30 January 2018
The Chief Minister, Senator Ian Gorst, will discuss the Council of Ministers’ response to the eight main headline recommendations made by the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry, as well as outlining the progress made on the 43 actions, during tomorrow's States sitting (31 January 2018).
Progress has been made to complete or start work on 32 of the 43 headline actions identified in the Council of Ministers’ response to the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry.
These developments were commended by the Chairmen’s Committee, Care of Children in Jersey Review Panel, in its report released on 26 January 2018.
Senator Gorst made it clear in his public response to the Care Inquiry last year that he accepted all of the main recommendations and wanted a report to be submitted to the States Assembly to show the implementation plan and update on progress.
Senator Gorst said “In the week after the Care Inquiry publication, I gave a commitment to bring a comprehensive response back to the States Assembly. The Council of Ministers’ report in response to the Care Inquiry provides a detailed and clear description of actions that will be taken, and which Ministries will lead. It is a genuinely cross-governmental response.
“The report is informed by the Care Inquiry Advisory Group. I would like to thank them, and their chair, for the time and effort in supporting me in constructing a coherent and comprehensive set of actions that we can all get behind. I think that the Council of Ministers’ response sets out a wide-ranging approach, which supports the system-wide improvements needed to ensure that history does not repeat itself.”
Last week, the Care of Children in Jersey Review Panel (the Review Panel) released its report, which examined the progress being made to implement the Jersey Care Inquiry recommendations.
In its conclusion, it said “It is clear that work has started on a considerable number of the headline actions, with some already having been completed in the timescale set out in P.108/2017. This is to be commended. It is also worth noting that significant movement has been made in comparison to previous States projects.
“The communication between the Review Panel and those involved in responding to the IJCI has been positive, with constructive discussions and actions having taken place.”
This year, considerable progress has already been made with Recommendation 1, following the appointment of the first Children’s Commissioner for Jersey, who has started work on many of the actions. Eleven of the actions are listed as ‘pending’, as work in these areas is not due to start until later in the year.
A new page on gov.je shows the Government’s response and progress towards these actions. This will be regularly updated as work continues.
Actions by recommendation and progress
These details, which can be found in the department of Community and Constitutional Affairs section on gov.je, have been prepared to make them easily accessible for the public to view.
Senator Gorst added “The purpose of this new section on gov.je is to show the Government’s response to the main recommendations made in the Final Report of the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry (IJCI), along with an overview of progress following the publication of the Inquiry. It is vitally important that the Government’s response is open and transparent and can be accessed easily by the public to see the progress being made to implement each recommendation.”
gov.je