Tracey Valois: Standing for Senator - Questions and Answers

I had a look at Tracey Valois's manifesto, and as I have been doing, I asked some questions, for which she gave me answers which can be read below. The aim was to clarify parts of the manifesto I did not wholly understand and I'd like to thank her for permission to put the answers online.

Her shorter manifesto is at:
https://www.vote.je/candidates-2018/vallois-tracey-18/

Full Manifesto at:
https://www.facebook.com/TAVallois/photos/pcb.581923028835348/581922702168714

If you can't read the print, she can email a PDF with larger print.

She wrote: "Thank you for taking the time to read my manifesto and responding by asking me to clarify my position on areas within it."

Question on Population.

"The Island has a limit as to how many people can live and work in it, with businesses changing and our working age population reducing there will be a  need for multiple policies which are coherent and flexible to manage our resources."

 Where would you place the limit? Do you have any figure in mind?

Answer:

In terms of population and whether I would place a limit on it.  The simple answer is no.  This in my view is a completely disingenuous way of trying to control population when we do not actually count the number of people in and out of the island.  In order to put a figure to this we would need to put an ID system and a form of control system.

Question on property portfolios

“Amalgamate property portfolios between the States, Andium and States  of Jersey Development Company."

What precisely does this mean? I can't understand it.

Answer:

Amalgamating property portfolios.  The purpose behind this is that we are a small island and yet have three different departments running the property portfolio of states assets.  There would be more joined up and holistic thinking behind property planning for the states if the expertise were pooled and they all worked collaboratively to deliver a property plan that I believe should be agreed on by the states.

Question:

I raised the point of how the SOJC does not seem as good as managing assets as Andium, and while they are developing much needed commercial property to retain finance businesses, they have not a good record of returns to the States.

Answer:

I respect and understand your position behind the property portfolio, I’m not a fan of the public being involved in commercial development but think much more could be done by using the expertise across the spectrum in one room rather than having separate ministers and boards who elongate the bureaucratic mission of not doing very much.  More joined up thinking, we have some great minds in some of these areas and I would rather it be brought together than a divide and conquer mentality, they are very much doing similar roles and could assist greatly in producing much more needed supply of affordable housing the Island.

Question on Social Security Contributions

"Raise or remove the cap on social security contributions"

So in raising or removing the cap, what is the reasoning behind this policy?  Is it to fund something else, or improve funding for benefits? And if so, what?>

Answer:

Raising or removing the social security contributions.

The social security contribution system applies to both pensions and the health insurance fund.  The tax system provides supplementation and the funding for the role of income support.

The purpose for my suggestion is twofold. 

One is the fact that there needs to be a decision about the rate of the state pension against cost of living and as an actuarial valuation is being carried out on the longevity of the fund, I would want to assess that against the viability of raising this rate to ensure we assisting pensioners. 

The second reason is because there is a health strategy in place with many adjoining policies, one being the acute strategy and the issues around dental care and primary care in the island.  I did not agree to a health charge as I believe fundamentally that the reason we pay taxes and social security contributions is for both healthcare and education (of course many other areas but these are to me the priorities).

The health insurance fund needs to be assessed against the expectations of primary care in the island, the subsidies provided to gp practice, whether there is room to manoeuvre for similar subsidy to dental practice or whether there is a more targeted approach we can achieve through the use of the health insurance fund using best practice and well established practices from other jurisdictions to make it applicable to the jersey context.

Question on Taxes

"Freeze thresholds on taxes for the full term of office."

What is the rationale?

Answer:

Freezing tax thresholds.

The purpose behind this would be to stabilise the tax system for one term whilst addressing some of the allowances which are provided through the tax system such as the nursery allowances and consider a more targeted and direct funding approach to partner with nursery provision in the island.  Also, we need to assess the current threshold for pensioners against the newly established threshold for married and co-habiting partners to ensure equal treatment. 

The thresholds as currently set are the highest in the British Isles but we need to address the personal tax system to ensure it is fit for purpose, making sure allowances are appropriately targeted and if not, applying direct funding, consider independent taxation, obtain the correct economic impact analysis to ensure that however the change is made that it does not negatively impact on too many people.  This is a huge task.

Extra Note: A clarification from Facebook: "I have said freeze thresholds not allowances. I want to address allowances. We have many issues around personal tax system that need to be addressed."

Question on Schools

"Secondary school - create a hub of business knowledge that ALL schools can access for equal opportunities, remove league tables."

 A very good idea in the first part, but aren't league tables published  nationally (across the UK and Channel Islands) and not locally?

Answer

League tables

This is a new concept in Jersey and is not like for like with UK as they use slightly different ways of contextualising the information.  My view is that they are pointless point scoring mandates which do nothing but to serve a perception that is not necessarily a reality. 

I hope my answers above serve to give you a fuller picture of my thinking around how I would like to move forward during the next four years but I am looking to address some issues which will have a greater impact in the longer term.