Scrutiny to hold public hearing on fiscal plan

Guernsey's Scrutiny Management Committee is set to put Policy and Resources' (P&R) plans for public finances under the microscope at a public hearing next week.

The hearing will take place at the Castel Douzaine Room at 10:00 GMT on Wednesday.

Scrutiny President Andy Sloan said he wanted to develop an understanding of why P&R had planned to alter the fiscal framework.

P&R's proposals aim at ensuring the States maintains balanced income and expenditure, has sustainable infrastructure investments and well-managed debt alongside healthy financial reserves.

Previously, the fiscal rules for the States included that the annual net deficit reported on the general revenue accounts for any given year should not exceed 15% of operating revenues.

Effectively, the States should not spend much more than it is bringing in through taxes.

It also included that deficits should not be allowed to persist for more than five consecutive years.

The policy was last reviewed in 2020.

Sloan said Wednesday's hearing was "all about ensuring good governance".

He said: "This is something we have to get right and in the past we have had hard fiscal rules and we're moving to something which feels more qualitative.

"I want to understand why they're doing that."

The States will debate the fiscal policy framework at its meeting starting on 28 January, before discussing the government work plan.

Follow BBC Guernsey on X and Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].