Migration Policy must support business

9th April 2018

​The Corporate Services Panel has today published its Migration Policy report (S.R.7/2018).

The report looks at current and predicated new inward migration levels and highlights some of the possible impacts on the Island’s infrastructure by 2035 of the Council of Ministers’ Migration Policy (P.70/2018). The Migration Policy was lodged by the Council of Ministers in March 2018 and is due to be debated by the States Assembly in September 2018.

Deputy John Le Fondré, Chairman of the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel, said: “During the course of our review, there were a couple of statistics that particularly stood out to us. These were that if the population continues to grow by an average of 1,000 people per year, as it has done over the last four years, then by 2035 we would need to build the equivalent of 230 Le Marais high rise blocks and 10 new primary schools.

“In light of the challenges of Brexit, it is important that the Island has a migration policy which supports the needs of businesses and does not send out a message that we are closed for business. Equally, the impact of continued net inward migration on our environment and infrastructure must be considered.

“If there is one key message to pull from our work, it is that good data is essential to considering the Migration Policy. It is important for all stakeholders, whether they are members of the public, local businesses or States Members to understand the implications of the policies that are proposed and, indeed, the implications of doing nothing.”

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