Guernsey Commerce and Employment Department Underlines 2009 Goals

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

10 February 2009

Guernsey’s Commerce and Employment Department has this week published its 2009 business plan, available on the States of Guernsey website.

Commerce and Employment Minister, Deputy Carla McNulty Bauer said:

“By setting out the department’s major ongoing commitments in the business plan together with all of the project activity, the breadth of the responsibilities that fall within the mandate of Commerce and Employment is clearly illustrated. This document details what the department aims to achieve over the coming year and will assist the board and the department’s senior management team to monitor progress and to adjust priorities as circumstances necessitate.”

As well as its normal workstreams, the department has identified nine priorities that it wishes to address over the coming twelve months:

• Seeking to achieve sustainable economic growth whilst diversifying Guernsey’s economic base – a key element of this strategy will involve promoting Guernsey for the finance and non-finance sectors. This will be particularly challenging in the current economic climate;
• In the finance sector, the department will maintain and promote Guernsey’s reputation as a leading financial centre by undertaking a review of Guernsey’s banking sector to help inform the department’s strategy for the sector, respond to the UK Government’s review of the offshore-financial centres and contribute to the IMF review;
• Leading the States Workforce Development Programme as a means of increasing the resources and skill base of Guernsey’s finite labour supply - as productivity increases, this will be fundamental to generate sustainable economic growth;
• Working with the Environment Department to manage the use of scarce land on the Island as effectively as possible so that businesses have access to land for their needs;
• Completion of the department’s competition law work programme which will result in the introduction of a regime that is both fit for purpose and proportionate for Guernsey’s economy. Allied to this train of work will be the development of Fair Trading provisions to increase consumer protection;
• Determine minimum wage levels and conduct review of Employment Relations legislation in Guernsey;
• Drive forward Guernsey’s Intellectual Property legislation so that businesses are able to exploit opportunities (legal services, patent and trademark agents, licensing bodies, trust and financial services) and contribute towards the dual objectives of diversifying the economic base and delivering economic growth;
• Continue to develop working relationships with key stakeholder groups such as Institute of Directors, Chamber of Commerce to develop a close partnership with industry to help address issues relevant to businesses on the Island;
• Ensuring value for money by improving the accountability of GuernseyFinance, Guernsey Training Agency and the Guernsey Enterprise Agency for the use of taxpayer funds.

The first priority, Deputy McNulty Bauer says, is fundamental to Guernsey’s well-being at a time when difficult trading conditions are being experienced worldwide. However, she said that her department remains optimistic “Guernsey cannot expect to be completely immune from the effects of the current economic situation but we are in close contact with industry representative bodies and a broad range of employers and the message we are hearing is that, overall, business is maintaining a confident, but not complacent, view. Companies that provide a good quality service should continue to do well and I would urge people to make every reasonable effort support local businesses.”

Commerce and Employment recognises that 2009 will be a challenging year for all economies and that it will need to be in a position to respond quickly and decisively as circumstances require and this will be supported by the department’s business plan.

“By publishing our business plan for the first time, both businesses and the public will have an opportunity to see what we aim to achieve over the next year and it will provide a means to assess the department’s performance”, Deputy McNulty Bauer concluded.

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