Letter to the Editor: Civil Service logic of Yes, Minister!
I AM concerned that it is taking an inordinate amount of time to find the most imperceptible of cuts in public expenditure. Spending a small fortune on compiling a report to look at how to save money is an example of the perverse Civil Service logic that Yes, Minister! was based on. We now have more people as a percentage, employed by the government, than any communist country during the Soviet era, and those countries collapsed under the burden of their own bureaucracies. As we gradually see the finance industry fade quietly away to less over-regulated jurisdictions with more cost-effective labour, it is time to ask how we are going to pay for the legacy of civil service excess that Senator Ozouf will inherit. The time has come to think big. Simplify the benefits system. Combining pensions and income support into a single weekly payment to each and every person of sufficient residency in Jersey would not only allow us to dispense with the entire Social Security department but would br...