In KPMG’s evidence to the Economic Policy Review Committee it said that issues need to be addresses to retain a younger population.
KPMG provided testimony to the Economic Policy Review Committee, providing background to the work they had done in support of the development of the Isle of Man Government’s Economic Strategy.
The Committee heard from Russell Kelly (partner in the Crown Dependencies and Head of Advisory Services), David Watterson (senior manager in the Crown Dependencies) and Heather Sharp (partner in the UK).
Improvements
Below are the key findings from their evidence session:
- KPMG made it clear that within their work and their report they did not set any targets or specific measures that they thought should be achieved. That was very much for the Isle of Man Government to decide to take forward itself. This applied to every goal set in the Government’s economic strategy, whether that be about population, or workforce, or GDP.
- On the basis of a survey of Isle of Man businesses, KPMG had found that more needed to be done to deliver on decarbonisation of the economy. A key part of being able to attract businesses to the Island was making sure that the Island can help them fulfil their sustainability goals. One of the Island’s weaknesses in this connection was the lack of availability of renewable energy.
- In terms of both making the Island attractive to new people and also retaining the existing younger population, KPMG saw that a range of different hygiene factors, or foundational issues, would need to be addressed. These included job opportunities but also the quality of education, healthcare and culture and leisure amenities.
- In terms of being a tech-enabled Island, KPMG were aware that big strides had been made in terms of the underlying technical infrastructure. However, they had heard repeatedly that actually dealing with Government on a digital basis was not the easiest at times.
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