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Scrutiny Office
Senator Lyndon Farnham
Minister for Economic Development, Sport and Culture By email
18th December 2019 Dear Minister
Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel Updates
I write to request an update on a number of areas following the postponement of the Quarterly Hearing which was due to take place on 18th December. The areas we would be grateful to receive updates on are as follows:
Retail Strategy
During our last Quarterly Hearing with you in July, you advised that the Department's retail strategy was supposed to have been published in March this year:
Deputy K. Morel :
We will move away from the structure side of things to look at retail for a bit. We published the retail review, as you know, around Christmas. Still waiting for retail strategy, do you know when it is going to be delivered?
The Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture:
We were aiming for the end of March. Slightly disappointed it is not ready but I sort of on balance took the decision that it was worth spending a bit more time to make sure everybody was aligned or that the stakeholders, whether it be government departments it is looking at areas such as transport, and areas outside of G.H.E. or E.D.T.S.C., those departments need to be aligned and understand it; Chamber of Commerce, Jersey Business and the retail and Jersey businesses themselves. So there is still some stakeholder work going on to ensure it. As I have said, it is our policy but it is your policy as well. I do not want to publish a policy that everybody is not brought into.
Please could you provide an update on the Department's work and let us know when the strategy will be published?
Licensing Law
At a previous Quarterly Hearing in April 2019, we asked for an update on the licensing law. You advised that the Department was waiting for the necessary resources to move it forward and for confirmation from the Council of Ministers as to where it sits on the priority list.
Please could you provide an update and let us know when the legislation will be taken forward? The removal of economic development out of Growth, Housing and Environment
You have previously advised us that plans are in place to remove the economic development element out of Growth, Housing and Environment. We would be grateful to receive an update on these plans and in particular a timeline for when we can expect the move to take place.
We look forward to receiving your response on these matters.
As this will likely be the last correspondence of 2019, we would like to take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year.
Yours sincerely
Deputy Kirsten Morel
Chairman
Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel
Scrutiny Office | States Greffe | Morier House | St Helier | Jersey | JE1 1DD Tel: 01534 441080 | Fax: 01534 441077 | email: scrutiny@gov.je