In brief: Deputy Chris Rebindaine has tabled an amendment calling for the government’s Common Strategic Policy to be updated and submitted alongside the 2028 Budget. He argues that States Members are currently being asked to endorse strategic priorities without full visibility of the funding that will underpin them. The amendment is due to be debated in the States Assembly next month.
What Is Being Proposed?
Deputy Chris Rebindaine has submitted an amendment to the government’s 2026 to 2030 Common Strategic Priorities, asking for a “new or revised” version of the document to be prepared outside the standard four-year cycle, according to the Jersey Evening Post. Specifically, he wants the updated Common Strategic Policy (CSP) submitted alongside the proposed 2028 Budget, so that political commitments and financial resources can be assessed together.
The amendment, if passed by the States Assembly, would effectively compel the Council of Ministers to redraft its entire strategic vision for Jersey less than two years after it was first formed. That is no small ask, and it raises an obvious question: if the strategy needs rewriting so soon, was it fit for purpose in the first place?
The Case for Alignment
Deputy Rebindaine’s argument is straightforward and, frankly, rather sensible. In the report accompanying his proposal, he pointed out that States Members are currently being asked to “endorse a short to medium term direction of travel” before gaining “full visibility of the funding arrangements and budget decisions that will underpin delivery.” In other words, the Assembly is being invited to sign off on a plan without knowing whether the government can actually afford it.
He also referenced Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham’s recent acknowledgement, at a Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel hearing, that additional work is required to fund longer-term strategic priorities. Deputy Rebindaine noted that “that work may significantly change the spending plans reflected in the Budget’s forward estimates,” and argued that the Assembly should therefore have the opportunity to reconsider the CSP alongside the resulting programme and financial proposals.
The logic is hard to fault. Approving a strategic direction without knowing the price tag is a bit like ordering a bespoke kitchen and only asking about the cost once the fitters have arrived.
Making It an “Active Document”
Beyond the timing question, Deputy Rebindaine has also proposed that the updated CSP include the wording “deliverable and measurable.” He argued this would render it an “active document,” rather than a “tick box” exercise that is “quickly forgotten.” It is a pointed critique, and one that many observers of Jersey’s political landscape will recognise. Strategic policy documents have a long and distinguished history of being produced with great fanfare and then quietly gathering dust.
The amendment is set to be debated in the States Assembly next month, giving the Council of Ministers little time to respond before Members vote on whether to force their hand.
Source: Jersey Evening Post
