Future Jersey

Origins

Future Jersey was produced following agreement in the States Assembly that the Government’s strategic planning process, historically based on medium-term plans aligned to the election cycle, needed a longer-term view.

This reflected the reality that the social, economic and environmental challenges of our changing world require strategic responses beyond what can be achieved in a single political term. The impact of interventions often needs to be assessed over the long-term, not tomorrow or next year.

An approach to shaping Jersey’s future built around a long-term vision with defined outcomes would set signposts for the future, allow each new Assembly to make informed decisions on their priorities and position medium-term plans as stepping stones designed to keep Jersey on course. It would also provide a clear framework to align delivery strategies and track progress. Key to this approach would be a new long-term vision that reflected the voice of Islanders.

Shaping our future

In 2016, the ‘Shaping our future’ project was launched to develop Jersey’s first community vision.  The aim was to:

• ask our community what outcomes matter to their quality of life
• discover our community’s ambitions for Jersey’s future
• select good practise indicators to measure Jersey’s progress
• propose a strategic direction for each indicator based on community expectations and current trends

Three key documents tell the story of the ‘Shaping our future’ consultation. Over a six week period in the summer of 2016, Islanders took part in an online survey to share what they valued about living in Jersey, and what they would change. Nearly 4,150 Islanders took part, one of the largest ever responses to a public consultation in Jersey. 

The My Jersey report published the results in November 2016. 

It was followed in July 2017 by a discussion document: Future Jersey 2017-37, that set out how the vision was taking shape and asked Islanders for feedback.

There were over 4,700 visits to the website between July and October 2017 and over 400 feedback submissions were received.

A findings report was published in February 2018 and lessons learned were incorporated into Future Jersey when it was launched in March 2018.

The community’s vision

Future Jersey, published in March 2018, was the culmination of the ideas shared by Islanders through the ‘Shaping our future’ consultation programme, which are captured in the vision statement:

"An Island loved for its beautiful coast and countryside, rich heritage, diverse wildlife and clean air, land and water. An Island where a sense of community really matters - a safe place to grow up and enjoy life. An Island that offers everyone the opportunity to contribute to, and share in, the success of a strong, sustainable economy."

This overarching vision was broken down into ten community, environment and economic outcomes describing what success would look like:

Community

• Islanders feel safe and protected at home, work and in public
• Children enjoy the best start in life
• Islanders enjoy living in a vibrant and inclusive community
• Islanders enjoy long, healthy, active lives

Environment

• Jersey’s built and historic environment is valued and enjoyed
• Jersey’s unique natural environment is protected for future generations
• Jersey’s natural resources are managed and used responsibly

Economy

• Islanders are able to afford a decent standard of living
• Jersey is an attractive place to do business
• Islanders benefit from a strong economy and rewarding job opportunities

If a community is clear about what it hopes to achieve, it needs to monitor progress. Is it moving closer to its vision of the future? What is going well and where does more need to be done? At the heart of Future Jersey, and giving substance to aspirational statements such as ‘Islanders live long, healthy, active lives’, was a set of 58 Island Indicators to track Jersey’s progress.

In January 2020, this original suite of indicators was extended to nearly 190 with the launch of the Jersey Performance Framework. These indicators focus on how Jersey is doing, reminding us how the Island has performed historically and whether it is heading in the right direction.

How does the vision work?

The ten outcomes in Future Jersey were designed to stay in place for a generation, not just a single Assembly term.  They are the self-evident building blocks of Jersey’s future, covering essential elements that Islanders identify with such as community safety, health, protecting our environment and good job opportunities.

While people will generally agree with the ambition expressed by each of the outcomes, they will often hold different views about the best ways to achieve them. For this reason, Future Jersey deliberately focuses on where Islanders want to be, not 'how' to get there. It does not tell policy-makers which priorities or strategies to pursue. These are political choices, made in consultation with the public, that will change according to circumstances and differing political beliefs.

Future Jersey serves as a reminder of Islanders’ aspirations for the future whilst the aligned Jersey Performance Framework provides an important planning tool, identifying Jersey’s progress in facts and figures to help inform policy priorities and choices. They work together to provide an enduring, clear strategic planning framework to:

• align public sector services to the delivery of a shared vision for Jersey’s future
• identify the pressures that might impact on our ambitions
• promote understanding and consensus around trade-offs between competing ambitions
• ensure shared effort by government, businesses and the community to meet these challenges

One Island, One Vision

Future Jersey came from the voice of Islanders and, as such, it is for everyone – politicians, public services, the private sector, charities, communities and individuals. It is deliberately aspirational. Everyone has a part to play to protect and enhance what is valued about Jersey, and to make it the best it can be. It won't just happen. Progress requires sustained effort from many players in the face of complex challenges.

For government, Future Jersey is there to help inform decisions about their priorities and strategies, using the facts and figures the vision draws together in the Performance Framework. These choices are made by each new Council of Ministers in their medium-term Government Plan and implemented through detailed delivery strategies.

While government has a key role to play in making progress towards these outcomes, it cannot do it alone. Businesses and charities and individual islanders can all play their own part and use Future Jersey to see how they can help make a difference.

A dynamic vision

At the launch of Future Jersey in 2018, it was acknowledged that the framework would evolve over time. New, improved indicators would be developed, and the framework could also be extended to track the contribution and performance of public services. Jersey’s new Performance Framework, launched in January 2020, represents the first step in this evolution.

By significantly increasing the number of indicators tracking Jersey’s progress, the new framework provides a more detailed insight into Jersey’s social, economic and environmental progress. It will help build the knowledge and capacity of the community to work together to achieve and sustain the well-being of current and future generations by providing open access to accurate, un-biased, and comprehensive data and information on well-being in our Island.