News

Final population hearing before States debate

​The Migration and Population Review Panel held a public hearing with the Chief Minister, Senator John Le Fondré, and Assistant Chief Minister, Deputy Rowland Huelin, on the Government's proposed Common Population Policy yesterday. This marks the Scrutiny Panel's final public hearing for its current review of the policy, before it is debated by the States Assembly on Tuesday 8 February 2022. When questioning the Ministers, the Panel heard that: 

• If approved, the policy will introduce a requirement to incorporate the population policy within future Government Plans.
• More work needs to be done to address issues regarding the provision of health care for those who come to work in Jersey. A review which will seek to address this is due to be published later this year.
• A clearer, more consistent approach is required to help migrants understand their rights upon arrival in Jersey and ensure they are not missing out on entitlements.
• The population policy does not include many environmental policies as economic factors will need addressing first to help protect the environment.
• The knock-on impact of the policy on Jersey's housing market has not yet been evaluated.
• The population policy does not specifically address diversity, however, all the polices that sit underneath include it as one of their major commitments.

Chair of the Migration and Population Review Panel, Senator Steve Pallett, said "Our final public hearing on the proposed population policy saw that there is progress to be made to ensure that all Islanders are considered in the development of future population policies. Whilst the Council of Ministers evidently recognise that there are key areas which require attention, there continues to be a focus on Jersey's long-term term future, which is largely in the hands of the next Government. The final conclusions of our review of this policy will be shared shortly, ahead of the upcoming States debate."