Jersey Consumer Council: appointment of Chairman

STATES OF JERSEY

JERSEY CONSUMER COUNCIL: APPOINTMENT OF CHAIRMAN

Lodged au Greffe on 13th March 2018

by the Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture

STATES GREFFE

2018  P.67

PROPOSITION

THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion

to refer to their Act dated 2nd February 2011 regarding the Jersey Consumer Council  and,  in  accordance  with  paragraph (b)(ii)  of  Jersey  Consumer Council –  future  mandate'  (P.182/2010),  to  approve  the  appointment  of Mr. Carl Walker as Chairman of the Jersey Consumer Council for a term of 3 years commencing on 14th April 2018.

MINISTER FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, TOURISM, SPORT AND CULTURE

REPORT

Introduction

The Jersey Consumer Council ("JCC") was originally established by Act of the States in 1995. In February 2011 the Assembly adopted P.182/2010, which set out a new mandate for the Consumer Council. This included a fundamental change to the previous position, in that the role of Chairman was no longer restricted to being undertaken only by a Member of the States. The decision was also taken to provide an honorarium payment of £10,000 per annum to the new Chairman for a minimum of 10 hours per week spent on JCC business.

Advocate Rose Colley, having held this position for 6 consecutive years, has now come to the end of her maximum 2 terms of office, in line with the Constitution of the Council.

Following a recruitment process overseen by the Jersey Appointments Commission, the Minister is pleased to announce that he is recommending for approval the appointment of Mr. Carl Walker as the new Chairman of the Jersey Consumer Council.

Biography: Mr. Carl Walker

Mr. Walker has been a journalist for more than 22 years, both in the UK and Jersey, and is the outgoing Deputy Editor of the Jersey Evening Post. Having worked in local radio and newspapers in the north of England in the late 1990s, he settled in the Island in January 2000 to take up a position with the Jersey Evening Post.

He has worked with the newspaper since his arrival in the Island and has held various roles, with consumer journalism always featuring heavily in his work, most notably the Fair Play' consumer column. This popular weekly feature introduced regular petrol price checks, a campaign to praise those retailers in the Island not charging UK VAT, and a multitude of topical advise-based articles to help Islanders with their consumer problems before proper consumer legislation existed. Indeed, the work of the column has been credited in the States with helping to drive down the price of petrol and other consumables in the past.

Married with 3 young children, Mr. Walker is also the creator of the Jersey Evening Post's Pride of Jersey Awards, a community initiative which, in recognising those Islanders who go the extra mile, requires huge public engagement. He has been involved in many other charitable and community initiatives, including Jersey Overseas Aid, with whom he has visited Kenya on 4 occasions.

After 18 years with the newspaper, Mr. Walker will leave the Jersey Evening Post in March to explore other career opportunities, and is looking forward to applying his skills and consumer experience as the next Chairman of the Jersey Consumer Council.

Collective responsibility under Standing Order 21(3A)

The Council of Ministers has a single policy position on this proposition, and as such, all Ministers, and the Assistant Ministers for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture, are bound by the principle of collective responsibility to support the proposition, as outlined in the Code of Conduct and Practice for Ministers and Assistant Ministers (R.11/2015 refers).

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P.67/2018

Financial and manpower implications

The Minister has approved an annual grant of (up to) £91,000 to fund the cost of delivering the objectives contained within Jersey Consumer Council's 2018 Business Plan.

There are no manpower implications arising.