commence within this political term which are scoped but capacity precludes earlier progress; and
    4. Category 4 - Actions yet to be scoped, for which there is no resource at present and it is anticipated will commence in the next term. However, the sponsoring Committee may scope the necessary work and submit to a future GWP update to accelerate the work, if competing demands and capacity permit and if the States support the next stage of the work.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Government Work Plan's vision?

The States agreed to use the vision of the Revive and Thrive recovery strategy from 2020, which still applies:

    • 'We will work in partnership to recover our economic prosperity, build on our inclusive community values and capitalise on our many strengths to make Guernsey a safe haven based on sustaining health, wealth and community.'

The GWP aims to deliver outcomes which:

  • secure the Bailiwick’s resilience;
  • maximise the community’s collective potential; and
  • ensure we are competitive as an economy.
What are the current Top Ten actions?

Ten recovery actions were agreed in 2022 as being of primary importance in addressing the Plan's focus. These are:

Housing

  • Evaluate and implement actions to address private housing market capacity and affordability;
  • Evaluate and implement actions to address key working housing capacity and affordability;
  • progress proposals to the States by December 2022 on housing need and on management of States’ housing stock;
  • Examine the case for developers to make a tariff payment (financial contribution) in lieu of affordable housing contribution to be set aside for affordable housing and to report back to the States by the end of 2022 with proposals, if appropriate, for a system of contributions schedules or standard charges (financial contributions) in lieu, including the identification of any necessary legal provision or changes to land use policy;
  • Publish a 'Housing Action Plan’ for States’ owned land as part of the 2022 year-end monitoring report, giving a comprehensive overview of States’ owned land available for housing development and any land considered for housing development by the former Housing Action Group (HAG) and the Committee for Employment & Social Security. This should include where States’ owned land is available for:
    1. private ownership
    2. joint ventures
    3. self-build
    4. social housing (social rental, key worker, part ownership and specialised housing);
  • To direct the Committee for Employment & Social Security, in consultation with the Committee for the Environment & Infrastructure and the Policy & Resources Committee to report back to the States as soon as practicable with proposals for a scheme aimed at promoting and facilitating home ownership of a percentage of all homes, both current and future, managed or owned by the GHA and any homes managed by the Committee for Employment & Social Security under its ‘Housing Department’ function, involving the following main features –
    1. relevant properties to be offered for sale to qualifying purchasers at 75% of market value,
    2. restriction on onward sale at any more than 75% of market value at time of sale,
    3. GHA to have first option to repurchase, and

 

  • To direct the Policy & Resources Committee to examine the options and report back to the States as soon as practicable with recommendations for the provision of States sponsored mortgages, loans and financing options for deposits and purchases of properties available under a scheme aimed at promoting and facilitating home ownership.

 

Population

  • Determine what the Island’s future population and immigration policy needs to deliver and set out a pathway to address the challenges that are being faced by the economy today.

 

Skills and human capital development

  • Agree a plan to skill our community to meet its needs; and
  • embed implementation to the end of the political term.

 

Improve living standards

  • Review minimum income standards with initial focus on income support and winter fuel allowance; and
  • Develop proposals on the funding options for long-term care.

 

Health recovery

  • Agree proposals to provide targeted support based on affordability in respect of primary care appointments and access to aids and adaptations; and
  • establish whether or not to explore the introduction of a compulsory insurance scheme for primary care.

 

Support the next generation

  • Resource work to conclude Children’s Law enabling Ordinances and their implementation; and
  • invest in education delivery through a COVID-19 recovery programme and the strategic and operational support to be delivered within schools and settings following Ofsted Inspection.

 

Energy resilience

  • Develop the electricity strategy for the Island; and
  • resource priority action in year one of its implementation plan to improve the outlook for an increase in use of renewables.

 

Enabling climate change mitigation and adaptation

  • Respond to the agreement in principle to extend the Paris Agreement to the Island by establishing an expert panel to scope a proportionate and pragmatic pathway to net zero for funding consideration by the States in the 2023 Government Work Plan.

 

First steps for the blue and green economy

  • Create plans, based on best available evidence, that maximise the sustainable social and economic use of our island and marine environments, including support for emerging economic opportunities (including international trade agreements), tourism, Green Finance and renewable energy.

 

Regeneration - future harbour requirements

  • Agree the preferred direction for Guernsey’s future harbour requirements to ensure that any regeneration of the seafront is within a clear strategic framework.
Will there be flexibility in the Government Work Plan and its actions?

The Government Work Plan is all-encompassing, insofar as if an action or workstream isn't in it and doesn't fall under a Committee's business-as-usual (BAU) mandate, then it is not intended that a Committee will devote resources to deliver it. However, this does need to be flexible. Should an essential but unforeseen need arise, resources will be redirected. The general principle, nonetheless, is that the Plan covers all non-BAU governmental activity for this term. Future Government Work Plan initiatives and policy developments will be considered as part of the Plan's annual review process, progress on the actions will be reported each year and the action list will be amended as needed. The Plan will include sustainable measurements of success, not just GDP.

How have actions been phased?

In July 2022, the Assembly approved the following categorisation approach to phasing actions:

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How will the Government Work Plan be monitored?

In March 2021, the States agreed to direct the development of a monitoring framework for the Plan through which the delivery and performance of actions can be tracked. An approach to the monitoring framework was presented in the stage 2 policy letter, which recommended using internationally comparable, existing measures. This approach was agreed by the States. It is important to note that it can take years to realise the effects of policy decisions and for that to be reflected in measures. It is also important to recognise that generally multiple policies will impact standard measures, for example the level of carbon emissions.

The first Government Work Plan Annual Monitoring Report on progress of the Plan in general and its Top Ten recovery actions in particular was released in May 2022. This is available in the downloads section along with a summary of the Plan and the previous Monitoring Reports.

Which Committee owns the Government Work Plan?

The Plan is fundamentally owned by the executive decision-making body - the States of Deliberation. Together, all 40 Deputies own the Plan and are the final decision-makers in agreeing its content. Under its mandated role to coordinate policy of the States, the Policy & Resources Committee has coordinated the development and submission of the Government Work Plan. It has work closely with the Principal Committees to review and refresh the current Plan, and has develop a revised phased and resourced set of actions.

How have the actions been prioritised and decided?

The Policy & Resources Committee has led on actively seeking the views of Committees through officer-facilitated workshops in Q1 2022. The Committees of the States have advised their priorities to support their service delivery; meet the States’ strategic outcomes; and discharge the previous directions of the States as set out by Resolution. In the majority of cases, where work is not complete, these remain those set out in the GWP 2021 framework, with some amendment to timeframes.

The Committee also explored the following principles with States’ Members:

  • Completing to implementation the 2021 top ten actions;
  • Introducing appropriate priority actions; and
  • Re-phasing other actions to better match available resource within the current people and funding envelope, which may include making recommendations for some actions to be deferred until the next political term.