2

small business

Will this entitle questions to be asked & answers given relating to how many recipients of social security/welfare/benefits there are & how long they have been in the Island in response to Ben Shentons concerns last week.

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4

donald pond

Has there ever been a person so out of their depth as Constable Gallichan? What is the point of Freedom of Information if the electoral system has been rigged by those in charge to avoid anyone being held to account?

We need far fewer States members, a greater proportion of senators and only senators in ministerial positions. What point is there in finding out that Education or Health are hopelessly organised unless you live in St Ouen or Trinity and have the chance to vote against the ministers? How can we get rid of this incompetent? Oh, we can’t, unless we live in St Mary. What a farce.

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6

small money

glad to hear it, only ten years in the making.
there could be hope for some good employment legislation by 2021.

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8

Zoro

1. National security….heee heee hee your’e having a Giraffe aren’t you……..heee hee

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10

Pip Clement

National security?
That will be not giving away the position of the submersible nuclear canoes that we maintain in the Plemont trench to deter the Guernsey Empire.
If ever they use the unsinkable carrier known as Sark to launch a gull borne biological attack against our cows and spuds and cripple the holiday and finance industry by droppings attacks we will strike back with waves of cormorants loaded with sand eel based sh!t!

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12

donald pond

“This begs some very strong and serious questions as to why they would not want this passed, which obviously brings more accountability to Government and its departments.”

I can think of several reasons. Top of the list would be the waste of time it is. If the civil service are required to respond to every request for information then it will take a lot of manpower. It’s really a question of whether you want every department to have a sub-department engaged in “PR” or not. Frankly, I’d sooner pay less tax and dump freedom of information, rather than pay for an army of civil servants to try to spin information that most people misinterpret and that has no long term effect other than making the job of a civil servant less attractive and thus higher remunerated and thus taxes go up still further…

Why not resign yourself to accepting that the States is fairly hopeless and always will be and its not worth paying a lot more to have the detail of all the elementary errors they make?

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14

Davey West

donald pond @12 you said.

I’d sooner pay less tax and dump freedom of information, rather than pay for an army of civil servants to try to spin information.

Have you not noticed there are two ways to obscure correct information? The first is to try and hide it, ( education exam results, the hospital success, failure rates, operation blast story of the second man, detailed expense accounts in the public sector etc ) the second way is to spin it which is why the CM office employs spin doctors so the islanders are paying for spin already. States members have no problem talking to the public come election time, so why a PR department now ?

If you really think about it ! if the Government were honest and open and transparent this law would not be needed. In fact a fortune would be saved, because department heads and managers would be far more accountable, hence better more efficient business practice would prevail. I suggest that the UK MP scandal, shines as an example as they are now clearly concerned with the public knowing about their expense accounts after many of them were not re-elected and in some cases bankrupted and jailed all because the correct information was released.

Keep your head stuck in the sand if you wish and close the Internet information highway down, all that objective information. Then as a taxpayer get ripped off.

I am a true supporter of open Government exposing the truth warts and all, the only people who are not supportive, must have some pretty dark secrets and want to play the game. Which game ? work it out for your self.

Davey West.

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16

donald pond

Davey,
I don’t want to close the internet down, but I have got a lot of experience in a lot of issues related to this. And Freedom of Information, unless very carefully handled, is more hassle than it is worth. History has shown people use it to ask complicated questions of different government departments and then, if there is any difference in the response, they shout that there is a cover-up, or a lack of communication etc. So immediately government employs someone (or a whole body of people) to simply co-ordinate cross department responses to FOI requests. A couple of senior people there is eight or nine fewer nurses.

Then, given this is Jersey, States members will use requests to attack individual civil servants. Who will then take 6 months off sick and be pensioned off. And because they left in strange and uncertain circumstances, their replacements will demand a higher salary. But they won’t last long anyway and the cycle repeats itself. What’s the costs across the States in the last year or so from Harper, Power, Warcup, Pollard, Green, Ogley, Gellar and others all leaving earlier than anticipated? I’d be surprised if, with recruitment costs and the ancillary expenses it was less than a million.

And look at the calibre of questions asked in the States. The only information of any interest that has come out recently was extracted by John Mills, an experienced civil servant who knows the rules.

I’m just saying that Freedom of Information comes at a cost and the benefits may be minimal, because the media and the politicians don’t have the brains or the courage to exploit it to the full. Yes, we may find out who decides what brand of Cola goes in the States fridge. But as ever, those who think of oxen will find themselves dreaming of oxen. The truth only sets you free if you have the wherewithal to understand it.

The Island is full of people who mistake opinions for facts and facts for lies. At least 80% of the States chamber fits into that catagory. Until you have people of intelligence governing us, an FOI Law will just fuel the half-baked conspiracies of the half-witted majority. Watch the dogs run faster and faster, chasing their tails as they go!

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18

truthseeker

Donal Pond your last post is patronizing B/S.and you know it…the Freedom of information law’s greatest asset is that it is a deterrent, like robust and straight politicians can be. though rare, the late Norman Le Brocq’s known stance on life acted as a deterrent to other politicians who many times must have thought.”No I won’t try that ,Norman would only shoot it down…these are the only behind the scenes machinations that actually benefit good government and the people,Elliot Ness of the Untouchables value was that he could not be bought off or paid off…and that really is the only true line in the sand. and we desperately need a few good men..and soon.I hope they come out for the next election.

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20

donald pond

“we desperately need a few good men..and soon.I hope they come out for the next election.”

For 40 grand a year to get a load of personal abuse and no prospect of changing anything due to the inertia of the establishment, anti-establishment, civil service and unions (collectively known as the Real Establishment). No, the candidates won’t be good men, they’ll be the same mixtures of losers and oddballs that have contested elections since we started paying the lunatics to run the asylum.

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22

donald pond

Pip,
“We had the same bunch of ijits under the unpaid system”
Well, in my world if spending over £2m extra a year doesn’t improve the service you stop the funding.

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