States Meeting Summary 23-26 November
26 November 2021
Statements
To begin this week's States Meeting, Deputy Rob Ward, Chair of the Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel read a statement regarding Ministerial responsibility.
Senator Lyndon Farnham, Assistant Chief Minister read a statement regarding the States of Jersey Complaints Board findings of Mr. R. Ahmad's complaint.
Question time
Oral questions with notice
Non-executive States Members asked Ministers oral questions with notice for two hours and 20 minutes. See what questions were asked by skipping to page seven of the Order Paper. Listen to Ministers' answers to questions by skipping to 35 minutes into Tuesday morning's meeting.
Oral questions without notice
After questions with notice, non-executive States Members asked the following Ministers questions without notice for 45 minutes (15 minutes each):
The Minister for Children and Education, Deputy Scott Wickenden
The Minister for the Environment, Deputy John Young
The Chief Minister, Senator John Le Fondré
Catch up on questions without notice by skipping to two hours and 40 minutes into Tuesday morning's meeting.
Debates
Social Security revenue collection process
The Minister for Social Security, Deputy Judy Martin, proposed to change the way Social Security contributions are collected & paid by employers for employees that earn above a certain amount, rather than when they work for over 8 hours a week.
The States Assembly voted to approve the Minister for Social Security's proposal. This means that employers will collect and pay contributions for employees that earn above a certain amount, rather than when they work for over 8 hours a week. 34 States Members voted to approve the proposition, eight voted against it.
Extension to emergency Covid-19 powers
The Minister for Health and Social Services' proposed to extend the temporary Covid-19 law which allows for the introduction of emergency legislation to manage the effects of the pandemic, from 31 March 2022 to 31 July 2022.
The States Assembly voted to approve the Minister for Health and Social Services' proposition. 33 States Members voted in favour, seven voted against.
Home Carer's Allowance
The Minister for Social Security, Deputy Judy Martin proposed to change the eligibility criteria for the Home Carer's Allowance. The States Assembly voted to approve the Minister for Social Security's proposal. This means, the current criteria by which claimants cannot earn more than £161.61 per week will be replaced with a limit on the number of hours that can be worked in a week – the intention being to support carers who are professionally qualified or earning at a higher hourly rate.
All 41 present States Members voted to approve the proposed change to the Home Carer's Allowance.
Ann Alice Rayner Charity Fund
The Minister for Treasury and Resources, Deputy Susie Pinel proposed changes to the terms of the Ann Alice Rayner Fund (set up to help those with financial difficulties). The proposed changes would create an independent board of four people which would replace the Jurats as income administrators. The States Assembly voted to defer the proposition.
Taxation of medicinal cannabis companies
The Minister for Treasury and Resources, Deputy Susie Pinel, proposed that any Jersey companies which are a part of the medicinal cannabis industry should be taxed at 20% from 2022, rather than the standard 0% rate of corporate Income Tax.
The States Assembly voted to approve the Minister for Treasury and Resources' proposition to subject companies within the medicinal cannabis industry to 20% Income Tax. 37 voted in favour, four voted against.
Assisted Dying
The Council of Ministers proposed that Assisted Dying should be permitted in Jersey for those aged 18 and over who are diagnosed with a terminal illness or an incurable physical condition and voluntarily wish to and are capable of deciding to end their own life. This was proposed as amended by Deputy Kirsten Morel, who requested that a debate on the final proposals for assisted dying take place in October 2022 and draft legislation becomes available for debate by March 2023, rather than the end of 2022.
The States Assembly agreed in a vote that speeches made during this debate would not be restricted by the usual 15-minute time limit.
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Council of Ministers' proposal to permit, in principle, Assisted Dying in Jersey, as amended by Deputy Morel. 36 States Members voted in favour and 10 voted against.
Jersey's participation in UK Free Trade Agreements
The Minister for External Relations and Financial Services, Senator Ian Gorst, asked the States Assembly to agree the principles of Jersey's participation in future Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with the UK.
All 44 present States Members voted to APPROVE the Minister's proposition.
Affordable housing guidance
Senator Sam Mézec asked the States Assembly to request that the Council of Ministers withdraw current guidance to the States of Jersey Development Company which specifies that affordable housing should make up 15% of the proposed developments at the Waterfront and South Hill. He asked that the Council of Ministers instead issue new guidance which recommends no less than 30% affordable housing for homes on these sites.
Senator Mézec proposed an amendment to his own proposition, asking that affordable housing make up 50% of Waterfront and South Hill developments. This was proposed with the intention of giving the States Assembly the choice between a recommendation of 30% or 50% affordable housing.
The States Assembly voted to REJECT Senator Mézec's proposed amendment of 50% affordable housing (28 against and 18 for).
The States Assembly resumed the debate on Senator Mézec's proposition for affordable housing, which asked the States Assembly to request that the Council of Ministers withdraw current guidance to the States of Jersey Development Company specifying that affordable housing should make up 15% of the proposed developments at the Waterfront and South Hill. He asked that the Council of Ministers instead issue new guidance which recommends no less than 30% affordable housing on these sites.
The States Assembly voted to REJECT Senator Mézec's proposition (27 States Members voted against and 20 voted in favour).
Urgent oral question
Chair of the Children, Education and Home Affairs Panel, Deputy Rob Ward, asked the Minister for Children and Education an urgent oral question: "Will the Minister explain why we have not received any formal response, including the documentation requested, following the statement from the Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel on Tuesday and when this information will be forthcoming?"
The Minister responded and answered States Members' supplementary questions for 10 minutes.
Listen to the Minister's response by skipping to two hours into the recording of this morning's States Meeting, which will become available shortly.
Chairman of Jersey Consumer Council
Assistant Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture, Deputy Kirsten Morel, asked the States Assembly to approve the re-appointment of Mr. Carl Walker as Chairman of Jersey Consumer Council for a further three years.
All 44 present States Members voted to APPROVE the Minister's proposition.
Minimum Wage increase
Deputy Geoff Southern proposed that the Minister for Social Security should consider setting the Minimum Wage at £9.45 per hour from January 2022 and raise it to £10 per hour by October 2022. The Deputy also requested that, by the end of 2022, the Minister for Social Security devise a scheme to convert the Minimum Wage to a Living Wage over time.
The Minister for Social Security, Deputy Judy Martin, proposed an amendment to Deputy Southern's proposition. The Minister asked the Assembly to agree that, instead, she should aim to raise the Minimum Wage to two-thirds of median earnings by end of 2024 and examine the feasibility of converting the Minimum Wage to a Living Wage after consultation with the Employment Forum.
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister for Social Security's amendment (36 Members voted in favour, eight against).
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE Deputy Geoff Southern's proposition, as amended by the Minister for Social Security (41 for, three against).
Skip to two hours and 30 minutes into the recording of this afternoon's States Meeting to watch the beginning of this debate.
Mitigating the use of palm oil
Constable Karen Shenton-Stone proposed that the Government of Jersey only procures and uses products that contain credibly certified sustainable palm oil, that all Jersey foods are labelled to show if they contain palm oil, and an Island-wide campaign is developed to raise awareness of the issues in using palm oil. This was proposed as amended by the Minister for the Environment, Deputy John Young.
All 44 present States Members voted to APPROVE the Constable's proposition, as amended by the Minister for the Environment.
Skip to 25 minutes into this afternoon's meeting to watch the beginning of the debate.
The States Assembly adjourned after voting in favour of beginning the final States Meeting of 2021 on the afternoon of Monday 13 December, rather than the Tuesday morning as usual. The afternoon will be used to cover Question Time before States Members move on to debate the proposed Government Plan 2022-25 and subsequent amendments.
