States Greffe and Legislative Drafting Office: Business Plan 2022

STATES OF JERSEY

STATES GREFFE AND LEGISLATIVE DRAFTING OFFICE: BUSINESS PLAN 2022

Presented to the States on 10th March 2022 by the Privileges and Procedures Committee

STATES GREFFE

2022  R.27

States Greffe Business Plan 2022

Introduction

This document sets out what we, the States Greffe, do; our specific aims for 2022; our thinking at this stage about our future plans; the operating context in which we work; and how we measure our performance.

The plan is intended to provide greater clarity, for the public, States Members, and States staff, about our role and our objectives. It was approved by the Privileges and Procedures Committee (PPC) in January 2022. In addition, we will soon publish the States Assembly annual report for 2021, which includes, amongst other things, an assessment of progress in implementing the commitments we made in 2021.

Departmental overview

The States Greffe's objective is:

to enable democracy to flourish by supporting and promoting the States Assembly and engaging people in politics

The core business of the Greffe involves supporting the work of the Assembly, its panels and committees and individual Members. There is a regular cycle of meetings of all these bodies, for which documents must be assembled or prepared, distributed, published and archived; and following meetings, there will often be actions arising which Greffe staff must implement. Meetings of the Assembly are supported by staff from across the Greffe – producing and distributing the documents which are debated, assisting with the production of the transcript of the meeting ("Hansard") and operating the camera equipment for webcasting (or producing virtual meetings using Microsoft Teams). We also provide a specialist Secretariat service to various States bodies including the Council of Ministers, the States Employment Board and the Jersey Overseas Aid Commission

We have resumed our programme of school visits in term-time to the States Chamber for Year 5 students. We organise the annual Youth Assembly, in which students from the Island's post-16 schools and colleges debate topics they propose and we support the annual Colin Powell peace' debate. We also provide advice and support to the Youth Parliament, which was launched in 2021.

The Greffe also supports a wide range of international activity, including meetings of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians, the Commonwealth Youth Parliament, the Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie, and the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly.

Our aim is to undertake all of this work to a high standard, maintaining and enhancing our reputation for professionalism, integrity and delivery to the often-challenging timescales demanded by the political process.

The aspect of the Jersey performance framework most relevant to the work of the Greffe is:

Islanders engage in the public decisions that affect their Island

The long-term focus for this outcome is:

Public engagement in decision-making promotes government accountability, a friendly business environment and public trust in government institutions.

The focus for the term of the Government Plan 2022-25 is:

We will improve the way in which government and the public service function, so they deliver modern, efficient, effective, value-for-money services and infrastructure, sound long-term strategic and financial planning, and encourage closer working and engagement among politicians and islanders.

The Assembly adopted a Common Strategic Policy in December 2018 and the elements most relevant to the work of the Greffe are these ongoing initiatives':

1. A States Assembly and Council of Ministers that works together for the common good

This Council of Ministers is committed to working more effectively with the States Assembly to deliver better outcomes for Islanders. How we achieve this will be developed by working with the States Assembly over the coming months, but we envisage that this will include improving: the way in which we work with Scrutiny; the way in which we develop policy, such as through the new Policy Development Boards; how we secure improved resources for non- executive States Members; the way in which we engage the Public in the work of the Assembly; and better communication and consultation with the States Assembly. We support the work of PPC in working towards an electoral system that provides a fairer representation to voters across the Island.

2. An electoral system which encourages voter turnout and meets international best practice

This Council of Ministers is committed to supporting the work of the PPC to respond to the report of the 2018 election observers. In particular, we will work with PPC and the States Greffe to introduce a more user-friendly system for electoral registration; to increase the diversity of candidates standing for election and to provide them with more assistance to stand; to identify and address the principal barriers to higher election turnout; and to invite election observers at the 2022 election

3. We will nurture a diverse and inclusive society

We are a diverse community made up of different nationalities, ages and genders. Sometimes these differences act as barriers to participating in society. As a Government we will work to remove barriers and promote inclusion and equal opportunity for all. This includes supporting inclusive communities, encouraging greater diversity in boardrooms and in the Assembly, and ensuring people with disabilities and older people are able to better participate in society. This common theme will be considered in the delivery of each of our strategic priorities, but particularly –

• Putting children first

• Reducing income inequality and improving the standard of living

• Improving Islanders' well-being and mental and physical health

• Create a sustainable, vibrant economy and skilled local workforce for the future.

The Government Plan 2022-25 includes the following additional areas of funding:

1. Additional staffing, particularly to support committees and panels and the senior leadership team.
2. Members' pensions, to address under-funding arising from higher take-up than forecast.

3. Web development, to enable the States Assembly website to be overhauled.
4. British Irish-Parliamentary Assembly, which Jersey is due to host for the first time in autumn 2022.

The Greffe has also pledged to support Government in various initiatives to do with closer and more effective working between the executive and the legislature.

We work closely with the Legislative Drafting Office (LDO): the head of that office reports to the Greffier of the States, who is the head of the States Greffe. The LDO's business plan is published alongside this business plan. An organogram setting out the structure of the States Greffe and the relationship to the LDO is appended to this business plan.

The States Greffe is accountable to the States Assembly, the Bailiff as President of the States, and to individual Members. The Greffier of the States is appointed by the Bailiff , with the consent of the States Assembly. The States Greffe's budget is proposed by PPC. Under Article 10 of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 the chair of the Committee submits the budget to the Treasury Minister for inclusion in a Government Plan. This means that the budget proposed by PPC must be considered by the Assembly and cannot be changed by Ministers except on the basis of an amendment proposed in and debated by the Assembly. The services provided by the States Greffe are overseen by PPC and, in relation to the scrutiny function, the Scrutiny Liaison Committee.

What do we want to achieve in 2022?

In addition to delivering our business as usual' activities we have the following objectives for 2022:

1. Establish the Jersey Electoral Authority (a new body, set up under the Elections (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Jersey) Law 2021) and support the Authority in discharging its statutory functions, including the production of a post-election review report; provide support and advice for election candidates and people considering standing for election, with the aim of increasing the number of candidates; publicise the election, with the view of maximising voter registration and turnout; and support the establishment of an election observation mission, subject to the decision of PPC and the Chief Minister to invite election observers to Jersey.
2. Work with PPC to address recommendations about the electoral system from the Jersey Election Authority and election observers, including on the implementation of remaining aspects of P.139/2020.
3. Present options to PPC on introducing automatic electoral registration in time for the 2026 election and begin work on implementation.
4. Develop and implement a comprehensive post-election induction programme for new Members, co-ordinated with government and the induction programme for new ministers; and integrate induction work with a professional development programme for Members for the 2022-26 Assembly.
5. Develop a new States Assembly website.
6. Create a contact database for people interested in different aspects of Jersey politics to enable the provision of targeted information about the work of the Assembly, using a wider variety of communications channels.
7. Devise and implement a new social media strategy including new initiatives such as the provision of more video content to explain Assembly business.
8. Create, launch and continue to develop new education initiatives about politics in Jersey, including resources and support packages for schools.

9. Create a Members' portal to bring together all the operational information they need in one place and to provide templates for the submission of information, such as written and oral questions and the registration of interests, to the Greffe.
10. Further development of the Members' research and casework service, including enhanced, published briefing papers and support for Members preparing for major debates.
11. Undertake a feasibility study into the provision of office accommodation for States Members, focusing in particular on repurposing Piquet House for this purpose.
12. Publish a procedural manual which explains how Standing Orders are implemented and includes details of Bailiff 's rulings and past precedents.
13. Update and launch the States Assembly YouTube channel, including subtitled webcasts of Assembly and panel proceedings.
14. Further develop the scrutiny communications strategy, to ensure that the scrutiny system is better understood by the media and the public, and more influential, including by better linking scrutiny work with e-petitions. In addition, we will continue to work with the Scrutiny Liaison Committee to remove barriers to engagement with scrutiny work and increase the diversity of scrutiny interlocutors.
15. Work with PPC to implement a new system for setting States Members' remuneration, as agreed by the Assembly with the adoption of P40/2021.
16. Develop proposals for the Assembly to better meet the needs of people with disabilities, under the auspices of the CPA regional disabilities network.
17. Organise the first-ever meeting of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly in Jersey.
18. Develop and implement a wellness strategy for staff and work with PPC on proposals to enhance the wellbeing of States Members.

Our work responds directly to the needs and requirements of States Members and we will be flexible and, if necessary, take on additional projects as the year goes on, reprioritising existing work accordingly.

Looking ahead

A number of the initiatives listed above will come to fruition in 2023 or later, particularly any possible changes to election law and other reforms which the States may wish to make in time for the 2026 election. Work on new office accommodation for States Members is also likely to continue for some time. Piquet House, for example, would not be available until 2025 at the earliest.

A new PPC and Scrutiny Liaison Committee will be elected in July 2022 and both committees may wish to amend or add to the list of projects and initiatives set out above. Similarly, a new Greffier of the States will be appointed in 2022 which may lead to changes in strategic direction. In addition, the new Common Strategic Policy, which the Assembly must agree in autumn 2022, may also include new strategic objectives which will affect the work of the Greffe.

The States Greffe is based in Morier House, the refurbishment of which is now long overdue, and it is to be hoped that proposals to upgrade the building are brought forward in 2022.

Operating context Values

The States Employment Board has agreed these values for States staff:

• We are respectful – we care about people as individuals and show respect for their rights, views and feelings

• We are better together – we share knowledge and expertise, valuing the benefits of working together

• We are always improving – we are continuously developing ourselves and our services to be the best they can be for Jersey

• We are customer focused – we are passionate about making Jersey a better place to live and work for everyone

• We deliver – we are proud of Jersey as a place and are passionate about shaping and delivering great public services

The Greffe's new wellness strategy includes work in 2022 on defining the values which unite the Greffe.

Resources

As of 1 March 2022 we are a team of 37 people (35.22 full time equivalents) and have a further five vacant posts.

Our budget for 2022 is £7.02m. Of this, £2.7m is provided to pay States Members' remuneration, including pensions. Pay and associated costs of Greffe staff amounts to around £2.7m. This leaves around £1.6m, to pay for everything else, from the rent on the States Building to the transcription of Hansard. This residual figure is higher than in previous years because of additional funding in relation to the election and the web development project.

Risks

During 2021 the Greffe's risk management arrangements were brought into line with the new arrangements now in place for the whole of the public service. The current set of risks are summarised below but further workshops in 2022 are likely to see these revised and more closely integrated with normal management processes.

Key strategies

PPC adopted a comprehensive digital and public engagement strategy in 2021, superseding earlier strategies on public engagement and educational initiatives.

We support the implementation of the CPA (Jersey) branch strategy and the Diversity Forum's strategy for 2020-22.

During the second half of 2021 all staff took part in a project to co-create a wellness strategy for the Greffe, intended to put staff wellbeing at the heart of all that we do. The strategy is due to be adopted by the Greffe in the early part of 2022.

Staff development

In addition to work on the wellness strategy, we are actively engaged with the Team Jersey programme. We intend to be proactive and flexible in identifying training opportunities of benefit to all colleagues and encouraging participation. We participate in a number of British Isles networks for parliamentary staff and encourage colleagues to learn about and gain experience of parliamentary administration across the Commonwealth and Francophonie. We have committed to developing more opportunities for staff to gain experience of parliamentary work in other places, in order to develop their skills, although this has been put on hold for now because of Covid-19.

Equality and diversity

We actively support the work of the Assembly's Diversity Forum, which "is working towards the aim of the States Assembly fully reflecting the population of Jersey and representing all of the communities and interests in the Island", as well as the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians

and the CPA regional disabilities network. We encourage flexible working within the Greffe and support the States-wide women in leadership network (iWill).

Measuring and benchmarking

The outcome set out in the Jersey performance framework which we wish to see achieved is:

Islanders engage in the public decisions that affect their Island

The published indicators which show how Jersey is doing in relation to this outcome are:

• % of Islanders who agree that they can influence decisions that affect Jersey

• % of Islanders who engaged in civic activities in the last 12 months

• Number of Islanders registered to vote

• Voter turnout in Island-wide elections

• % of States Members returned unopposed at Island-wide elections

• Average score for Islanders' level of trust in the States Assembly.

We will consider how to survey the public after the election to understand better who voted, who did not vote, and the reasons for decisions on voting.

We are developing a suite of measures of our own performance, covering:

• The number of children and young people we reach with our educational initiatives and the feedback on each programme from children, teachers and parents

• The reach of, and engagement with, our communications activities

• The number of people registering interest in standing for election and the number of potential candidates who access support we provide or co-ordinate

• Number of partners reinforcing public information and campaign messages relating to the States Assembly

• The volume and accuracy of reporting by the local media on States Assembly business

• Consideration of legislation by scrutiny panels

• Member satisfaction with scrutiny and research work

• The satisfaction of the bodies for whom we provide secretariat services

More details can be found in Appendix 2.

We are participating in the CPA benchmarking exercise, which enables Jersey's parliamentary system to be compared with legislatures in other Commonwealth jurisdictions.

APPENDIX 1 – Organogram

Appendix 2: Detailed performance measures

The table below sets out the performance measures we have in place or are developing for our 2022 objectives.

Legislative Drafting Office Business Plan 2022

Introduction

This is the third business plan of the Legislative Drafting Office (LDO) published alongside the States Greffe Business Plan. It sets out our specific aims for 2022 and the values that drive our work.

Overview of the LDO

The Legislative Drafting Office sits within the States Greffe as a separate unit. It shares the States Greffe budget, and the Greffier of the States is the line manager of the Principal Legislative Drafter and the accounting officer for the LDO as well as for the States Greffe. The States Greffe provides accommodation, facilities and services to the LDO, on matters not relating to the production of legislation.

The main purpose of the LDO is:

1. To prepare draft legislation that gives legal effect to the policy of the Minister or other promoter of it; and
2. To do so in a way that is:

1. sufficiently unambiguous as to leave no room for construction other than that intended by the promoter; and
2. sufficiently clear as to be readily understood by the users of the legislation.

The work of the LDO therefore supports the whole of Government whenever any of its plans or policies requires a law change. In addition, one of the purposes of the States Greffe is to support the work of the States Assembly and its Committees and Scrutiny Panels and the LDO plays a part in supporting this work by providing drafting services to these bodies in addition to its work for Government.

The secondary purpose of the LDO is to ensure accurate and up-to-date access is provided to Jersey legislation.

How we work

The LDO's mission statement is turning policy into Jersey law. This is achieved by taking the policy of Government (or, where applicable, that of an individual States Member, Committee or Scrutiny Panel) and producing draft legislation which, if the States Assembly (or in the case of an Order, a Minister) so decides, can pass into law.

We  receive  instructions  from  the  Department,  Member,  Committee  or  Panel,  analyse  their requirements and, through working with the instructor, produce a draft that so far as is possible reflects their policy intention. Most of our work is for Government, and with large legislative items this necessitates honing the policy through a number of drafts. But importantly the office also assists Members  and  Panels  who  wish  to  alter  Government  policy,  principally  by  preparing  for  them amendments to any Government legislation that requires passing by the States Assembly.

The LDO also has a responsibility as guardian of the statute book, including obligations in the light of Jersey's having signed up to the Free Access to Law Movement. Since the Legislation (Jersey) Law 2021 came into force in September 2021, the Principal Legislative Drafter has a statutory duty to

prepare and publish consolidated legislation so that anyone can see what the law is as of today. This gives us our secondary purpose of enabling all persons to have easy access to current law. We are responsible for notifying the public of any new legislation, maintaining a continually updated database of legislation, and ensuring it is published. This is done in conjunction with the Jersey Legal Information Board (JLIB).

The work of the LDO feeds into all aspects of the Jersey performance framework to the extent that legislation is required. As the top priority of Government is putting children first, a key aspect of the community wellbeing section of the framework relates to children. Since mid-2020 the LDO has ring- fenced one of its senior drafters to work on legislation relating to children emanating from the Care Inquiry and this will last till mid 2022, when this important drafting is expected to be completed. Despite continuing recruitment problems, occasioned in part by people's reluctance to move during the pandemic so that we currently have 2 temporary drafters working remotely, the office is fully up to compliment in 2022. One new drafter is backfilling the drafter working on children legislation for 6 months and  then for a further 6  months, while the trainee drafter is seconded to London for development purposes. A second drafter is now covering the post of a drafter seconded to lead on tax legislation. The LDO is committed to meeting the legislative priorities of Government arising from the framework according to those priorities and its available resources, whether in relation to social, economic or environmental legislation, and will always do the utmost to accommodate all requests once drafting instructions are received.

What we want to achieve in 2022

These are our specific objectives for 2022:

• We will continue to work to the requirements of Government to deliver whatever legislation we can complete in time for it to be debated before the general election, subject to receipt of timely and comprehensive instructions, as well as work on matters required or anticipated to be required by the new administration.

• Along with other non-Ministerial departments who use the system, our case management system Domis will be upgraded to the new cloud-based icasework system in March 2022 (having been delayed during 2021 for reasons beyond our control) and we will hone its features, so it not only stores documents and records time but uses more automated features, as well as following up delays and generating reports.

• We will use the services of our Legislative Services Consultant to continue to make improvements in our services by revising office practices.

• We will continue to work with JLIB to enhance the appearance and usability of the legislation section of the jerseylaw.je website to improve access to the law by all users and to develop a search engine specifically for legislation and a point in time facility' that will enable specialist users to access legislation for a given date in the past. Our immediate priority will be to iron out bugs arising from the changes made in 2021.

• We will run more of our live training courses for instructing officers which continue to be acclaimed by those who attend them.

• We will work on the 3 initiatives arising out of our work with Team Jersey to improve (1) our messaging and branding and (2) standards in working practices as well as exploring (3) opportunities for professional development.

• We will bring forward a new Interpretation Law and use it also as a vehicle for tidying up minor errors and other small changes in the statute book.

• Drawing on the recent work by Greffe colleagues in relation to well-being, we will look at what we can do to improve well-being in the LDO.

• We will continue our pioneering work on "Rules as Code", to develop ways of encoding the logic of draft legislation so that it is readable by computers, enabling drafts to be checked for consistency and for application to different scenarios. We will investigate the use of XML, including LegalRuleML and Akoma Ntoso, try out other available software and use existing Jersey legislation in models.

• We will use the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Legislative Drafting Office as a separate office in March 2022 to showcase the achievements of the office over 30 years.

• We  will  continue  to  participate  in  international  drafting  conferences  and  other  training opportunities that may arise.

Our values

The LDO is an office staffed by lawyers and support staff with specialist skills committed to delivering high quality legislation for Jersey in accordance with public policy. The core values of the Government of Jersey are reflected in what we do and are applied in the LDO as follows:

• We are respectful: We aim to treat all those we come across in our work with respect and co- operate with them as appropriate in all our dealings. We care about our colleagues as individuals and respect their positions and responsibilities in the workplace. We also respect their opinions even when we disagree with them.

• We are better together: We share knowledge and expertise, valuing the benefits of working collaboratively with colleagues across many departments and disciplines to help maintain the highest standards in drafting legislation for Jersey.

• We are always improving: We look for ways of improving our expertise for the benefit of Jersey,  whether  it  be  modernising  or  simplifying  our  style  of  drafting  or  upgrading  the technology that supports what we do. We look outwards to the practices and systems that evolve in drafting offices in other Commonwealth jurisdictions and take opportunities to learn from and share ideas with them.

• We are customer focused: We are passionate about using our expertise to produce legislation that benefits the people of Jersey. We never forget that our purpose is to respond to the needs of those who instruct us, and, through them, the wider public. We aim to meet their needs as efficiently and effectively as we can.

• We deliver: We are proud of working for Jersey and are passionate about delivering high- quality draft legislation as quickly as is consistent with the high degree of accuracy our work demands.

Measuring and benchmarking

We are committed to assisting Government to meet all the outcomes set out in the Jersey performance framework that require or are assisted by the delivery of new legislation. We rely on Government Departments to send us appropriately detailed instructions so that we can give effect to their policy ambitions in legislation. We are also there to respond to the drafting needs of Scrutiny Panels, Committees and individual States Members. Our work is therefore demand-led and does not easily lend itself to targets.

Our Domis system makes it easier for the Principal Legislative Drafter to track progress on legislation projects. Domis, as well as being a way to store and retrieve electronic documents, provides a semi- automated system of recording time which has been used for all new drafting projects from the beginning of 2020. With the launch of Domis 2' in March it will become much easier to extract useful management information from the system, such as how long drafting projects are with the LDO and how long they spend being reviewed by the instructing Department or elsewhere. Though time recording on projects was introduced in 2010, it was not followed consistently before the inception of Domis and IT issues have continued so that we are not yet confident that we record time accurately. In future we will build up useful data on time spent on drafting projects. Domis 2 will have a referencing system that will link to the Government Legislative Programme in Perform, hosted by SPPP which will further enhance the ability to check on how drafting projects are progressing.

It was anticipated that some targets in relation to time spent on drafting projects might be developed for 2021 but this was put on hold due to the pandemic. However, it should be noted that the entire office has pulled together to work whatever extra hours have been needed to produce drafts within the timeframes required and the very positive responses from our clients may be as good as an indicator of high performance as any target. The high level of work due to the pandemic has been followed with enormous pressure to complete projects before the general election. Though we considered whether our service to our customers could be further improved, there is little evidence of delays in responding to instructors; lodging deadlines are always adhered to where possible and the editorial staff always publish legislation to the website on the day it is made, or very shortly afterwards. The Covid work demonstrated the resilience of the office in meeting the demands of work of the utmost urgency and Domis 2 will enable closer monitoring that these high standards are being maintained.

Last year we began developing a method of monitoring the quality of our services in the form of a brief satisfaction survey to be offered to the relevant instructing officer for each matter current during the previous year. We intended to roll it out in January 2022, but pressure of work has led us to put it back till nearer to the general election, when we hope things will be a little quieter.

Resources

The LDO has a budget of just over £1.4m. The current in-house staff complement is 12 people (12.5 FTE), 9 of whom are legislative drafters (including one in training and 2 temporary posts), and 3 (2.5 FTE) are editorial support staff. One drafter is seconded to Revenue Jersey for 2 years to work on special tax projects. There is also one further drafter, not included in our complement, who sits outside of the LDO, working on road traffic matters for IHE. The legislative drafters are all lawyers of considerable experience, qualified in a Commonwealth jurisdiction (including the UK). The trainee is a Jersey Advocate and is the first local lawyer to join the office for over 50 years, though we hope there will be more local trainees in future. The office is supported as needed with specialist drafting office IT and related support from the Legislative Services consultant who works for us remotely as needed. A panel of consultant drafters undertake contract drafting work as required but are expected to be used very little now we are up to full complement.

As at the beginning of 2022 our organisational chart is as follows:

Greffier of the States

Principal Legislative Drafter  

Senior Legislative Drafter  

Legislation Editor  Legislative Services Consultant

Assistant Legislation  Assistant Legislation  Trainee Legislative Editor  Editor  Drafter

(part-time)

Legislative Drafters  Temporary Legislative Drafter  Legislative Drafters

(Children lead)  X 2

X 2

Drafters seconded to IHE and RJ