Falklands : FIRS aims the Spotlight on Summers and Spink
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 16.08.2009 (Article Archived on 30.08.2009)
A Report for FIRS by Stacey Bragger (SB) 08.13.09
Crown copyright
FIRS AIMS THE SPOTLIGHT ON SUMMERS AND SPINK
A Report for FIRS by Stacey Bragger (SB) 08.13.09
SB: On today’s programme I will be talking to Councillor Mike Summers (MS)and President of the Chamber of Commerce Roger Spink (RS)about the timelines for the Rural and Economic Development Strategies. I began by asking councillor Summers what work had been done so far on the Economic Development Strategy.
MS: The principle work that has been done so far has been analytical work. The Policy Unit and the Secretariat has done a huge amount on the National Accounts and trying to get a clear idea from a statistical prospective where we are in our economic planning cycle. In fact, they are presenting something to us this afternoon and so I would imagine that will be presented more publically within the next couple of weeks but I will get back to you on that. So that’s been going on and then different groups have been doing more in-depth analysis of the key industries in the Falklands – fisheries, agriculture, tourism and services – to see where those industries are in their economic planning and then they will move on to looking at strategies to move them forward.
SB: so when is it expected that the final EDS report will be produced?
MS: The planned report date in the Islands Plan is June 2010 and there’s a lot more work to do before then.
SB: Roger, the Chamber is co-chairing the group. Do you think it’s important that you have ownership of this document?
RS: I think not just people in the Chamber of Commerce – I think everybody should have ownership of the document. Obviously it’s an important document and decisions that are taken by the Government will be based on a lot of the conclusions that come out of the economic development strategy. I think Mike is better to ask on that but from the point of view of the Chamber of commerce and from the point of view of people in agriculture, service industries and tourism – I think they all need to get their views across on the analysis that we have done so far. We have broken into smaller groups but they need to come along to a public meeting and say if that analysis is right as far as they are concerned. We want them to be involved in that process. I think it’s very, very important that everybody has some input and can come along and say if it is wrong in that area once the presentations are made.
SB: And where is the EDS fit in with the other programmes that have been worked on such as the Rural Development Strategy and the review of FIMCO?
MS: I will pick that up. Just before I do, I will just mention that two public meetings have been booked at the back end of this month on the 26th and the 27th of August in the Court and council Chamber to present the analysis of – in the first instance – the agriculture and tourism sectors and in the second instance fisheries and services – that’s an opportunity for everybody in the public to come along and listen to the analysis so far and make sure that we all feel happy with the analysis that’s been produced.
As far as the Rural Development Strategy is concerned and other things, we had a fairly lengthy discussion with the Chamber three weeks ago now – I think and had another meeting after that with the key players in both the rural strategy and the economic development strategy to try to make sure that we were pulling these things together so that they would fit together. There has been analysis going on in the agricultural sector in EDS – there’s been a certain amount of analysis that is Camp economics based but also socially based in the Rural Development Strategy. And so we have these two things, really. One part of it is economic – the other part is social, if you like, or regional. And we have to pull those two things together so what we are doing in part “B” of the Economic Development Strategy and part “B” of the Rural Development Strategy, they will adopt the same methodology in terms of their further recommendations and strategies as to how to move forward so that when we get to the final stages in 2010 the two documents can come together as one.
SB: Could they have been incorporated together from the beginning rather than having them separate from the beginning?
MS: I think they could have done had we been in the right place in the cycle but the Rural Development Strategy was an initiative of – I think – Councillor Ian Hansen – pretty well straight after the last election. And it started up, in fact, before work started up on the Economic Development Strategy.
It’s arguable that we could have pulled them together earlier but I think what the people have been doing in the Camp area is going around, talking to people, looking at people’s social situations as well as economic situations as being an important part of the process. So, I don’t think we have lost anything with the two things not running together at that early stage but they do need to pull into the same area now.
SB: With the EDS and the RDS – are you thinking of 15 to 20 years in the future. Is that difficult sometimes if people want to focus on the here and now?
RS: Well, the Economic Development Strategy will obviously move things forwards and I think there is going to be a short-term view and a longer term view as well so there are certain things that need to be acted on immediately and other things that are long-term aspirations that people will have so I think it is a useful tool to get people thinking in the right way about what way we want to move the economy here.
MS: if you don’t set that over-all strategy you risk – you are absolutely right – you risk being jerked around by short-term imperatives. You need to have a longer term perspective. We’ve done it in the past by having outsiders. We had the Shackleton Report, which is effectively an economic strategy. We had the Prinn report after that in the mid ‘80s, we had a Coopers and Lybrand Report in the ‘90s. We are doing it ourselves this time. There’s enough capability and enough know-how here to do that. But to set this sort of broad strategy within which then we move forward and try to contain immediate concerns and immediate issues within that broad strategy.
SB: Would you say that the draft targets within the EDS are optimistic or realistic? I might be wrong but the target for growth and GDP was 4%? Is that realistic given the current economic situation?
MS: The target, Stacey, was 6% - that was based on quite a lot of evidence from other areas and international norms that the Policy Unit had collected from the IOF, I think, and other places. The thing is that that’s a working number. We have to start with something. We had a long discussion – Roger will remember a lot about this – at the core group about whether we should set something that was ambitious or whether we should set something that was easy to achieve and try to get the right number. It’s just a working number, really and I don’t think we need to get too concerned about that. As we get into the analysis in part 2 I think we will have clear ideas in the individual sectors, what growth they can achieve. I certainly expect a 6% growth was ambitious for the agricultural – possibly ambitious for the services sector but very much depending on what happens. But I don’t think it is particularly ambitious for tourism, for instance, or for the fishery. It might be a bit for the fishery but we will see.
RS: Yes. I’d agree. I think we had to set a figure or bring a figure in but I think when there’s further analysis done then that may have to be adjusted. But that’s why we want people to come along and discuss and have a look at to see if they feel that the part “A”, which is really the industry analysis, which is setting the scene where we are now, what the strengths and weaknesses are. We want people to come along and debate as to whether or not they feel that those groups – those sub groups have got it right for their area of the economy. I’d also want members of the general public to come along and pass their comments on the way in which the development strategy is coming along.
SB: How are things progressing with a number of items incorporating into the tome-line such as review of FIMCO and the review of FIDC?
MS: The review of FIMCO is due to be presented to Councillors in September and so that will be an important document or piece of information and we will get that out into the public as soon as we can after that. And the other area is FIDC. And because the FIDC is the economic development arm of the Government – I mean, that’s what it was set up for all those years ago and that’s what it’s been doing, it makes sense that it delivers the economic development strategies. So, it’s a little difficult for all those involved in trying to complete a review of FIDC and what resources it should have and how it should be structured before the Economic Development Strategy is produced. So I think inevitably what will happen is there will be a review of existing activities and functions and that will be preliminary – I think – until the EDS is completed the middle of next year and they can come back then and see whether the organisation is properly structured to deliver those functions.
RS: And on top of that, Stacey, the tax and fiscal policy review – I think Mike can comment further on – that is now likely to – a white paper to be produced – the consultation in December, taking into account the enablers from part “B” of the Economic Development Strategy. Obviously having a long - term tax policy affects people’s business investment decisions and therefore it’s quite important to tie that in with the Economic Development Strategy.
MS: These so called enablers are really important because they are the things that are going to deliver the strategy. Not only is there a tax and fiscal policy, which is going to be critical. But there’s also immigration policy, capital markets and funding strategies and our view on inward investment – whether we are going to go out and seek inward investment – how are we going to regulate it – how we are going to try and regulate it – the whole sort of land use and ownership thing all comes back into focus. And these are really important discussions not only for business people and Government but for members of the community because these are things on which members of the community have really strong views sometimes and they do need to be presented as part of this whole exercise so that we can be clear about whether people would like to see possibly a stronger economy but inevitably requiring more immigration or ratcheting back the level of growth and restraining immigration. Those sort of choices have to be made through this process and they are important discussions for the whole public to be involved in.
RS: I think that’s a very important point and I think it is why we would like the public to attend the meetings and actually come along and give their views because it’s very easy for a business, if you are in a service industry – the more people the better but obviously from the point of view of the people of the Falklands there is a different view of how many people you wish to have here, so I think it’s very important that this Economic Development Strategy is balanced and therefore we need to have members of the public coming along and giving their views on it.
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