This is speech I made when I laid an amendment to the 2018 budget which gave power to Policy & Resources to set up pooled budgets across the States. The amendment said any such budgets needed States’ approval. It won.
Sir, I think it is important to understand what this amendment is not about. It is not about lack of trust. It is not about either Deputy Le Clerc or myself objecting to the principle of pooled budgets. It’s not about slowing things down.
What this amendment is about is ensuring proper governance, that the concept of pooled budgets is clearly understood and that a proper mechanism to establish, monitor and approve those budgets is put in place.
Whilst Deputy Le Clerc and myself understand the reasoning behind Proposition 3, we believe it is a sledgehammer to crack a nut and needs refinement for 2 principal reasons;
Firstly, as we found when we were putting this amendment together, there is a lack of understanding of what precisely a pooled budget is and how it will operate. As the proposition stands, I believe, if approved, we would be agreeing to something we didn’t really know what we were agreeing to.
Secondly, and more fundamentally, the proposition runs roughshod over our political system by allowing a Committee to take away the budget of another, potentially without its approval. It is our belief that pooled budgets, as with Committee budgets, should be approved by this Assembly.
Therefore, what we are proposing is that Policy & Resources work to establish the appropriate mechanism and resourcing required for approval by this Assembly. We believe that this should focus on the Children and Young People’s Plan where we do see there will be merit in considering a pooled budget and I can advise that the Committee of Health and Social Care will be willing to assist P&R in this regard.
As I say, we understand what the Policy & Resources Committee want to do
Therefore, I ask members to support this amendment to ensure good governance and timely progress to be made.