States Meeting summary: 22-24 October
24 October 2024
Tuesday 22 October
Question Time
Questions with notice
This week's States Meeting began with Ministers answering States Members' questions with notice.
Skip to page 10 of the Order Paper to find out which questions were asked and watch from 9 minutes into this morning's recording to hear questions with notice in full.
Questions without notice
States Members then asked the Minister for the Environment, Deputy Steve Luce; Minister for External Relations, Deputy Ian Gorst; and the Chief Minister, Deputy Lyndon Farnham, questions without notice for 15 minutes each.
Skip to 2 hours and 12 minutes into this morning's recording to watch the questions without notice.
Public Business
P.69/2024 Funding for Culture, Arts and Heritage
Deputy Montfort Tadier asked for the lodging period for his proposition to be reduced to allow it to be discussed in the current States Meeting.
Skip to 2 hours and 44 minutes into this morning's recording to watch the debate.
The States Assembly vote to APPROVE the Deputy's request with 36 votes for, 3 votes against, and 1 abstention.
The decision means the proposition will be debated during the current States Meeting.
P.54/2024 Draft Multinational Corporate Income Tax (Jersey) Law 202-.
After the lunch recess, the Minister for Treasury and Resources, Deputy Elaine Millar, proposed a law to introduce a 15% corporate tax on the on-Island profits of Jersey companies and Jersey branches of multinational groups. It applies to companies and enterprises with more than €750m of annual global revenue.
The Minister lodged an amendment to the proposition to ensure that the referenced provisions align with the current OECD Pillar 2 guidance.
Watch from the beginning of this afternoon's recording to watch the debate and vote.
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister's proposition (as amended by herself) in third reading, with 38 votes for, 0 votes against, and 0 abstentions.
The Assembly also voted to bring this in with immediate effect.
P.53/2024 Draft Multinational Taxation (Global Anti-Base Erosion - IIR Tax) (Jersey) Law 202-.
The Minister for Treasury and Resources, Deputy Elaine Millar, proposed a law which would work in conjunction with the Multinational Corporate Tax (Jersey) law to ensure that the 15% corporate tax is achieved if the jurisdictions effective rate is lower than that.
The Minister lodged an amendment to the proposition to ensure that the referenced provisions align with the current OECD Pillar 2 guidance.
Watch from 1 hour and 25 minutes into this afternoon's recording to watch the debate and vote.
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister's proposition (as amended by herself) in third reading, with 39 votes for, 0 votes against, and 0 abstentions.
The Assembly also voted to bring this in with immediate effect.
The Minister for the Environment, Deputy Steve Luce, proposed the introduction of the Jersey Marine Spatial Plan, which sets out how Jersey's coasts and seas should be managed. It covers all parts of the marine environment.
The Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel proposed two amendments to the proposition.
The first amendment proposed to include more areas near Les Ecréhous and Les Minquiers in the proposed Marine Protected Areas.
The Assembly voted on the Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel's first amendment to the proposition in parts:
Part A - The States Assembly voted to REJECT Part A to include the area east of Les Ecréhous within the extension of the Marine Protected Areas, with 15 votes for, 27 votes against, and 0 abstentions.
Part B - The States Assembly voted to REJECT Part B to include the part of the basin between Les Ecréhous and Les Anquettes within the extension of the Marine Protected Areas, with 15 votes for, 25 votes against, and 0 abstentions.
Part C - The States Assembly voted to REJECT Part C to include areas to the east and west of Les Minquiers within the extension of the Marine Protected Areas, with 16 votes for, 26 votes against, and 0 abstentions.
Part D - The States Assembly voted to REJECT Part D to allow for the immediate protection of the south-eastern edges of Les Ecréhous within the Marine Protected Areas, with 19 votes for, 23 votes against, and 0 abstentions.
Part E - The States Assembly voted to REJECT Part E to allow for the immediate protection of the south-eastern edges Les Minquiers within the Marine Protected Areas, with 16 votes for, 26 votes against, and 0 abstentions.
The second amendment proposed to request a robust framework and timeline is established to better track the implementation of the Marine Spatial Plan. It also asked for further research on areas that could be included in the plan in future to be carried out.
Deputy Jonathan Renouf proposed an amendment to this amendment to ask the Minister to decide a final status of areas assigned further research to be completed by the end of 2025, with all subsequent amendments to the Marine Spatial Plan to be completed by the end of the Assembly's current term of office.
The States voted to REJECT Deputy Renouf's amendment to the second amendment, with 16 votes for, 20 votes against, and 0 abstentions.
The States voted to APPROVE the Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel's second amendment with a standing vote.
The States voted to APPROVE the Minister for the Environment's Marine Spatial Plan proposition, with 40 votes for, 0 votes against, and 0 abstentions.
Watch from 1 hour and 40 minutes into Tuesday afternoon's recording to watch the beginning of the debate and from the start of Wednesday morning's recording for the continuation of the debate.
Wednesday 23 October
Urgent Oral Question
The Bailiff approved the asking of an urgent oral question by Deputy Jonathan Renouf of the Minister for Sustainable Economic Development Deputy Kirsten Morel.
The question asked the Minister to provide further information on the ramifications of the statement yesterday that the Director General of the Department for the Economy, is stepping aside from the ferry tendering process owing to an error of judgement.
Watch from the start of the afternoon session to watch the question in full.
Public Business
Public business then resumed with debate on the delivery of three bilingual primary schools:
P.45 Delivery of three bilingual primary schools
Deputy Sir Philip Bailhache proposed an amended proposal to approve, in principle, the establishment of at least two English-French bilingual schools by the beginning of the 2026 academic year. His amended proposal also requested that the Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning conduct a survey to gather the views of parents and teachers on the proposals and appoint a project manager to ensure a smooth transition to bilingual teaching if the survey shows there is a desire for such schools.
Watch from 20 minutes into the afternoon session to watch the debate in full.
Thursday 24 October
Debate on the delivery of three bilingual primary schools continued.
The States Assembly voted to REJECT Paragraph A (to establish two bilingual schools) of Deputy Sir Philip Bailhache’s proposition (as amended) with 15 votes for, 26 votes against, and 1 abstention.
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE Paragraph B (to gather the views of parents) of Deputy Sir Philip Bailhache’s proposition (as amended) with 22 votes for, 20 votes against, and 0 abstentions.
The States Assembly voted to REJECT Paragraph C (to appoint a project manager to create at least two schools by September 2026, if survey positive) of Deputy Sir Philip Bailhache’s proposition (as amended) with 11 votes for, 29 votes against, and 2 abstentions.
Watch from the start of the morning recording to watch the debate and votes.
P.59 Draft Income Support (Jersey) Regulations
The Minister for Social Security, Deputy Lyndsay Feltham, proposed an amendment to the Income Support Regulations that will increase the component rate by 4% from 1 January 2025, except for the Clinical Cost component.
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister for Social Security’s proposition with 42 votes for, 0 votes against, and 0 abstentions.
Watch from 1 hour into thes morning recording to watch the debate.
P.64 Gender Pay and Income Ratio Consultation
Deputy Max Andrew proposed that the Chief Minister launch a consultation into gender pay gap reporting in the private sector and that its findings are presented to the Assembly no later than January 2026.
Watch from 1 hour and 5 minutes into the morning recording to watch the debate.
The States Assembly voted to REJECT Deputy Max Andrews’ proposition with 11 votes for, 30 votes against, and 1 abstention.
P.69 Funding for Culture, Arts and Heritage
Deputy Montfort Tadier proposed that the changes to the funding model for Culture, Arts and Heritage proposed in the draft Government Budget are removed and the previously agreed model is reinstated. The current model used the figure of 1% of overall States revenues expenditure.
Watch from 2 hours and 45 minutes into the morning recording to watch the debate. In addition, watch from the start of the afternoon recording to watch its conclusion.
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE Deputy Montfort Tadier’s proposition with 23 votes for, 15 votes against, and 0 abstentions.
Adjournment
The States Assembly then adjourned and will reconvene at the next States Meeting on Tuesday 12 November at 9:30am.
