Political Awareness and Education Sub-Committee Minutes (Part A) - 18 November 2024

Political Awareness and Education PPC Sub-Committee (10th Meeting)

18th November 2024

Part A (Non-Exempt)

All members were present, with the exception of, Connétable M.A. Labey of Grouville , Deputy I. Gardiner of St. Helier North and Deputy C.F. Labey of Grouville and St. Martin , from whom apologies had been received.

Deputy C.S. Alves of St. Helier Central , Chair Connétable A.N. Jehan of St. John

Deputy M. Tadier of St. Brelade

Deputy R.S. Kovacs of St. Saviour

In attendance -

W. Millow , Deputy Greffier of the States  

J. O'Brien , Head of Digital and Public Engagement

C. Fearn, Secretariat Officer, Specialist Secretariat, States Greffe

C. Tucker, Assistant Secretariat Officer, Specialist Secretariat, States Greffe

E. Patterson, Assistant Secretariat Officer, Specialist Secretariat, States Greffe

Note:  The Minutes of this meeting comprise Part A only  

Minutes.  A1. The Minutes of the meeting of 16th September 2024, having previously been

circulated, were taken as read and were confirmed.

Matters  A2. The Sub-Committee, with reference to the Minutes of its meeting of 16th arising.  September 2024, noted the following matters arising –

–  with reference to Minute No. 8, it was recalled that Deputy M. Tadier of St. Brelade had requested that clarification be sought from Mr. M.H. Temple, K.C., H.M.  Attorney  General  regarding  the  access  existing  States  Members  or candidates standing for election had to the electoral roll outside of the election period. The Greffier of the States had advised of proposed amendments to the Elections (Jersey) Law 2002, which would address the access arrangements. Whilst this was noted, further clarification was requested in connexion with what constituted  a  legitimate  purpose  for accessing  the  electoral  roll,  and whether for the purpose of a referendum' would count as such and, furthermore, whether campaign groups would have similar access.

Coming-of- A3. The Sub-Committee, with reference to its Minute No. A2 of 16th September Age events  2024,  received  a  verbal  update  from   Connétable  A.N.   Jehan  of  St.  John,  in

connexion with Coming-of-Age' events in the Parishes.

The Sub-Committee recalled that the Coming-of-Age' events sought to encourage young Islanders who were nearing the eligible to vote age, or constituents who had

recently joined the Parish, to engage with the democratic process.

Connétable Jehan advised the Sub-Committee that the Comité des Connétable s were hopeful that events could be progressed from January 2025, notwithstanding any delays, and undertook to provide an update in the new year.

New States  A4. The Sub-Committee, with reference to its Minute No. A4 of 16th September Assembly  2024,  received  an  update  from  Ms.  J.  O'Brien,  Head  of  Digital  and  Public website.  Engagement (DPE), States Greffe, in connexion with the development of the new

States Assembly website.

It was recalled that the website had been undergoing testing to ensure optimal functionality prior to its launch. Although the ongoing testing had caused delays in the project timeline, it was acknowledged that these delays were unavoidable and allowed greater refinement of the website. It was noted that States Members had been given the opportunity to access the website during the second testing phase and could provide feedback to the DPE team accordingly.

Ms. O'Brien, advised that the website was due to be launched on 19th November 2024. Once the website had gone live, a final window of testing between 7.00 am and 11.00 am, would be undertaken to ensure the website was stable. It was noted that in the unlikely event that the website was unstable, provisions were in place to revert to the old website.

The Sub-Committee thanked Ms. O'Brien and the DPE team for their work on this project.

Outreach  A5. The Sub-Committee, with reference to its Minute No. A9 of 20th June 2024, Manager-  received and noted a report entitled Outreach Activity', dated November 2024, and update  heard from Ms. J. Le Cornu, Outreach Manager, Digital and Public Engagement

(DPE), States Greffe, in this connexion.

The Sub-Committee recalled that Ms. Le Cornu had moved into the Outreach Manager role on 1st July 2024, and her primary focus had been developing and delivering events for Democracy Week 2024, planning, promoting and delivering the People's Debate, and delivering tours of the States Chamber. Ms. Le Cornu apprised the Sub-Committee of the following updates –

Stakeholder meetings

Ms. Le Cornu had attended numerous stakeholder meetings with local businesses, Arm's Length Organisations, charities and Government of Jersey colleagues, and noted that these initial meetings had been positive. Ms. Le Cornu added that she had attended meetings with various networks and clusters to generate opportunities for partnership with organisations such as the Cancer Support Network and the Jersey Learning Disability and Autism Cluster.

It was suggested that maintaining a list of contacts for the various stakeholders would be beneficial to allow them to be invited to relevant outreach events, and Ms. J. O'Brien, Head of DPE, States Greffe, advised that discussions regarding the development of a customer relationship management (CRM) system for the States Greffe were ongoing. A stakeholder newsletter would be established prior to the 2026 election, and an Encouraging to Stand' event would be held for prospective election  candidates  in  2025.   Deputy  C.S.   Alves  of  St.  Helier  Central,  Chair, suggested that the event could be organised every 6 months in conjunction with the Diversity Forum Sub-Committee.

Outreach Strategy

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The Outreach Strategy, which would align with the DPE Strategy for 2025- 2028, was in the development phase and it was noted that insights from stakeholder meetings would be used to shape and inform the strategy. It was envisaged that the draft strategy would be finalised during quarter one of 2025.

States Chamber: corporate and community tours

The 2024 corporate and community tours of the States Chamber had been successful and had been advertised through the Customer and Local Services community e- newsletter, social media platforms and stakeholder meetings. The Sub-Committee was apprised of a 341 per cent increase in the number of individuals attending tours since 2023, comprising a total of 150 attendees across 18 tours taking place in 2024.

Deputy M. Tadier of St. Brelade raised the possibility of offering tours of the States Chamber to members of the public by electoral district, and Ms. O'Brien undertook to discuss the matter further following the meeting.

Public Service module on Connect

Ms. Le Cornu informed the Sub-Committee that a Public Service module within the Connect system was being developed in conjunction with the Organisation Development team, Human Resources Department, and was due to be implemented in early December 2024. The module contained information about Jersey's constitutional status, Machinery of Government, the States Assembly, the Public Service, and Government and Non-Ministerial Departments.

MyWelcome days

Ms. Le Cornu advised that an enquiry had been made to the Organisational Development team in connexion with providing a brief presentation at the MyWelcome Days' induction events for all new Government of Jersey employees. The briefings would introduce the States Assembly and Jersey's elected parliament. It was noted that this request had been declined, due to the high volume of content which was already covered within the session. It had subsequently been arranged for copies of the States Assembly booklet, postcards promoting States Chambers Tours, and other promotional material to be provided to participants, which was forecast to reach over 50 new starters during November and December 2024.

The Sub-Committee concurred that a short presentation by the Outreach Manager at the MyWelcome Days would be a useful tool for new Government of Jersey employees who had just moved to Jersey or who possessed limited knowledge regarding the States Assembly. Deputy C.S. Alves of St. Helier Central , Chair, undertook to discuss this matter further with the Chief Minister.

States Assembly guide and animations

The English version of the States Assembly Guide' and the States Simplified' animation were being translated into 5 languages; Portuguese, Polish, Romanian, French and Jerriais. The project was currently in development, with materials for each language at a different stage of progression. The animations would be uploaded to the States Assembly YouTube channel, shared on social media, and posted on the new States Assembly website once they were complete.

Easy Read and other resources

EasyRead content was to be developed in 2025, alongside additional resources which had been informed by discussions with community partners. Preliminary meetings had taken place with Government of Jersey colleagues to ascertain suitable suppliers and the pathway to producing EasyRead material.

Research and inspiration from other Parliaments.

Mrs. Le Cornu and the DPE team had attended a session on 11th October 2024, delivered by the United Kingdom (UK) Parliament team, in which the Empower Workshops  for  adults  with  learning  disabilities  had  been  discussed.  This  had represented a valuable opportunity to take inspiration from outreach initiatives across other jurisdictions and explore how they could be applied to Jersey.

The Sub-Committee thanked Ms. Le Cornu for the update.

Automatic  A6. The Sub-Committee, with reference to its Minute No. 3 of 16th September 2024, Voter  received a verbal update from Deputy C. S. Alves of St Helier Central, Chair, in Registration.  connexion with the Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) project.

It was recalled that the AVR project aimed to streamline the voting process by virtue of the introduction of automatic registration using live data; allowing the electorate to vote outside of their home Parishes; consideration of elector eligibility criteria; creating links to Tell Us Once' (to avoid repeated requests for the same information from a household); using the electoral roll for credit reference purposes; and the provision of photographic identification.

The Sub-Committee was advised that, following a meeting between Deputy Alves and the outgoing lead officer for the  project, Mr. T. Walker , Assistant Chief Executive Officer, Government of Jersey, concerns had been noted as to the ability to complete the project before the 2026 election. Mr. Walker 's concerns had been based upon unexpected delays to the technical advancement of the project, which would now not be completed by June 2025, a year before the election. The Sub- Committee was advised that whilst changes to legislation would be required to be approved by June 2025, the technical aspects of the project could be finalised after this deadline and would not prohibit its implementation. It was noted that, due to staffing changes, the lead officer for this project going forward would be Mr. P. Wylie, Group Director of Policy, Cabinet Office, and Mr. P. Hamilton, Project Manager, Modernisation and Digital, would act as the Project Manager.

Whilst concerns were raised in connexion with Government involvement in the AVR project, it was acknowledged that the project was driven by Government of Jersey  data  sourced  from  the  Customer  Local  Services  Department  and  thus cooperation was necessary in this respect.

In light of confusion surrounding the impact of the aforementioned delays on the technical aspects of the project, it was agreed that Deputy Alves would attend future meetings of the AVR Project Board to obtain political oversight. Additionally, Deputy Alves requested that an update on the matter be provided at the meeting of the Privileges and Procedures Committee (PPC) to be held on 2nd December 2024, with members of the Sub-Committee invited to attend, and undertook to raise this with the Chair of PPC. It was noted that Connétable A.N. Jehan of St. John , would subsequently  raise  the  matter  at  the  Comité  de   Connétable s  meeting  on  16th December 2024, to ensure that Connétable s were aware of the need to support the project with a view to securing its completion ahead of the 2026 election.

Petitions  A7. The Sub-Committee received a verbal update from Deputy C.S. Alves , St. Process  Helier  Central,  Chair,  in  connexion  with  the  petitions  process  for  the  States

Assembly.

The Sub-Committee was informed that the Privileges and Procedures Committee (PPC)  had commissioned a review by States Greffe officers into the thresholds of the petitions process and its comparisons to other jurisdictions. It was noted that,

29 10th Meeting 18.11.2024

following the recent in-Committee' debate in connexion with the petition entitled Make States old age pensions exempt from tax', further clarity of the process was required for both members of the public, to ensure that they were aware of all avenues to exercise their views, and for States Members. Whilst it was noted that a threshold of 5,000 petition signatures would lead to an in-Committee debate, it was acknowledged that this type of debate did not guarantee a meaningful outcome, which had produced a negative public perception of the process. Deputy M. Tadier of  St.  Brelade  stressed  that  States  Members  had  the  ability  to  bring  forth  a Proposition to guarantee a debate, and that awareness of this option should be raised. Deputy Alves suggested that lowering the thresholds for action to be taken, and organising  events  such  as  question  and  answer  sessions  with  the  Minister responsible for the area of concern for the petition would encourage members of the public to voice their opinion and encourage Propositions to be lodged, or for their concerns to be addressed informally.

The Sub-Committee recalled that in-Committee debates had previously been called following Scrutiny reviews, in order to create a positive discussion in the States Assembly in relation to topics of interest to the public. It was agreed that further work was required surrounding petitions to educate both States Members and the public to ensure that tangible outcomes were seen in relation to petitions. On a related note, Deputy M. Tadier noted that paper versions of petitions remained integral in ensuring accessibility for all in the process.

Democracy  A8. The Sub-Committee, with reference to its Minute No. A5 of 16th September Week 2024.  2024, received a report from Ms. J. O'Brien, Head of Digital and Public Engagement

in connexion with the 5th annual Democracy Week campaign in 2024.

The Sub-Committee recalled that the event, which had taken place on the week commencing 23rd September 2024, provided an opportunity for all Islanders to engage with, and learn about, local politics. Ms. O'Brien outlined the programme of events, which included 13 school visits from 19 States Members, the first People's Debate' and various exhibits in the Royal Square, St. Helier . It was noted that engagement with these events had been positive, with over 1,900 views of the People's Debate on the social media platform X', 646 views on Facebook and a further 406 views on YouTube. Following the uptake of engagement on X', it had been decided that sittings of the States Assembly would be live streamed on this platform, which had resulted in a 300 per cent increase in viewership of the Assembly sitting held on 12th November 2024.

The Sub-Committee further requested that feedback from States Members was gathered formally via an anonymised online survey, which Ms. O'Brien undertook to organise.

The Sub-Committee thanked Ms. O'Brien for the update and noted the success of  the event.

Staffing and  A9. The Sub-Committee, with reference to its Minute No. A7 of 16th September structure.  2024,  received  an  update  from  Ms.  J.  O'Brien,  Head  of  Digital  and  Public

Engagement (DPE), States Greffe, in connexion with the appointment of Ms. M. Gladwin, Education Manager, DPE, States Greffe.

It was recalled that Ms. Gladwin had previously held the Education Manager post and,  since  returning  3  weeks  ago,  had  made  a  positive  impact.  Ms.  O'Brien confirmed that Ms. Gladwin would be invited to future meetings in order to provide the Sub-Committee with updates on the work of the Education Manager. It was

noted that the priorities for the role were focused on developing an education strategy and the establishment of the Jersey Youth Parliament in its new format under the States Greffe.

Date of next  A10. The Sub-Committee noted that its next meeting, due to be held on 16th meeting.  December 2024, would be cancelled, and a new date would be arranged for 2025.

10th Meeting 18.11.2024