After agreeing to sit until 18:00 on Thursday, members broke for lunch.

Two more amendments to the 2020 Budget are due to be discussed when the States resumes at 14:30.

Members agreed by a vote of 19-17 to transfer £100,000 from the Budget Reserve for training and development of law enforcement staff.

An amendment to give the Committee for Home Affairs £100,000 for training law enforcement officers is being debated in the States.

The proposal aims to address the "unfortunate" reduction in the level of training investment, according to committee president.

Deputy Mary Lowe said the lack of non-mandatory training for staff has been a significant contributor to "costly" levels of officer turnover.

She added: "Officers are less well equipped to deal with changing and evolving challenges they and the organisation faces."

In requesting the extra funds, Mrs Lowe cited the damning Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary report into Guernsey Police, which criticised the "limited" training budget available to officers., external

A call to increase alcohol duty by 10% rather than the proposed 5% rise, for high earners to pay more tax and money from reserves to be reassigned to fund public services projects has been rejected.

Deputies Jennifer Merrett and Sarah Hansmann Rouxel wanted to use the extra funding for a dyslexia day centre, Disability and Inclusion Strategy initiatives, a real terms increase in benefit limits and additional staff for the Law Officers' department.

It failed by a vote of 16-23.

Guernsey has to maintain "tax competitiveness" in order to continue to provide public services, according to the President of Policy and Resources.

Deputy Gavin St Pier pointed to the fact that 69% of tax revenue already comes from the top 25% of earners, arguing it is necessary to "balance" levels of taxation with public expenditure to ensure sufficient tax revenue is generated for public services.

He said: "It is easy to say 'well they are high earners they can afford it'.

"We should acknowledge and thank them for that contribution which allows us to maintain the level of services that we already have."

President of Health and Social Care Heidi Soulsby said her committee was looking at introducing a system of minimum unit pricing for alcohol similar to Scotland.

It has been illegal to sell alcohol in Scotland priced at less than 50p per unit since May 2018.

Mrs Soulsby said she could not support the proposed amendment because it was a "blunt instrument", which would not have the desired public health impact.

She said the proposed 10% increase in alcohol duty would increase costs across the board, where minimum unit pricing focuses on preventing the sale of very cheap, high strength drinks.

Pointing to the fact that the Scottish model has shown signs of "some change", Mrs Soulsby acknowledged it was still "early days at the moment".

"If we did bring in minimum unit pricing it would likely be higher minimum unit because of the costs that we have here," she added.

Deputy Matt Faillaize has expressed support for different options to raise tax revenue, including increasing alcohol duty by 10%, as he believes the budget's proposed changes to taxation "disproportionately" affects people in the middle income bracket.

The current system of Tax on Real Property (TRP), which taxes properties based on their size, would rise by 5% on commercial and 10.2% on domestic properties in the current budget.

The proposed amendment would not replace these changes, however it would explore other options for revenue raising.

Mr Fallaize pointed to the fact that whilst the rise in TRP would cost high earners more in absolute terms, as a proportion of household income it would cost them less than lower earners.

"The same thing cannot be said about all the options in this amendment," he added.

A States member who is calling for an increase in the cost of alcohol so money can be spent elsewhere - has blasted the projected savings for 2019 as "shoddy and shameful".

Deputy Jennifer Merrett wants the duty to go up 10% rather than the proposed 5% rise.

She and Deputy Sarah Hansmann Rouxel are also calling for high earners to pay more tax and money to be reassigned from reserves to fund a dyslexia day centre, Disability and Inclusion Strategy initiatives, a real terms increase in benefit limits and additional staff for the Law Officers' department.

Mrs Merrett said: "P&R have failed to allocate the required funding for some basic services and service developments in their haste to deliver a balanced budget.

"We are in this position because the projected savings - in my opinion - have not been achieved."

The Budget 2020 report forecasts £2m of the £5.2m projected savings are expected to be delivered in 2019.

The States has closed after approving an amendment which instructs Environment and Infrastructure (E&I) to investigate reprioritising £100,000 of its budget to further develop a biodiversity strategy.

If it proves impossible to find the full amount, the amendment would direct Policy and Resources (P&R) to provide a "maximum of £100,000" for the strategy.

The amendment has been reached as a compromise between P&R and E&I over the means of acquiring the necessary funding for the strategy.

Another amendment was due to be submitted by the president of E&I requesting the £100,000 be given to the committee, but now will not be laid.

Debate on amendments to the budget continue at 09:30 on Thursday.

The amendment designed to direct the States to investigate introducing a levy on any development of a greenfield site has been closely rejected by a margin of 19-16.

President of Policy and Resources Gavin St Pier was clear in his opposition to introducing a greenfield development levy as it fell outside of the priorities previously agreed by the States.

He said the amendment was "clearly not a budget matter".

On top of this, Deputy St Pier argued the timetable of submitting a report by April 2020 was "unachievable".

He acknowledged there was a place to discuss the issue, but said it was not appropriate to do so on the back of a budget.

"This is potentially a massive piece of policy work. There isn't a cat in hell's chance of this being delivered, whatever the States may wish," he added.

Politicians are currently debating an amendment that would require Policy and Resources (P&R) to consider introducing a levy on the development of greenfield sites.

P&R would have to report on its findings by April 2020.

The purpose of the amendment is to disincentivise the development of greenfield sites and to generate revenue for on-island environmental projects, according to the amendment's author Deputy John Gollop.

Mr Gollop said it was designed to improve and protect Guernsey's biodiversity by funding environmental initiatives and protecting green spaces.

The amendment survived a motion to dismiss it and end debate by a narrow margin of 20-17.

The amendment preventing an £1m additional funding for the public sector transformation project has passed 22-16.

It will also redistribute leftover funding from the original £8m given in the 2019 budget to other areas of public sector reform overseen by Policy and Resources.

Deputy Emilie McSwiggan, summing up her reasons for submitting the amendment, said she was concerned about a lack of evidence that the savings targets were ever achievable.

"My fear is that these are, not exactly back of a fag packet, but certainly not rigorously worked up savings opportunities."

"We are being asked to put a great deal of faith in those numbers," she added.

President of Health and Social Care Heidi Soulsby opposed giving extra funding for the public sector transformation, arguing that the failure to meet savings targets was not about a lack of funding.

She said that in a sense the amendment was "irrelevant", as the lack of progress in hitting promised savings targets was not about levels of investment.

The failure is explained by the difficulty in finding people with the required skills and experience to enact the reforms, according to Deputy Soulsby.

"The reason why the program is slow at the moment is we can't get the people to fulfill all the programs taking place," she added.

Mrs Soulsby argued that proposed additional funding would be better used elsewhere in public service spending or kept in the capital reserve, rather than giving unnecessary further money to the reform.

As debate on restricting further money for public sector transformation returns, here's a summary of what has happened so far:

• A call to halt subsidies for airlines until a comprehensive air strategy had been created was defeated
• The States will see the direct and indirect costs for the Alderney air routes and Aurigny included in a report on the public service obligation
• Agreement that Policy and Resources will bring recommendations for improving pay and conditions for public sector employees, including the potential for a timetable to achieve "fair and equal pay"
• £300,000 for green finance initiative agreed as well as the creation of a formal funding model for Guernsey Finance

Debate on restricting funding for public sector transformation will resume at 14:30.

There are benefits of the public sector transformation program beyond financial savings, according to the President of Education, Sport and Culture Matt Fallaize.

Deputy Fallaize added that the "key benefits" of the transformation are more likely to be achieved with the extra funding that Policy and Resources have requested.

He said it was his belief that the benefits of the project outweighed the costs, even if the ambitious spending targets were not met.

"More rather than fewer resources are necessary to generate the kind of organisational changes required to make the States fit for purpose in the years ahead."

Additional funding for Guernsey's public sector reform is required to "co-ordinate" the transformation of the public sector, according to the President of Policy and Resources Gavin St Pier.

Deputy St Pier added it was important to recognise that not all of the savings initiatives fell under the control of his committee.

He argued that responsibility for failing to meet savings targets also fell on Home Affairs, Health and Social Care and Education, Sport and Culture.

"It is a failure that we all need to take responsibility for in order to drive the program forward."

However, Mr St Pier emphasised that progress transforming the sector was being made and that "continued commitment" to meet savings targets was vital.

The States is currently debating an amendment to restrict additional funding to Policy and Resources (P&R) for the public sector transformation project.

Currently, the budget is calling for an additional £1m to be allocated to P&R in order to help achieve its original savings targets, set out in the 2019 budget, of £20m by 2021.

The original cost of the transformation was set to be £8m.

However, so far savings of £1.5m have fallen well below the original targets for 2019 of £4.6m.

The amendment would also seek to redistribute leftover funding from the original £8m to other areas of public sector reform overseen by P&R.

Deputy Emilie McSwiggan - one of those who placed it - suggested no more money should be given until the speed that savings are realised improves.

A two-part amendment that supports granting £300,000 for Guernsey Finance's green finance initiative has been approved without opposition.

The money, subject to the submission of a business case by the end of the year, would come from the Future Guernsey Economic Fund to better promoting Guernsey's financial services sector abroad.

The second part of the amendment instructs the Committee for Economic Development, by March 2020, to:

• Develop a sustainable funding model for Guernsey Finance, allowing the organisation to invest and plan with greater certainty
• Formalise the States funding for the organisation, including the provision of investment objectives and receiving performance reports
• Finish investigating the prospect of pooling resources for all of the States promotional organisations, including Guernsey Finance, Visit Guernsey and Locate Guernsey