Scott Wickenden
FOR DEPUTY OF ST HELIER _ DISTRICT ONE
INNOVATION.
ENTREPRENEURIALISM.
ECONIMIC DIVERSITY.
Biography
I am 37 years old and born and raised in Jersey.
Following secondary school and collecting my GCSEs I immediately embarked on a diverse series of roles such as a locksmith, graphic designer, barman and shop assistant. These roles served to broaden my understanding of employment and lifestyles on the island.
It was in the latter half of the 1990s that I started working my way up through the local Financial Technology industry. During this period, I started as an IT helpdesk analyst and have progressed through different technical and managerial roles to being a service delivery management consultant today.
Currently I’m employed as the transition manager for C5 Alliance, where I am responsible for ensuring the services that they provide are arranged and maintained to the highest industry standards. I have previously worked for two large financial organizations in Jersey and managed a small IT consultancy in central London who provided services for defence contracts and Blue Chip firms.
I specialise in looking at how companies run their services, looking for ways to improve efficiency, remove duplication and unnecessary costs and increase customer satisfaction.
I have strong analytical and troubleshooting skills and am trained in modern management and leadership methodologies.
Island Issues
INNOVATION, ENTREPRENEURIALISM AND THE ISLAND ECONOMY
I am very passionate about Innovation. One of my goals if elected in the states would be to work at helping get new business started in the island. This would give some much needed diversification in the employment market and help create new jobs.
Helping New Business
The current government has been very successful in setting up functions such as Digital Jersey, Jersey Business, Locate Jersey and the Innovation fund but there is more to do if we are going to help them become more successful in helping new business set-up in the island. The above companies all have very good objectives individually but I feel that they need to start to work together better and have common strategies if we are going to see increased success stories.
Policy and Law
Jersey is very lucky to be able to set our own policy and Laws but are we doing enough to build more diversity in our economy? The world is changing rapidly with new technologies and Jersey is perfectly placed to stay ahead of other jurisdictions by changing policy and laws but like the e-gaming of old, are we currently leaving it too late and missing the opportunities?
If we can create the right laws and policy before other jurisdictions there will be no need to supply tax breaks to encourage the businesses to come.
Local Businesses
The recent Economic Development Strategy has laid out guidelines for how the government can assist high growth and high worth business to be as successful as possible in the island. I believe we also need to make sure we can help small local businesses set up.
We need to help the young entrepreneurs of Jersey when they return from university to be able to make their dreams come true and get them out of the mentality of having to work for someone else.
Rentable Commercial Properties
I think more needs to be done to make affordable commercial properties available for new businesses. I believe this can be done with the help of the Jersey Development Company with making shop space available in the new esplanade quarter for young businesses on short term leases.
If we can help people to start small businesses - even if it’s just a juice bar or a coffee shop – it can nurture their entrepreneurial thinking to try other bigger ideas. Richard Branson started selling records and has now become one of the most successful businessman in the world.
Creating Employment
I have been very lucky to have had the opportunities to work with entrepreneurs and innovators in the past. By enabling such people to setup new jobs, it will give other people the same opportunities I have had to work within innovative companies.
REDUCED SPENDING WITHIN THE STATES DEPARTMENTS
Year on year we hear our government tell us that they are committed to reducing the state’s headcount and reducing spending, but year on year we have seen an increased number of states workers and spending.
We have just recently seen that there were 181 new jobs created in the states in 2013. How many have been created in 2014 so far?
There was recently a presentation called ‘States of Jersey Reform – Shaping our Future’ which can be seen on YouTube which was all about how departments can work together using a method called LEAN to reduce duplication in effort between states departments and increase efficiency.
As much as I applaud the LEAN Initiative, it has not addressed the constantly increasing workforce.
The states are spending more and more money investing in new technologies to reduce manual labour and speed up processes. With all the new systems that have been implemented the workforce should by definition have more availability. So why do we keep seeing the workforce expanding at a continuous pace.
This expansion needs to stop!
I believe that the States need to take a step back and look at the core services it is there to provide, then look at what possibilities there are to outsource the non-essential services to the free market
POPULATION & IMMIGRATION
Population
Jersey is only a small island with finite space and I believe it is important that we try and protect its beauty and green spaces as much as possible.
The fundamental problem I feel that needs to be addressed in Jersey is the inability to be able to know who has left and returned to the island. This makes it very hard to plan future requirements for the Schools, Hospital, Roads, Sewage, Refuse, Housing, Social contributions etc…
Once we have a process in place to record the numbers of people arriving and leaving the island, we can hold another census to create a baseline number. Then we will be able to know the approximate number of people living in jersey month on month and use the figures to plan for Jersey’s future infrastructure and social requirements.
Immigration
With Jersey being such a diverse island it will always be necessary to bring in skilled labour if it cannot be found on the island. Only by having people with broad experience will Jersey continue to grow.
I think Jersey should introduce a work permit system that is controlled using a points system.
My vision would be to create a system that would encompass short, medium and long-term permits that would meet the needs of different types of businesses. The point system could be similar to the systems used in Australia, America, Canada, etc. We can modify how many points something is worth depending on the current requirements the Island has.
With such a system in place it would not be such a lottery once anyone arrives in the island and they can arrive here with a clear expectation of the type of work they can undertake and the length of time they can work.
ZERO HOURS CONTRACTS
Zero Hour contracts do have a place, and can be beneficial to both employer and employee. Like all employment contracts Zero Hours terms should be fair, and exclusivity clauses should not be allowed; in fact they are even currently practically redundant and unenforceable. If employers are able to guarantee hours they should, and proper mechanisms should be put in place to ensure abuse of employment contracts is prevented.
EQUALITY AND ANTI-DISCRIMINATION
I fully believe in equality and would vote for reform of marriage laws to allow marriage regardless of gender or sexuality.
I would not compel any person to conduct a legal marriage, but any person wishing to act as Registrar or register an Approved Premise should not be allowed to refuse to marry any persons who are legally allowed to be married.
I believe religious groups should be allowed to restrict their marriage ceremonies to meet their own beliefs and traditions.
St. Helier Issues
FORT REGENT
I would like to see the Fort Regent Regeneration project getting the prioritisation that the residents of St Helier deserves.
I would work with the states to help make sure that the correct fi nances are set aside to fund the project so we can see fort regent returned to the family centre that I enjoyed when I was young.
I would like to see a Tech hub similar to the Digital Jersey hub added to the plans and more green energy options such as solar panels on the roof so the cost of running the facility is as efficient and cheap as possible for years to come.
SAFETY IN THE EVENINGS IN ST HELIER 1
St Helier 1 supports the majority of the nightlife in Jersey and gets a reputation for loud antisocial behaviour and littering late at night and over the weekends.
I would like to work with the restaurants, public houses and police to come up with a strategy for ensuring that their customers drink sensibly and to make sure that we can get them home at closing time faster to stop the congestion at the taxi ranks which can be a hotspot for trouble.
PUBLIC EVENTS IN ST HELIER
I support the public events held in St Helier such as the seafood festival, Polish and
Portuguese festivals as well as the St Helier street fair, St Helier market and events such as the recent ‘Halkett Hoedown’.
I think we should be doing more to advertise these events as they are good family entertainment for the residents of St Helier and have potential to bring in tourism and
commerce.
ESPLANADE QUARTER DEVELOPMENT
I would like a new consultation on the requirement of the Esplanade quarter to make sure that there is not already sufficient availability with the new privately funded office space projects.
If the consultation shows there is no longer a need to build the esplanade quarter it should be stopped straight away.
If the consultation shows that there is still a need for the office space the esplanade quarter would provide, I would like to get the shop space on the ground floor reserved for new small businesses on short-term leases and low rents to help the small business market grow.
Scott Wickenden
FOR DEPUTY OF ST HELIER - DISTRICT ONE
TELEPHONE
875218
MOBILE
07797 717 766
swickenden@live.com
YOU CAN ALSO FIND ME ONLINE
www.scottwickenden.com
swickenden@live.com
07797717766
www.scottwickenden.com
facebook.com/pages/Vote-Scott-Wickenden-for-Deputy-of-St-Helier-District-1
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