It has been an enormous privilege serving the Parish of St. Clement for the last 3 years.
Responsibilities: I have been a Governor on the Board of Le Rocquier School, a committee member of Le Squez Youth Club and given talks to St Clement primary schools about States business and Assemblies. I am determined that ‘Courtesy and Respect’ should prevail in all conversations and debates, even in disagreement.
As Assistant Minister for Social Security, I have gained knowledge useful when answering numerous questions parishioners have regarding Income Support, housing issues and the financial implications of family breakup, redundancy and unemployment.
Long Term Care: For the past 3 years I have worked hard to produce the Long Term Care Scheme: introduced on July 1 this year. This provides choices for people requiring care; including residential and nursing homes, and most importantly the option of care in peoples’ own homes without having to sell their homes to do so. I am proud to have been part of this achievement.
Discrimination Law: a massive piece of legislation with which I have been involved; with ‘race’ as its primary characteristic, to be followed by Sex Discrimination, then Age and Disability Discrimination. I also helped introduce the belated and much needed addition of ‘Family Friendly’ Law; ie. Maternity and Paternity rights.
We must do more to support the estimated 18,000 Islanders with some form of disability, and improve their quality of life. I fully support the proposed ‘Disability Strategy’.
Employment: I am on the Board of the Jersey Employment Trust: established to encourage and find employment for people with disabilities. This organisation consistently strengthens.
I sit on the Housing and Work Advisory Group Board; essentially immigration control. I seek to balance growth in the economy, necessarily involving some immigration, with the unprecedented unemployment levels in recent years and sustaining an ageing population.
This current Government has been concentrated on ‘getting people back into work’, and Social Security has had major success operating schemes involving employers and jobseekers. ‘Back to Work’ offers pre-interview training, in-job support and mentoring and to date has found employment for 1,326 people in 2012 and 1,818 in 2013.
The voluntary sector: I strongly support this: with a phenomenal voluntary tradition in Jersey of which we should be proud. A shining example is our own Parish Community Support Scheme. This has been incredibly successful, with many other Parishes now following our example.
Traffic: The 30mph limit in St. Clement has been well received by most people. More needs to be done; including additional zebra crossings.
Development: I’m strongly against further large scale development in St. Clement although I understand the need for more social housing. I voted against the recent proposals for St. Clement and feel States owned sites should be used more.
I understand the lack of faith after the referendum result was overturned by some States members; I was not one of them! I hope that you will take the time to vote.