New ministers highlight their States priorities

Ministerial candidates nominated by Chief Minister Designate Lyndon Farnham have been appearing before the States Assembly as part of being approved for the top jobs.

The portfolios of health, external relations, home affairs, social security, education and lifelong learning, as well as children and families, have been filled.

All these portfolios were uncontested but some politicians still faced difficult questions as they outlined the challenges that they said laid ahead.

New Social Security Minister Senator Elaine Millar was asked if supported the living wage proposals set out by the previous government. She said she supported them in principle but it would depend on economic realities.

Plans were approved to increase the living wage to £15.10 per hour in 2026.

Millar said: "The best way to make sure people get paid well is to get a really vibrant economy where people get paid better salaries.

"We have a very significant increase in the minimum wage for the last few years, particularly over the last two years. But that has been accompanied by £20m investment in the economy, making sure farmers and fishermen can pay the increased wages.

"The last thing you want to do is increase the minimum wage to the extent that employers have to cut peoples hours or they have to make redundancies."

Senator Helen Miles, who topped the islandwide poll at the election, was elected home affairs minister.

She faced questions about the violence against women and girls (VAWG) taskforce set up in 2022 to examine the extent of such violence on the island and recommend improvements.

The recommendations led to the creation of new laws to better protect females.

Miles said she would look at bringing the taskforce to an end "in its current form".

Miles said: "The taskforce was set up for a specific purpose, which was to do a review and produce recommendations, so I would envisage that the members of that taskforce become part of a community cluster."

She said the government was talking to taskforce members "on a very regular basis" to ensure recommendations were acted on.

"Violence against women and girls will never end. It will always be a priority for us and we will always make sure its appropriately resourced," she said.

Senator Tom Binet, who returns as health minister, admitted digital connectivity between parts of the health service "were hopeless".

"That's between the charity sector, Health and Care Jersey, the doctors and tertiary care - the connection between those four units is appallingly bad. It is now building up," he told colleagues.

Binet explained that, when the connectivity between those parts of the health service were assessed against international standards, Jersey "scored zero".

"If your GPs, your hospital, your health care providers and your tertiary care are not connected, you are going to get big gaps."

The ministerial appointments are due to be completed on Tuesday.

Follow BBC Jersey on X and Facebook. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk.