Regarding update on behalf of the Policy & Resources Committee
Sir
I am pleased to provide a rule 10 (4) update statement to the Assembly on behalf of the Policy & Resources Committee.
First, let me confirm that after this statement I will providing a financial update statement to the Assembly. This comes just over two months after the Assembly approved the Medium Term Financial Plan that the Policy & Resources Committee put before it, and comes just a couple of months before the 2018 Budget Report. The Committee is now planning the Budget in earnest, and that is why the statement that follows this one is important in providing context and information for the Assembly and our community.
After that statement, Deputy Le Tocq will be providing an update on where we are in relation to Brexit. The Policy & Resources mandate makes clear our role in leading and co-ordinating on this in terms of international relations and identity, as well as supporting the Committee for Economic Development and the Committee for Home Affairs in the areas where their mandates meet Brexit. Resources have been provided to the Committee for Home Affairs to assist with this work, and the Committee for Economic Development has prioritised its resources to help deliver a clear vision for our post-Brexit economy in partnership with our different economic sectors.
In June, the Assembly approved phase two of the Policy & Resource Plan - the Assembly's government business plan, which is lead and co-ordinated by the Policy Resources Committee under the new machinery of government approved by the Assembly following the States Review Committee's recommendations. The Assembly directed the Policy & Resources Committee to prioritise more keenly, and work has been ongoing with the Principal Committees to do that. The updated and streamlined plan will come to the Assembly with the Budget Report.
Aside from the Policy and Resource Plan, the Medium Term Financial Plan and Brexit, the Committee has been making positive steps in other areas of its mandates.
In terms of external relations, we have maintained our work in response to the OECD's Base Erosion and Profit Shifting actions - or BEPS. We have joined the BEPS Inclusive Framework, a body of the OECD, and in June I signed the Multilateral Instrument which ensures our network of tax agreements is BEPS-compliant.
We also remain engaged with the EU Commission on its screening process of third countries - in July we submitted evidence that demonstrated Guernsey's commitment to tax transparency, fair taxation and economic substance, and we continue to engage with the Code Group, which is leading on this work for the EU Commission.
To support that work, and our work on Brexit and BEPS, Deputy Trott will be in Brussels in October, and I will be there in November, meeting representatives of member states, and working closely with our counterparts in Jersey, through the Channel Islands Brussels Office.
In the autumn we will be represented at both the Conservative and Labour Party Conferences in the UK, and we continue to work actively with the British-Irish Council and with the British-Irish Parliamentary Association, on which we are represented by Deputy Brouard. Deputy Brouard provides the Policy & Resources lead role on the Alderney Liaison Group, which met most recently in July, and continues to provide the basis of a wide-ranging working relationship with Alderney - not least on air transport.
The Policy & Resources Committee's recommendations following the Aurigny review are being actively address by the Committee for Economic Development and the States' Trading Supervisory Body, and the Committee looks forward to receiving their formal responses in due course.
Deputy Stephens continues to chair the SLAWS Supervisory Group and the Children and Young People Plan Supervisory Group, both of which seek to support Principal Committees in driving forward the implementation of those strategies, agreed by the previous Assembly. Both are complex, multi-layered and very important, and Deputy Stephens' championing of them is tireless.
Sir, I have scratched the surface of the work that the Committee undertakes, not least as further detail will follow this morning on our community's finances and on Brexit.
But I would like to emphasise one important link between these pieces of work. All of them reflect the Policy & Resources Committees role as a co-ordinating committee, in line with the recommendations of the States Review Committee, and all involve close working with one or more of the other Committees.
This represents an important change in our machinery of government, and while there remains much work to do to effectively implement all of the changes agreed by the Assembly in relation to the work of the States Review Committee, I hope that this update has demonstrated that in many respects some of this change is now embedded in a constructive way.
Thank you.