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Population Policy - provision of information and alternative proposals

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POPULATION POLICY: PROVISION OF INFORMATION AND ALTERNATIVE PROPOSALS _______________

Lodged au Greffe on 11th June 2002 by Senator S. Syvret

______________________________

STATES OF JERSEY

STATES GREFFE

150 2002 P.102

Price code: A

PROPOSITION

THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion - to re q u e st the Policy and Resources Committee -

  (a ) to prepare and present to the States a report detailing the alternative population policy options considered by

the Committee, setting out the advantages and disadvantages of each, the factual data and expert advice used throughout and the Committee's reasons for rejecting these alternative policy options;

(b ) to prepare and present to the States a detailed response to the report entitled Jersey into the Millennium: a

Sustainable Future'; and

  (c ) to prepare for the States a report detailing the environmental and sustainability implications of the population

policy proposed by the Committee.

SENATOR S. SYVRET

Report

This report and proposition is in response to the refusal of the President of the Policy and Resources Committee to provide for the Assembly a detailed account of possible alternative approaches to the issues relating to population when responding to written questions on Tuesday 28th May 2002.

There must be a variety of responses to the population issue, advantages and disadvantages to each and a range of consequences. Before the community and its politicians can remotely begin to make informed choices on this very important subject we must have all of the facts and possibilities before us.

The sustainability report, Jersey into the Millennium: a Sustainable Future', was the culmination of a great deal of States' and community effort. In his preface to that document, Senator P.F. Horsfall OBE, President of the Policy and Resources Committee, stated that My Committee will give consideration to the proposals that will culminate in the States approval of a comprehensive sustainability strategy'.

No such strategy has been produced and indeed the President intimated in his answers on 28th May 2002 that he and his Committee disagreed with at least some of the report. It may be that he no longer intends that a comprehensive sustainability strategy' will be brought to the States. In any event the Committee must be required to at least produce a detailed response to Jersey into the Millennium'.

It is also vital that the States are informed of the environmental and sustainability implications of the population policy proposed by the Committee and I believe the Committee should rely on the professional expertise of its Environmental Adviser, Dr. Michael Romeril to produce this objective assessment.

This proposition has no implications for the financial or manpower resources of the States.