09 July 2013
The statement below was jointly issued by Jersey’s Chief Minister, Senator Ian Gorst, and the Chief Minister of Guernsey, Deputy Peter Harwood, on 8 July 2013, when politicians from both islands met to discuss ways for government departments in Jersey and Guernsey to work together to deliver public services.
Senator Gorst and Deputy Harwood said:
"A year ago we met in Guernsey, and committed to working together – both in external relations and in delivering more efficient public services.
"On external relations, Guernsey and Jersey have stood side by side in working with the UK Government on the G8 tax transparency agenda; on engaging with governments and authorities in EU Member States such as France, Germany and Ireland; and on building stronger relationships in Washington. We continue to work together in Brussels and this year, for the second time, we will attend the UK party political conferences together.
"On public services delivery, the past year has seen the development of closer working relationships between counterpart departments in Guernsey and Jersey. During our meeting today, Ministers from our Treasury, Public Services and Health departments have continued discussions on how we might work more closely with the aim of sharing costs and delivery better services.
"Today, for example, the Health Department in Jersey and the Health and Social Services Department and Social Security Department in Guernsey have announced that they have signed a contract on shared air ambulance services. This adds to work we are doing together across areas such as police training, energy resilience and connectivity and sea links.
"A year on from that first meeting, the relationship between our sister islands is going from strength to strength. Our objective is to ensure that continues."
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