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19-21 Broad Street | St Helier Jersey | JE2 4WE
By email
09 October 2020 Dear Chairman,
Thank you for your letter dated 1st October. I have addressed each of the questions you raise below and trust that you will find the responses useful for your ongoing review.
- What is the current status regarding the development of a Migration and Population Policy?
The development of our future migration and population control policy has continued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, notwithstanding the redeployment of policy officers to other areas to assist in our response to the pandemic. The policy is due to be lodged on the 20th October and there will be a States Members briefing and public press conference in due course.
- What are your views regarding both the opportunities and challenges a shorter-term Bridging Island Plan (2022-2024) might bring?
The bridging Island Plan presents the States Assembly with a unique opportunity to agree necessary updates to the current Island Plan, without having to make long-term commitments to those things which we know are uncertain, such as our longer-term economic outlook and as a consequence, the impact on migration and labour needs and subsequent demand for housing.
- Considering that the shorter 3-year Plan intends to decouple' itself from longer-term policies, what impact might this have on the timescale for and the development of a Migration and Population policy? What challenges might this bring if these are not aligned with one another?
The decoupling' of the Island Plan from the forthcoming Migration control Policy has been discussed in detail with CoM, including the taking a of recent decision on the Preferred Strategy for the Island Plan (agreed Monday 5th Oct, a copy of which the Island Plan team will share with Scrutiny soon). The agreed report explains how and why the assumptions made for population change over the Plan period of 2022-2024 include other important factors beyond a future debate on Migration. The report also explains that the development of the Island Plan can progress in tandem with this debate and the adoption of any new policy because the impact of that new policy on the overall population of the island will take several years to take effect – and therefore becoming most significant in the subsequent Island Plan that will cover the 2025-2035 period.
At the same time, the primary impacts on migration are likely to stem from the post-COVID and post-Brexit economic and immigration contexts, rather than the adoption and implementation of local policy which seeks to further regulate migration.
- What impact might the absence of a new Migration and Population Policy have on defining residential development levels in relation to the Bridging Island Plan?
The Island Plan Review Team is working with Statistics Jersey, the Economics Unit and colleagues in Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance and other government departments in order to ensure that the planning assumption is informed by available evidence and trends – particularly about population dynamics and changes to the demographic profile of our community – and, where appropriate, the anticipated impact of future government policies.
Details of this process are included within the report Preferred Strategy for the Island Plan which panel members will have access to in due course.
- The current Island Plan, being based on the framework laid out in the States Strategic Plan 2009- 14, assumed net inward migration of 325 persons per year. The Objective Assessment of Housing Needs Report published last year outlined that data shows inward trends in migration averages 1,000 persons per year. In the absence of a Migration and Population Policy, what figures and/or assumptions will be used to inform future development under a Bridging Island Plan?
As I have noted above, the bridging Island Plan does not want for the absence of the future migration and population policy as global uncertainties, and the implementation time of any such policy at any rate require a more nuanced approach which takes into consideration he global position we currently find ourselves in.
As noted in response to question 4, the Island Plan Review Team, Statistics Jersey, Economics Unit and officers in SPPP are working to collate the best available evidence and trends which are being used to inform demographic assumptions.
- In the absence of a new Migration and Population Policy, what policy, controls or governance, if any, are used to effectively manage migration population growth in the interim?
The ability of a migrant to work in Jersey or occupy a rented or owned property is controlled by the Control of Housing and Work law.
Anyone who has lived in Jersey for less than 5 years needs a CHW permission to work in Jersey Anyone who has lived in Jersey for less than 10 years is restricted under the CHW law as to where they can live.
All businesses need CHW permission to trade in Jersey and must hold specific permission if they wish to employ workers who have less than 5 years residence.
The Chief Minister is responsible for the CHW law. Applications for new permissions are carefully vetted.
Business and individuals can appeal to HAWAG, a political group established under the CHW law to advise the CM on CHW matters, if an application is refused.
There is considerable detail as to the current guidelines applied under the CHW law and the level at which permissions are granted in the report of the Migration Policy Development Board (R.20/2020) which was published by the CM in March 2020.
I hope the above answers provide clarity to the questions you have asked and assist with your review.
Yours sincerely,
Senator John Le Fondré Chief Minister
D +44 (0)1534 440636 E j.lef@gov.je
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