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2016.06.28
12 Deputy L.M.C. Doublet of the Chief Minister regarding the progress of the Shaping
our Future project: [9533]
Can the Chief Minister please provide the Assembly with an update on the progress of the Shaping Our Future project?
Senator I.J. Gorst (The Chief Minister):
Could I ask Senator Routier to respond to this, please?
Senator P.F. Routier (Assistant Chief Minister - rapporteur):
I want to thank the Deputy for the opportunity to explain this important work. I have been genuinely pleased with the responses so far and the enthusiasm. To raise awareness, we briefed over 1,000 stakeholders earlier this year, providing a platform for the My Jersey survey, which is now under way, asking people how they think Jersey is performing and their aspirations for the future. Over 2,000 people have done the survey in the first 11 days and we hope to get many more as we promote the survey online and in public places such as Les Quennevais, the hospital, schools and in town. This phase will run until 31st July. The next significant phase will then begin, sharing what we have heard, shaping aspirations into realistic targets. This is the phase where the vision starts to take shape and I very much hope that States Members will become involved. This will enable us to produce a draft vision at the end of the year, on which we will consult again before bringing the vision to the Assembly for debate in the spring.
- Deputy L.M.C. Doublet :
The Assistant Chief Minister, I think, will agree that some Islanders are quite disengaged in general with some of these processes. There are some that are optimistic about the future, myself included, but quite understandably a large proportion of the population are feeling quite disengaged. Lots of these consultations have happened in the past. How is this one different and, if it is different, how will the Minister ensure that if people do make the effort and fill in this survey that their views will have a real impact on the long-term vision for Jersey?
Senator P.F. Routier:
The experience we have had over the last couple of months of trailing this around in various places, I was shown some evidence in a school recently which had photographs of children holding up what they wanted of the Island. There was a real broad cross-section of what their aspirations were. We are going to take note of all of those things and we know that people do engage with the States in different ways and some do not engage. I think what we need to do is to ensure that we encourage as many people as possible to become involved in this because it is important for our future. We need all age ranges to contribute to this and if any Member here can help in ensuring that that message gets out, I would really welcome that so that we can all take ownership of this vision for the future.
- Deputy G.P. Southern :
Is this to be an internally organised piece of research or is the Assistant Minister using an outside body to consult? If so, how much is that consultation costing?
Senator P.F. Routier:
I am very pleased to say that this is being done internally by a very experienced officer who is leading this and he has been doing exceptional work. There has been some cost in establishing the survey, which is out there and it is being very well used. The best part about that survey is the format of it and the layout of it can be used for other topics in the future.
- Deputy G.P. Southern :
A supplementary, if I may. Since the Minister referred to the survey, has the survey been tested to ensure that there are no leading questions in that survey?
Senator P.F. Routier:
Yes, it has been.
- Deputy L.M.C. Doublet :
The Minister touched on what was going to be my final question about getting the views of young people. Is the Minister specifically going out to even the primary schools to make sure that even the youngest children in the Island are having their views heard? If that is not being done yet, will he agree to speak to the Minister for Education and go out and do that?
Senator P.F. Routier:
I am not personally going out to the schools to do that, but certainly our officers have already been out to the primary schools. I was only shown some photographs yesterday of the involvement and the real excitement in the children's eyes about what they were being asked to talk about. They all wrote down on big pieces of card what their aspiration was and there are photographs of them there, which is really, really fantastic. If anybody can go out and speak positively about the survey, please do because it is vitally important.