Government Business Plan
An overview of the Committee's monitoring of the development of the Government Business Plan.
The Policy Council's report entitled "Government Business Plan - Preparing for the New States Term 2008-2012", submitted to the States in Billet d'Etat III, 2008, seeks the States' endorsement of the GBP, to hand over the baton of the GBP to the new States.
The Scrutiny Committee has stated its full support for the process, which it emphasises is an iterative and cyclical process that can be built on and continually improved. The Committee states that, although the GBP is still in a formative stage, it is a starting point for the essential process of setting and prioritising policy by political consensus and allocating resources.
The Committee calls for the GBP to be simplified and streamlined in its next version and for the Policy Council to revisit the Committee's previous detailed commentary on the GBP to ensure that its comments are taken into account when developing the next revision of the GBP.
The Scrutiny Committee also suggests the Policy Council liaise with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to reconsider the role of the PAC in the corporate planning process. As it is currently illustrated in the timeline of the GBP, it appears the PAC is intended to be involved in the decision-making process, which the Scrutiny Committee suggests would be inappropriate.
The Scrutiny Committee also questions the Policy Council's proposal to change the mandates of the Policy Council and Departments, which it believes will increase confusion over respective roles rather than add clarity.
The first Government Business Plan was published in Billet XVIII 2007 and discussed by the States of Guernsey at its meeting beginning 25th July 2007. The Scrutiny Committee provided detailed comments on this first version of the Plan.
The Committee will be setting up a continuing programme to monitor the GBP process and to review areas that appear to merit scrutiny. The Committee invites all States Members, Departments and Committees to discuss with it any matters they wish to raise.
The Committee would also welcome any comments from members of the public on the Government Business Plan and what issues you feel might be relevant for Scrutiny to review. See the "Your Say" section for further details on submitting your views on any topic.
The Scrutiny Committee's comments on the GBP to date are available to download following the links to the right of this page.