The numbers of persons granted a J-Category consent between 2005 and 2009

1240/4(4272)

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HOUSING BY DEPUTY M.R. HIGGINS OF ST. HELIER

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 24TH FEBRUARY 2009

Question

Would the Minister for Housing complete the following table by inserting the numbers of persons in each category who were granted a J-Category consent by his Department in each of the years shown:

*  I n 2009 for the period between 1st January and 16th February. All other years between 1st  January and 31st December of the relevant year.

Answer

While statistics around "j's" are readily available, and have been published on a number of occasions, to speedily and readily re-collate statistics in various formats on request is not a straight forward matter.

Furthermore, it is not a matter of discrimination under the policy as to whether a person is a newcomer to Jersey, or an established resident who has been recruited to a more specialist position to which j consent has been approved. As such, this is not a matter around which additional administration is undertaken.

As to restrictions around the ability to purchase or lease property, prior to 2006, a choice existed whereby an employer could buy a property, and enter into financial arrangements or otherwise with their employee, or the employer  could  lease  a  property  for  their  employee.  In  2006,  a  mechanism  was  introduced  whereby  the cumbersome means whereby employers had to buy on behalf of their employers was replaced, with a system whereby "j" employees could establish their own company through which to purchase a property. This was considered important is ensuring highly skilled employees continued to see Jersey as a desirable location. The practise of requiring any lease to be taken out through the employer however remains applicable, with some additional restrictions introduced in 2008 whereby some consents would only be issued specifically to lease property. These restricted "lease only" approvals have been issued in between 5 – 10% of cases, and are a useful additional tool in deflating some of the upward pressure on house prices while giving extra flexibility in the "j" decision. Notwithstanding these restrictions, many "js" who are able to purchase nevertheless only end up leasing property - indeed, nearly 400 lease consents were issued to "js" in 2008 compared to just under 100 "j" purchase consents.

Bearing this in mind, and within reasonable practical boundaries, the relevant "j" application statistics for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008, are as follows: