Madam
As a small island community, we are inevitably dependent on our connectivity to the world beyond our shores.
We have seen what good sea connectivity looks like thanks to our new contract with Brittany Ferries. Overall passenger figures across all routes are up nearly 30%, while traffic between Saint-Malo and Guernsey is up by 59% just six months in.
This is thanks to the improved schedule, the strength of the Brittany Ferries customer reach, together with joint marketing and collaboration between Brittany Ferries, Visit Guernsey, Guernsey Ports and the Saint-Malo and Cancale Tourism Authority.
Building stronger trade and tourism links with France is key priority for my Committee. The Committee has been actively engaging in trade facilitation, with 5 trade missions having taken place and more planned this year.
We are going to the see the return of the Normandy market in the middle of October and the Committee is working to bring the Brittany Market to Guernsey for the first time.
The Committee recently attended the Forum Economique Breton, a premier business event in the region. The Guernsey delegation received an extremely warm welcome from many stakeholders including the President and Vice President of the Brittany Region, Saint-Malo major, local Chamber of Commerce, local businesses and the Ports Authority.
Brittany is a leading agricultural production region in France with many long-established farm cooperatives within hours of Saint-Malo. Having fresh produce on our shelves or restaurants within as little as 24h from harvest is a reality. We would encourage business to explore trading opportunities with France as it can improve choice, quality and also price, and suggest that they contact the Committee to learn more or for support.
Passenger numbers through Manche-Ile-Express have gone up this year by more than 13%, with more than 18,000 passenger movements between Dielette, St Peter Port, Sark and Jersey.
Seeing thousands more French visitors this year has been transformational. I really hope Guernsey can learn to “parler francais” a little bit more next year. It will be great to see more menus translated into French and accessible through technologies like QR codes. French language lessons organised for hospitality have been oversubscribed.
Inter-island connectivity with Jersey continues to be very important for us and was a central discussion point during my visit to Jersey in August. This is why a weekly rotation is a contractual obligation for Brittany Ferries. The Committee supported the launch of the Islands Unlimited passenger service, which has seen 24500 passenger movements since its launch on June 6th.
I hope to work jointly with Jersey on improved inter-island connectivity with DFDS next season and exploring proposals to support other inter-island providers in 2026.`
Air connectivity is equally crucial and a key strategic enabler. A new Air Policy Framework and Air Transport Licensing Policy are being developed.
Whilst the existing framework, updated in 2021, served its intended purpose to provide the necessary support to Aurigny following the difficult operating environment post Covid, it is now viewed as not enabling Guernsey’s air connectivity requirements.
Diversifying the number of airlines serving Guernsey was a priority of the previous Committee and continues this term.
The Committee will continue to engage with the Policy & Resources Committee and the States Trading Supervisory Board, as necessary, to prepare any new air policy.
The air route to Paris, launched in April 2024 and supported by route development funding, has continued to grow and to be popular with both islanders and visitors.
Sea and air connectivity are inherently intertwined and support our tourism and retail offering. I am pleased that Deputy Van Katwyk with his experience in both sectors will be leading on this work.
There have been some great successes this year including recognition for VisitGuernsey at The Travel Marketing Awards for their campaign, ‘keeping our war stories alive’ promoting the 80th Liberation.
The tourism offering of the Bailiwick of Guernsey – our special archipelago including Herm, Sark and Alderney – is a unique value proposition. We want to ensure we work even more closely with the respective Tourism authorities in Sark and Alderney to capitalise on this.
Plans for the Victor Hugo Centre were of strong interest during our trip to France. It’s an increasingly strategic project for Guernsey to rally behind.
The previous Committee funded the Guernsey Retail Group to develop a new retail strategy. The High Street and Market Square are buzzing and it is exciting to see the ongoing investment in the opening of new shops and outlets, including Creaseys and Iceland in the last week alone. The collaborative work of Art for Guernsey to reinvigorate Mansell street has also been inspirational.
One aspect of particular interest to the tourism sector is the potential introduction of a visitor levy. We intend to continue exploring this work in close collaboration with industry and taking into account the wider discussions around tax and public finances.
Digital connectivity is equally important to sea and air links. The previous Committee and the States made significant steps to ensure Guernsey had world-class connectivity through the fibre partnership with Sure and the enabling policy for 5G and spectrum-neutral technologies.
Sure’s physical build-out for fibre will complete this year with 95% of properties already connected. This is a great example of a public-private partnership and a complex capital project completed on time and on budget. About 70% of properties have now opted for fibre. The rest have until the end of 2026 to sign-up as the copper network will be disconnected soon after.
We are expecting the 5G rollout to begin next year.
Developing the next Bailiwick Digital Framework will be an important cross-government workstream in the next 6-12 months. This will take into account Artificial Intelligence, Skills, development of a Digital ID and other infrastructure and regulation needs for an AI-enabled economy. The first cross-government Digital Steering Committee meeting takes place next month.
The Innovate Guernsey Board established at the end of the last political term is busy developing an Innovation Plan and completing a review of the Digital Greenhouse. Facilitating and onboarding innovation quicker will be a key driver of economic resilience and success and is proven to contribute to increased productivity, job creation, economic diversification and competitiveness.
Moving onto finance, which remains the core pillar of our economy, the Committee has just announced the commissioning of the Finance Sector Policy Framework. This is structured and co-funded as a collaborative project between Government, Guernsey Financial Services Commission, Guernsey Finance and Guernsey International Business Association. The purpose is to develop a strategy and delivery plan for the future of Guernsey’s finance sector, focusing on areas of growth, defensible innovation and new markets.
As part of the new finance strategy, the Committee recognises the opportunities with digital assets, blockchain technologies and the trend towards more decentralised and open finance. The Committee took part in the inaugural Guernsey Digital Assets Conference, with Deputy Camp delivering an opening speech.
The Committee is very well placed to drive work on finance sector development given the excellent political experience and skills in most sectors of finance.
Deputy Niles will chairing the important Finance Sector Forum, providing general leadership for Finance sector, Guernsey Registry and the Office of the Public Trustee.
Deputy Camp will be leading on Digital Assets and supporting P&R on tax and regulation work.
Deputy Humphreys will be leading on trade and energy as well as joint oversight of the construction sector.
One area which is seeing growing interest in the island is the creative industries sector, particularly film production. I was pleased to attend the launch events of Whispers of Freedom and the documentary on the filming of “Adele H”. This is potentially a new area of diversification which the Committee will be actively looking to support where it can.
Committee’s work on tax treatment of shares and share options concluded with recommendations submitted to the Policy & Resources Committee for consideration in the 2026 Budget. The Committee is grateful to the Policy & Resources Committee for its consideration of these policy changes and to those who engaged with the Committee to inform its recommendations.
The Guernsey Aircraft Registry, 2 –reg, one of our less known success stories is going from strength to strength and has now become the leading global registry for transactional registrations. The Registry enables the provision of a service industry, with many positive effects which we plan to grow.
Guernsey Registry had completed the important IT upgrade project. The final elements of technical functionality, such as APIs will soon be launched . These are important to ensure company details can be verified by payment providers among the many other use cases.
The Committee will continue championing Guernsey small businesses – the backbone of our economy – with a particular focus on the cost of doing business and regulatory burdens.
We know that economic growth was a key theme in the election. The Committee has already held a prioritisation and strategy workshop and will work on a new Economic Strategy, in consultation with other Committees. This will draw out the themes and levers that will enable us to remain competitive, resilient and diversified, unlocking private and public investment and with fruits of economic growth cascading throughout the economy and benefitting all islanders.
The Economic Strategy will enable us to capture key levers including skills, infrastructure development, investment, productivity, workforce participation, energy, AI and sustainability which will require cross-government collaboration.
Our competitiveness is reliant on the fine balance and proportionality of our regulation, as well as ensuring we meet our international and trade compliance requirements. The Committee is progressing the review of the Guernsey Competition and Regulator Authority and has launched another round of consultation with stakeholders.
The Committee is particularly keen to ensure proportionate oversight of fair market practices which meet the needs of our small-scale economy.
The GCRA are also undertaking a market study of concrete and aggregate commissioned by the Committee. The Committee looks forward to receiving the findings of the review shortly.
One important area for the Committee’s first few months has been direct engagement with many industry representative groups and individual businesses, which provide invaluable insight into the issues and challenges confronting our local economy. On behalf of the Committee I would like to thank everyone who has afforded their time and efforts as only through working together we can achieve the best for Guernsey.
The Committee is committed to maintaining a high-level of engagement and this is one of the reasons why we’ve allocated political leads to the many different sectors – to be able to provide a direct line of communication for all stakeholders.
I am grateful to all members of my Committee for their enthusiasm and proactive approach with taking on their lead roles.
I also would like to welcome Barrie Duerden, who joined us just this week as a Non-Voting member.
Madam thank you, and I welcome your questions.