Meetings of the States in 2013.

STATES OF JERSEY

MEETINGS OF THE STATES IN 2013

Presented to the States on 7th September 2012 by the Privileges and Procedures Committee

STATES GREFFE

2012   Price code: A  R.110

REPORT

The Privileges and Procedures Committee is required to fix dates for States meetings for the following year no later than the end of September each year. Standing Orders 3 and 4 read as follows –

3  Sessions of the States

1. There shall be 2 sessions of the States in each year during which they shall meet.
2. The 1st session shall start on the 3rd Tuesday in January and end no later than the last Tuesday in July.
3. The 2nd session shall start on the 2nd Tuesday in September and end no later than the 3rd Tuesday in December.

4  Planning days for meetings of the States

1. The PPC shall, no later than the end of September in each year, present to the States a list of days for meetings of the States in the 1st and 2nd sessions in the following year.
2. Ordinarily, a meeting day is a Tuesday.
3. The list may include continuation days.

The dates agreed by the Committee are shown in the Appendix.

There  has  been  discussion  in  recent  years  on  a  number  of  occasions  about  the possibility of moving from the current fortnightly cycle of meetings to a 3 week cycle. This  matter  has  been  considered  by  the  Committee's  own  Standing  Orders  and Internal Procedures Sub-Committee, which is recommending that the idea should not be  pursued.  The  proposed  dates  for  2013  have  therefore  been  drawn  up  on  the traditional basis of meeting on a fortnightly cycle in the 2 sessions.

Following a decision taken by the then PPC a number of years ago, the dates in recent years have been drafted as far as possible to avoid meetings during any school holiday periods. The 2013 meeting dates attached all again avoid school holiday periods.

In accordance with the requirements of Standing Orders, the first meeting of 2013 is on the third Tuesday of January, namely 15th January. There is a 3 week gap between the last meeting in January and the February meeting to avoid the school half-term during the week of Monday 11th February. The normal fortnightly cycle is then followed in March until the Easter recess which covers the Easter school holidays. Starting after the end of the school holidays on Tuesday 16th April, the fortnightly cycle can then be followed through until the last meeting in July, with the exception of a 3 week break at the end of May to avoid the Spring Bank Holiday school half-term during the last week of May. In order to reflect the fact that the last meetings in July can traditionally be extremely busy (although this was not the case in 2012), an additional continuation day on Friday 19th July has been suggested. This would mean that the last meeting in July would have 4 days allocated to it although these would not, of course, need to be used if the volume of business did not require all 4 days.

3

The autumn session begins on 10th September, the second Tuesday of September as required by Standing Orders. Because of the Air Display on 12th September, it is proposed, as in recent years, to include a continuation day on the morning only of Thursday 12th with an additional continuation (if necessary) on Friday 13th. The

fortnightly cycle can then be followed throughout the autumn session, conveniently missing the school half-term week of Monday 28th October. A strict fortnightly cycle would require meetings on Tuesday 3rd December and Tuesday 17th December, but for the second of these 2 meetings the continuation days would have run into the school holidays, which begin on Wednesday 18th December. It is therefore proposed that  the  States  should  meet  for  2 consecutive  weeks  on  3rd  December  and  10th December to finish in good time before the Christmas holidays.

R.110/2012

2013 SESSIONS

In accordance with Standing Order 38 I hereby give notice that the Privileges and Procedures Committee has fixed the following days for the holding of meetings of the States in 2013.

First Session

Continuation (if necessary) January 15th  January 16th and 17th January 29th  January 30th and 31st February 19th  February 20th and 21st March 5th  March 6th and 7th

March 19th  March 20th and 21st

April 16th  April 17th and 18th

April 30th  May 1st and 2nd

May 14th  May 15th and 16th

June 4th  June 5th and 6th

June 18th  June 19th and 20th

July 2nd  July 3rd and 4th

July 16th  July 17th, 18th and 19th

Second Session

Continuation (if necessary)

September 10th  September 11th, 12th (a.m. only) and 13th September 24th  September 25th and 26th

October 8th  October 9th and 10th

October 22nd  October 23rd and 24th

November 5th  November 6th and 7th

November 19th  November 20th and 21st

December 3rd  December 4th and 5th

December 10th  December 11th and 12th

The first meeting of 2014 will be on 21st January 2014.

Greffier of the States