Below are all the questions submitted by the general public to vote.je during March 2018. Candidates were invited to select and comment on a subject(s) or answer a question(s) in their video profiles that were filmed the week commencing 16 April 2018. The videos are published on individual candidate pages.
Education
Who is your question for? Connétable
What are your views on the new student funding grants?
Employment
Who is your question for? All Candidates
The States payscales are determined by an arms length body and pay for Jersey civil servants is far in excess of that which is paid to UK civil servants who have far greater responsibility. How would you solve the problem of out of control Civil Service wages?
Environment
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Jerseys ecosystems are collapsing. Reservoirs poisoned, uncomfortably high nitrate levels in our drinking water etc. Would politicians if elected put clean air, safe water, healthy food with soil at the heart of all policy?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Do you think it is fair if someone personally invests in solar energy alternatives in their own home that they should then be charged for reducing the power company’s profits?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
The Secretary of State Michael Gove MP has recently stated he is bringing a new bill before Parliament mandating, for the first time, measures and targets to preserve and improve the health of UK’s soils, amid growing concern we are sleepwalking into a crisis of soil fertility, which could destroy our ability to feed us.
“The air, water and soil are a loan from our children, not a gift from our parents,” With three resevoirs poisoned in two years and uncomfortably high nitrate levels in our drinking water, without mentioning sea lettuce blooms, blamed on agriculture practices.
What are you going to do to change this terrible situation of failing ecosystem services as a result of degraded soils if elected?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Is your question specific to a parish? St Saviour
My question relates to the Duck Pond and surrounding area in Grand Vaux. There is a distinct lack of public spacing around this part of the parish and given that the population of the area is due significantly increase it would be great to see this area taken care of.
The Duck Pond in Grand Vaux is currently fenced off with barbed wire and used as somewhat of a dumping ground, which is both hazardous to the local wildlife and unpleasant for local residents.
Will you help support and rally for a public / park area to be built around this potential beauty spot, there by increasing the attraction and general enjoyment for residents of this rather run down part of the parish?
General
Who is your question for? All Candidates
In 2021, it will be the 50th Anniversary of the opening of Fort Regent. Now is the ideal time to put in action a plan to rejuvenate the site in time to celebrate this milestone. What will you do to support this initiative?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
What do you intend to do to support the development of the charity sector in Jersey?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
I have been a long standing user of Fort Regent and am currently a sports club tenant at the centre. I have been passionate about this facility since it opened in the early 1970s. If elected, what are you going to do to support the much overdue regeneration of Fort Regent?
Over 40 Clubs and Associations call Fort Regent home and, in a world where obesity, diabetes and lack of leisure facilities are rife, restoring the Fort to facilitate part of the Health and Social Services job of creating and maintaining a healthy population is of paramount importance. Do you agree and how would you proceed?
Hospital / Health
Who is your question for? All Candidates
What will you do about a new hospital for the island?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
In relation to the spending for the new hospital – The questions are these – how do we justify spending £400+ million, which I think the general public think will be highly unlikely and probably significantly more given that some of the money will be borrowed so will be subject to interest The the new Dumfries hospital cost £212m and serves a much larger population (I believe 150,000 versus our 100,000)? Also – the spec of the new Liverpool hospital that has been built is 646 private rooms, 18 theatre’s and 23 wards (presumably again for a much larger amount of people) and costs £540m…….how does this compare to the spec of the plans for the new Jersey hospital? I believe it will be half the amount of rooms? Just interested, as with most things, although I don’t speak for them, but I doubt the public think we are getting good value for money and it’s their money after all. Thanks
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Do you consider that the option of using Peoples park for the new hospital were adequately explored, bearing in mind that hospital staff were not consulted and a relatively small number of people opposed it?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Why are we spending so much money on that hospital please
Who is your question for? All Candidates
How will you improve mental health services for young people on the island ? Can we have more early intervention from a young age, why do we have to wait until crisis point for the support that is needed?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Can you help me and others understand your position re the hospital – when the vote comes will you vote a. proceed as planned (same site £450m) or b search again delay (even if then build on same site)? I know I have expressed this as an a) or b) question but then again in the states it will be a for or against option. Thanks in advance.
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Bearing in mind new hospital needed urgently, wd you support building on undeveloped site which would be not only faster but £30 million cheaper (according to presenters at Radisson display). Would you also support reconsidering People’s Park site which was NEVER actually presented to the States as an option?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
If elected what will be your strategy concerning disabled people in the community i feel not enough in the states is done to make disabled islanders with some people feeling isolated and not knowing where to turn.
Housing
Who is your question for? Senators
If elected, what steps will you take now to help my children and their children to achieve home ownership should they so wish, bearing in mind the current state of supply in the housing market and the prohibitive first time buyer price point?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
What are you going to do in order to help all the hard working, young professionals get on the property ladder in Jersey? Owning your own house is impossible in Jersey for the middle earner, due to the constant rise in price. There is currently no help with housing for people who earn over £40,000, and it is also impossible to save for a deposit when we are spending £1,800 on rent each month!
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Developers continue unabated to erect new apartment blocks and houses that are unaffordable to middle Jersey, I suspect that many such properties are purchased by non residents and rented and I do not think this practice applies only to new developments. What measures would you introduce to ensure that this practice stops and how would you ensure that properties that working people can afford are given priority.
Who is your question for? All Candidates
1. What should be done to fill the empty office and shop buildings throughout St.Helier, a problem that is only going to get worse as business migrates towards the Waterfront Finance Centre? Would you support handing it over to charities for short term use by homeless or low income families in need?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Will you be bringing in rental price caps to ensure rental prices are in line with rental price and salary increases in uk and standard of the accommodation? As presently there is a only a tiny increase in salary but at least 5 times increase in the rent prices.
Who is your question for? All Candidates
How are you going to ensure the landlords comply with the no discriminating against families with kids law?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
What are you going to do immediately about the families with kids being made homeless until the discrimination against families with kids ban comes into law?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Are you going to introduce massive fines for landlords who clearly intend to continue discriminating against families with kids?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
How are you going to fight this jersey attitude that jersey is only for rich people and normal people do not matter? I.e. “This is the Jersey way like it or leave attitude” from the likes of citizens advice and many others when asked about help when landlords are refusing to rent (2 and 3 bedroom homes meant for a family)to families with kids!
Who is your question for? All Candidates
What are you going to do about ensuring the normal person can get on the housing market? Presently impossible in Jersey!
Who is your question for? All Candidates
The registered status housing rules are well out of date with current world, it is normal practice nowadays for people to move around and work in other locations. Quite often it is required to get that experience to get up the ladder. The rules and also the fact people have to wait 10 years to buy are not working for normal people! What are you going to do to fix these rules? As immigration needs to be managed by an immigration law not housing laws preventing normal people from getting a decent home at a reasonable price or ever getting on the housing ladder!
Who is your question for? All Candidates
When will ‘affordable’ housing actually be affordable? Had a 2 bed flat, sold it to buy house with husband but 2 bed houses under £500,000 with gardens don’t exist. Unless you have children can’t apply for afford to buy house, isn’t this discrimination?
Immigration
Who is your question for? All Candidates
What will you ACTUALLY DO about stemming population and free immigration? Jersey people are being squeezed out of their only home, their island. We are seeing our island values eroded. I grew up in Jersey as one of 60,000 inhabitants – life was good, we had cows in the fields, we were not polluted by car fumes and people were happy. Now as one of 110,000 ++ life has changed and people are not so happy. What will you ACTUALLY DO to bring our Jersey home back to life?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
What are you views on implementing an Australian style points system for people wishing to live and work here? Also why can we not put permits in place for seasonal work like farming and hospitality?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
What do you plan to do to protect the Island in the future from over population.
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Are you going to fight for immigration to be restricted to essential workers with visas and limited work permits for those who arrive for temporary work as in Australia/ USA …
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Too many foreign driving licences not being changed over to jersey why
Who is your question for? All Candidates
What are you going to do to ensure Jersey is a good place for all people to live not just the rich?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
What would you do to kerb the islands population problem?
Law and Order
Who is your question for? All Candidates
It’s embarrassing that in 2018 the use of cannabis can lead to a longer prison sentence than a rapist or pedophile. It is also scientificly proven to be safer than Alcohol and Tabacco, which are taxed freely regardless of the damning health issues they cause. When will cannabis be legalised for recreational use? So that it can bring in tourism and boost agriculture in the Island, as well as serve as a treatment for people suffering from depression and even cancer.
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Do you intend to address the unfair sentencing guidelines that put convicted paedophiles away for less than a year and yet 18 months for a small-time weed dealer? If so then how?
Policies / Public Services
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Would you be prepared to help set up a locally based Search and Rescue helicopter that would also provide medical transfers when the current provider can’t for whatever reason, weather limitations etc? The project is ready to go but needs Government funding.
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Why has Supply Jersey failed? Could it be down to miss management? States are not saving with the system.
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Managers Axed In Public Sector Overhaul. Given notice or made redundant? If the latter, what is the cost?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Most of the problems in the past four years have arisen because of decisions by ‘corporatised’ Public services such as the Jersey Development Company and Ports. Is this a failed policy which should be reversed and the responsibilities returned to the civil service?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Complaints against individual civil servants are currently handled by their immediate superior who therefore shares culpability and therefore has a vested interest in denying the complaint. Would you favour an independent body to review all such complaints impartially?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
What plans do you have to support those with needs who fall in the 16 to 25 bracket and are not allegeable to get income support in their own right.
Also housing needs for those with needs how are they going to be supported.
What is being done to support out youths with work and when are we going to put a stop to rent increases when wages are staying the same.
Politics
Who is your question for? All Candidates
What are your views on implementing direct and participatory democracy in Jersey, in which the electorate vote on issues directly, as is conducted in Switzerland?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Is your question specific to a parish? St Helier
Should constables concentrate on their parish and not have any say in the government. Especially when they have not been voted in?
Who is your question for? Senators
I would like to know why Candidates at literally every election tell us they will address Immigration, Affordable Housing and the cost of living yet never manage it? I am also curious how Reform Jersey promise to get these very subjects addressed when their presence in the States is tiny. So my question is, what is a realistic proposal and will the candidates promise to step down if they fail to deliver in 2022?
Who is your question for? Deputies
Is your question specific to a parish? St Brelade
Is it right that standees from other Parishes are standing for election in St Brelade?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Should States Members be paid according to their responsibilities in the States like elsewhere, and not the same wage across the board?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
If you are already in the states due to getting the votes on the last election the promises you made to get in the states last time how many or any at all did you succeed in completing we need doers not liars
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Why do you think that you are qualified to serve the people of Jersey?
Who is your question for? Deputies
Is your question specific to a parish? St Brelade
What is your most notable contribution to the Parish over the last 5 years (either as a standing Deputy or a new candidate)?
Who is your question for? Deputies
As a Deputy representing a single constituency do you think it is right that a Deputy hold a Ministerial or Dep. Ministerial office?
Is it right that a person that 90% + of the electorate who haven’t had a chance to express their opinion on a candidate at the ballot box, might have a rural Deputy be Minister with responsibility for, for example, Planning?
Why should you as, potentially, a rural Deputy with a mandate from just 3% of the population have an equal vote as a Senator with a 100% mandate?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Please confirm that you will Not be talking the **Donation** from the UNION??? Question for Sam Mèzec
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Many candidates we see in this election choose to use social media as a means of communication with the public. Is it right then that those same candidates choose to block individuals from seeing posts which may affect the island if they have previously disagreed with a specific person?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
We hear the same promises at every election – more affordable housing, controlled immigration, controls on taxes and prudent Government spending. Jersey’s only Political Party is even promising to eradicate poverty this time around. Is it no wonder people cannot be bothered to vote when candidates forever promise unrealistic pledges because the affordable housing pledge has been going on for 30 years?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
The role of the States Assembly is to govern the administration of Public Servants, do you feel that they adequately fulfil this function?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Will you support a ban on PR firms, spin doctors and consultants across the States, both for Departments and Ministers?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Are you supportive of the methods being used by the SOJs Chief Executive and his team to make changes to the civil service?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
With Jersey being on the international stage for Finance, and this now being the primary industry and source of income for the island, do you feel you have the depth of understanding and knowledge to make an informed decision if called to vote on any Finance issue that may arise? It may require a very quick decision as a reaction to external political changes and pressures with no time to do any research
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Will you promise to attend every States sitting and vote in every decision made in the Chamber, to the best of your ability?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
We have witnessing in the last three years a raise in the number of Xenophobic and Islamophobic comments on the local social media ( in pages like The Real Rock), so my question is. Are you going to push for a Online Hate Speech legislation if elected?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
What is your first priority on your political agenda and how do you want to achieve it?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
The elected unopposed represent considerable harm to the credibility of government in Jersey as well as allowing some politicians to remain in office in successive terms with no mandate. Attempts to bring in a watered down version of the Clothier recommendations, that could have prevented many of the unelected deputies from taking office, was allowed to fail again at the referendum.
As the only true representatives of the opinion of the island, thanks to your island wide mandate, what steps will you take to rid island politics of this anachronism, that allows a third of the governing chamber to be populated with politicians with no mandate? Could I suggest at the very least, that they are restricted from the positions that they can hold, such as ministerial or senior scrutiny roles.
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Only party politics offers voters some reassurance that our views might be acted upon. A single candidate just doesn’t wield any influence. Should we move to party system?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
With the vast majority of Connétables elected unopposed and with massive discrepancies in the size of each constituency, in your opinion, is the role of Connétables incompatible with modern democratic principles?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
How much of a priority is electoral reform to you?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Do you think it is appropriate and proper for politicians to harass people and make derogatory comments about individuals on social media?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
With reflection of past PPC complaints upheld against a States Member for their online behaviour, a libel case against the Local Paper over a satirical cartoon by 2 former Deputies and a former ex Senator being found guilty of breaking the Data Protection Law, for causing distress to 4 members of the Public from a Blog?
Do candidates believe a Politician has a duty to treat everybody with respect, and should be able to deal with criticism either online or by the accredited Media professionally and maturely?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
With reflection of past PPC complaints upheld against a States Member for their online behaviour, a libel case against the Local Paper over a satirical cartoon by 2 former Deputies and a former ex Senator being found guilty of breaking the Data Protection Law, for causing distress to 4 members of the Public from a Blog?
Do candidates believe a Politician has a duty to treat everybody with respect, and should be able to deal with criticism either online or by the accredited Media professionally and maturely?
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Will you stop the States wasting our money?
Social Security
Who is your question for? All Candidates
Do you think the Social Security benefit system is fair. When pensioners who have paid income Tax and stamp all their lives receive less than those who do little to support the Island. Should fathers who don’t pay support for their children have their wages garnered by the Court to reduce the burden on the system which often has to support their family.
The Economy
Who is your question for? All Candidates
When are you going to stop preventing decent reasonable priced shops coming to Jersey? People want to be able to go into a shop and get something they need not have to fly of the island shop like a maniac and bring cases of stuff back or buy on the internet. I Avoid jersey town centre as much as possible as it had no decent affordable shops.
Candidates may also be interested to visit Future Jersey the long-term community vision, which includes information about how Jersey is currently performing and facts and figures on all sorts of aspects of Island life.