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Minister and Board 17th January 2005 Dear Deputy Falla and Board Members Thank you for inviting feedback to your consultation paper Building Confidence. We are pleased to note the section 4.6 dealing with businesses and individuals that are “Guernsey Friendly”, and would endorse particularly the bullet points relating to good staff relations, training, contributing to the community, and having a minimal impact on the environment. However, we would suggest that in order to lessen the impact on existing infrastructure, the definition of “Guernsey Friendly” should also include the requirement of each business to produce a Waste Policy, to include recycling, reuse and waste reduction, together with an Energy Policy, which would incorporate efficiency and conservation. It should be noted that both these policies should reduce costs and make businesses more efficient, as well as helping Guernsey’s environment. Section 7.2, Energy, should also be expanded to include not only security of supply, but also energy conservation and efficiency throughout the sectors for which your Department has responsibility. The Environment Department will shortly be looking at developing a Corporate Energy Strategy, and it is hoped that both Departments could work closely on this issue. Finally, we would take issue with the concept of capping the personal tax or providing tax holidays for high earners and business owners. Often the only tangible benefit to Guernsey is the tax take of businesses and entrepreneurs, and the cost/benefit balance needs to be very carefully examined to ensure that the Guernsey community is benefiting in real terms, compared with the impact on the infrastructure of supporting these businesses, however successful they may be. Yours sincerely Michelle Levrier |