Health and Social Services Minister: Senator Ben Shenton

[Eastern correspondent]

I really do not get him at all - Chief Minister Pleeeeaaazzze NO!

Surely he only made the COM as a token gesture and also to keep him in check!
 
Same stance with Stuart, invite him on to COM in the vein hope that his independant streak can be curtailed!

We all know where that tactic got them!

[a]

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[churchill]

Senator shenton will have to answer some serious questions in January that the group . RESPECT ..will be putting to him  about procedures in our hospitals and care homes that are utterly disgraceful.
Time to break the silence on what really goes on here in jersey with our elderly and sick.

[sal]

Seems strange to one day be slagging off the COM accusing them of doing as civil servants want etc
Now he seems unable to see how he is being manipulated by  his own department managers.
Only a fool would believe all he declared as facts, couldn't he perhaps of made the effort to at least listen to the victims, also maybe read some staff reports etc.   

[Darius]

Ben Shenton penned a letter to the JEP (18/9/08) stating the following

' It is my opinion that the current council of ministers are one of the most unprofessional and manipulative groups of individuals I have ever had the misfortune to work with. They represent the wishes of senior civil servants rather than the people of this island and their capacity to mislead their elected colleagues is breathtaking'

This is absolutely spot on. Our politicians are the mouthpieces of the civil service when they are supposed to represent us. Even Geoff Southern only represents the TGWU who are paid from public coffers, largely.

I mean were you given a choice would you choose to use the services of any civil service department in Jersey? The only way they get customers is by passing laws which compel us to use their services. Nothing can possibly be as inefficient as government.

I do not think the States Members are manipulative though, I don't think they are that intelligent, perhaps it is more true to say they are manipulated by senior civil servants into doing what they are told.

I'm sure that in his heart of hearts Frank Walker actually believes he did what was best for Jersey, but then he only listened to the senior civil servants.

[futuatcher]

"Nothing can possibly be as inefficient as government"

I would argue that recent UK privatisation has sometimes been more inefficient. PPPs and PFIs don't look like great value for money!

[John de la Haye]

Hark back to the Wilson years and look what happened to Nationalisation! Country went to the dogs!


John.

[futuatcher]

maybe i should, as i don't know. but involving profit in basic services is a problem to me.

[Darius]

maybe i should, as i don't know. but involving profit in basic services is a problem to me.

Now I'm not talking about key services but there is a lot that the Civil Service does that just is not necessary or is overly bureaucratic driven by the demands of risk aversion rather than providing a benefit to the people of Jersey.

There is a profit in Civil Service departments, every manager profits by expanding their responsibilities and the number of staff they oversee, as their pay increases, so the bureaucracy has a natural tendency to expand exponentially as we have seen in Jersey over the past thirty years or so.

Every person in Jersey loses out by having more and more of their private and family lives invaded by civil servants who need to find something to justify getting a deputy or two and a secretary.

Because more civil servants are needed, more immigration is needed in Jersey which pushes up house prices etc. etc. It also increases the need for taxation.

It is not the growth of finance but the growth of government (and Quangos such as Jersey Finance, the JCRA, Housing trusts all of which are civil servants in disguise) which is causing all Jersey's problems.

What is needed is a few politicians who are going to say to the civil servants, "Is it really necessary to do that?" and who are going to start repealing laws rather than passing new ones.

[boatyboy]

Darius

looking at the cost in wages taken by the public sector, not just civil servants, at over £291 million a year ( and rising ) is enough for us to know the train has left the tracks. Planetjersey is getting so large, that some interesting previous posts are as relevant now, as when written, but just a tad buried. This post offers answers and with correctly armed government watchdogs seems to tick most boxes and underlines the dangers of our non balanced economy, between the public sector and the private sector. It is very easy to read. It starts, quote.

THERE are only three things the States can do which people individually, collectively, corporately or co-operatively cannot do better themselves.
These are defence (ie the protection of our borders, including island sea defences); Law and order (including courts and prisons); and the enactment of legislation to ensure fair play.

The States have the legal right to raise taxation and Jersey residents have a legal obligation to pay these tax demands. But in recent years the States have turned Parkinson's Law (Expenditure rises to meet income available) on it's head, by ever increasing tax demands to cover expenditure commitments which are proposed, but not limited to income. The more money the States sector absorbs the greater the taxation required to fund it.

http://planetjersey.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,980.msg12493.html#msg12493

Boatyboy

[moot]

Senator Shenton is his own man and in my opinion will aline himself to maximise his own public appeal.

One must remember that Ben's father Dick is a catholic and perhaps so is Ben
The States have always been dominated by Methodists and catholics are not liked too much by them,...

[White Knight]

Look Shenton thinks he is dick. Dick always played both sides, in some cases he would make himself unpopular with establishment to make himself like good to the public. Le fondre is a front man, he has never been the brains behind anything, his dad was a bit of a wealthy thug when it came to deal with the unions but it did not work.

[GeeGee]

Shenton will never have the charisma of his father, and his latest statement to the effect he will not attend Tuesday's emergency debate for whatever reasons ( the States are turning into a circus! - pardon me they already are!) will not put him in good stead with the electorate who voted him in and pay his wages.
This is an important issue that he should not be shying away from.

[Adrian]

If Ben Shenton lived in the Uk he wouldn't even be able to get elected to a student union 

[Durendal]

If Ben Shenton lived in the Uk he wouldn't even be able to get elected to a student union 

And what about your icon SSS?

The parish council if he was lucky!