Royal Court House/States Building: allocation of accommodation (P.69-2004) - amendment

STATES OF JERSEY

r

ROYAL COURT HOUSE/STATES BUILDING: ALLOCATION OF ACCOMMODATION (P.69/2004) – AMENDMENT

Lodged au Greffe on 27th April 2004

by the Privileges and Procedures Committee

STATES GREFFE

ROYAL COURT/STATES BUILDING, ROYAL SQUARE, ST.  HELIER: USE AND ALLOCATION OF ROOMS – AMENDMENT.

Insert at the end of paragraph (a) "e x c e pt that –

( a ) o n drawing No.  2980:131, the ground floor room designated as the Jurats Room should be

designated for use by States Members;

(b ) o n drawings Nos.  2980:131, 2980:132 and 2980:133 the Witness Rooms should be Judicial Areas

only;

(c ) to charge the Privileges and Procedures Committee to evaluate the usage of the above ground floor

room and report back to the States in 6  months' time."

PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE

REPORT

On 19th July 2000, the States approved drawings "showing the proposed refurbishment of the Royal Court/States Building, excepting that the proposed usage and allocation of space described with the drawings should not be fixed until the needs of the legislature could be assessed in the light of the recommendations of the Machinery of Government" (P.119/2000).

The Committee was very concerned to hear the security issues that the Jurats faced, and felt that in order for the needs of the Jurats to be met it would support a request that the Environment and Public Services Committee consider those concerns as part of a review of the needs and priorities of all users of the building rather than solely concentrating on States Members' areas or the areas set aside for scrutiny. The room on the ground floor (shown shaded blue on drawing No. 2980:131) which has been in use for many years as a States Members Room had been allocated for use by States Members throughout the development of proposals, and the subject of the use of this room as a Jurats' Room arose for the first time just before the end of 2003.

The Privileges and Procedures Committee is progressing well with the areas of government reform for which it is responsible, but it is concerned that the Scrutiny function that is currently under development will increase in the future to incorporate 2  more Scrutiny Panels and research support, and it has yet to examine services for members of the States (such as a library and research assistance) and public information services.

Purely on the level of meeting facilities, members will recall that prior to the refurbishment of the States Building there were 3  Committee Rooms in that Building, and that there has been pressure on meeting rooms during the refurbishment period while there has only been the Halkett Room in Morier House. The latter room is expected to be taken out of use as a Committee Room in the future, so that the initial proposal for the use of one of the 2  meeting rooms would mean that only one meeting room would have remained to service States' Committees and the new scrutiny function comprising, to date, 2 Shadow Scrutiny Panels and the Shadow Public Accounts Committee, with 2  further panels to be established at the end of 2005. The ground floor room concerned is the only remaining room in the areas set aside for States business (shaded blue) of sufficient size to accommodate meetings.

The Privileges and Procedures Committee gave further consideration to the request made on behalf of the Jurats for the permanent use of a room in the area of the States Building set aside for the Scrutiny meetings and hearings, and Committee meetings. The Committee was advised that the Shadow Public Accounts Committee had already agreed a busy programme for 2004, and the Shadow Scrutiny Panels had held preliminary discussions on their work programmes and had taken the view that weekly meetings would be required. In addition it was noted that the rooms were in demand for meetings of Committees of the States. As Members can see from drawing No. 2980:131, the use of rooms to the eastern end of the States Building on the ground floor has beenzoned' for States Members, and enables members free and private access to the areas set aside for parliamentary business.

In addition, the Committee agreed that it would be inappropriate to release the room which was formerly used as a Members' Room given the fact that the use of that room by members had not been assessed. The former Members' Room, for which new furniture was delivered in March, has just been laid out as a quiet reading room, and there has not been time to evaluate the use. It is therefore too early to agree whether this facility might be surplus to requirements.

The Committee advised the Environment and Public Services Committee that, in accordance with the decision of the States of 19th July 2000, it required a period of time during which to evaluate the use being made of the Members' rooms, and this evaluation could not have been commenced until the furniture had arrived. The Committee agreed that it would wish to make its assessment over a period of 6  months commencing 1st April 2004, from which time they have been fully furnished and ready for occupation, and when a pattern of meetings in respect of a Scrutiny Panel was expected to have emerged.

The Privileges and Procedures Committee notes from drawing No. 2980:130 that the area of the States Building occupied by States Members' facilities, Scrutiny facilities and meeting rooms (shown in yellow) amounts to 16%, while 35% is occupied by the Judicial Greffe (shown in green) and 11% by the Bailiff 's Chambers (shown in blue). For many years, there has been insufficient accommodation for States Members, and the Committee feels that a further examination of the areas of all occupiers, and not just States Members' areas, might well yield an appropriate solution.

Shared use of witness rooms

During the course of private discussions between the former President of the Environment and Public Services Committee, Deputy M.F. Dubras, and the former President of the Privileges and Procedures Committee, Senator C.G.P. Lakeman, the partial use of 3  small rooms had been offered by way of exchange for the abovementioned ground floor room. The 3  rooms concerned are not considered to be of use to Members, so the Committee does not seek shared use of these rooms.

Financial and manpower implications

There are no manpower consequences arising from this proposition. From a financial point of view, no additional funds would be required beyond those already bid for, which take into account the rental of the abovementioned ground floor room being used, but not the shared rent of the 3 small witness rooms.

APPENDIX

Privileges & Procedures Committee

Morier House Halkett Place St. Helier Jersey JE1 1DD

OR: 1060/5/1(27)

Telephone: +44 (0)1534 502070 Facsimile : +44 (0) 1534 502098 s.stoten@gov.je

16th March 2004

Dear Senator Ozouf ,

In November of last year, the Privileges and Procedures Committee gave consideration to a request from Jurat de Veulle on behalf of the Jurats for the permanent use of one of the Committee meeting rooms in the States Building.

The Committee was very concerned to hear the security issues that the Jurats faced, and felt that in order for the needs of the Jurats to be met it would support a request that the Environment and Public Services Committee consider those concerns as part of a review of the needs and priorities of all users of the building rather than solely concentrating on Members' areas or the areas set aside for scrutiny.

You will recall that prior to the refurbishment of the States Building there were three Committee Rooms in that Building, and that there has been pressure on meeting rooms during the refurbishment period while there has only been the Halkett Room in Morier House. The latter room is expected to be taken out of use as a Committee Room in the future, so that were a Committee meeting room to be lost, only one meeting room would remain to service States' Committees and the new scrutiny function comprising, to date, two shadow Scrutiny Panels and the shadow Public Accounts Committee, with two further panels to be established at the end of 2005. The meeting rooms for scrutiny need to be able to accommodate up to 20 people as hearings will frequently be open to the public.

The Privileges and Procedures Committee at its last meeting gave further consideration to the request made on behalf of the Jurats for the permanent use of a room in the area of the States Building set aside for the Scrutiny meetings and hearings, and Committee meetings. The Committee was advised that the shadow Public Accounts Committee had already agreed a busy programme for 2004, and the Shadow Scrutiny Panels had held preliminary discussions on their work programmes and had taken the view that weekly meetings would be required. In addition it was noted that the rooms were in demand for meetings of Committees of the States. The Committee maintained the view that it could not contemplate the release of a meeting room.

In addition, the Committee agreed that it would be inappropriate to release the room which was formerly used as a Members' Room given the fact that the use of that room by members had not been assessed. It was further noted that as yet the Committee had not considered all the elements involved in the provision of members' services such as the establishment of a library. The former Members' Room, for which new furniture has been delivered, has just been laid out as a quiet reading room, and there has not been time to evaluate the new use of the room. It is therefore  too  early  to  agree  whether  this  facility  might  be  surplus  to  requirements.  In  the  event  that  the Environment and Public Services Committee is minded to alter the use of this room, then it would be appropriate to canvass the views of States Members, who have an expectation that this room will be available to them.

The Committee agreed that it would wish to assess the use of the above rooms over a period of 6 months commencing 1st April 2004, from which time they would be fully furnished and ready for occupation.

I would accordingly wish to suggest that the Jurats request be reconsidered after 1st October 2004 to allow for evaluation to occur.

Yours sincerely,

Deputy J-A. Bridge,

Vice-President,

Privileges and Procedures Committee.

cc. M r . R. McLoughlin, Chief Officer, Bailiff 's Chambers Senator P.F.C. Ozouf ,

President,

Environment and Public Services Committee.