Following the decision of the States to end the 11+ at the March 2016 States’ meeting, attention turned to the number of sites that should be retained. The choice was between the Education Department’s preferred model of one school across four sites, with the concept of a ‘hard’ federation, versus…
Probably one of the most divisive subjects that we have had to debate this term. It formed part of the Education Department’s policy letter proposals for secondary education. I thought it a very disappointing report with little in the way of evidence or desired outcomes. Financial information was sparse and…
HSSD presented its proposals for a new Capacity Law at the last States meeting. Included within this were recommendations for deprivation of liberty safeguards (DOLS) to protect the most vulnerable in society. It was subject to an amendment to delay until the UK has decided what it was going to…
A major policy letter that hit the meeting of the States was that produced by SWBIC. Here is my speech. Sir, This is a good report. It is well-balanced, which I think reflects the diverse make up of that Committee, which I mean in a positive way. I would…
An amendment was placed against the Healthy Weight Strategy by Deputy Hadley to introduce a sugar tax from the beginning of 2017. The Strategy sets out that this will be researched before bringing it in. My speech against the amendment is set out below. Sir, I do urge members…
March 2016 saw the States approve HSSD’s breastfeeding strategy. I opened debate and my speech is below. Sir, I’m pleased to present the first breastfeeding strategy for Guernsey and Alderney. Sadly, it has taken longer to get here than originally directed by Deputy Burford’s successful amendment, for which we…
The Public Accounts Committee and Scrutiny Committee laid a joint policy letter to the States at the February States meeting. This was very important to me as I had wanted to increase the powers and resources of the scrutiny function before I was elected and everything I have witnessed since I…
I laid a successful amendment against the Commerce and Employment Department’s policy letter on trading standards. My speech is below. Sir, This is quite a straightforward amendment And deals with an omission from the policy letter. Whilst paragraph 7.10 discusses price indications and essentially the need for fair and transparent…
I made the following speech at the February 2016 States meeting. Sir, so here we have it, another strategy, but one that has an integral part to play in the transformation of HSSD. As the Plan makes it clear, it is just part, although an incredibly important part, of a…
I made the following speech at the February 2016 States meeting. Sir, Being not far short of 400 pages, this is a beast of a document but in my opinion a seminal work. It covers every aspect of the subject matter BUT, It is also a sad reflection of …