Meetings of the States in 2014.

STATES OF JERSEY

MEETINGS OF THE STATES IN 2014

Presented to the States on 15th July 2013 by the Privileges and Procedures Committee

STATES GREFFE

2013   Price code: A  R.87

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 for 2014 are shown in the Appendix.

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 proposed 2014 meeting dates attached all again avoid school holiday periods.

In accordance with the requirements of Standing Orders, the first meeting of 2014 is on the third Tuesday of January, namely 21st January. The normal fortnightly cycle is then followed until the Easter recess which covers the Easter school holidays. Starting after the end of the school holidays on Tuesday 29th April, the fortnightly cycle can then be followed through until the last meeting in July, with the exception of a three- 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, an additional continuation day on Friday 18th July has been suggested. In addition, as was agreed for 2013, it is proposed to start the last meeting  of  July  2014  at  2.15 p.m.  on  Monday  14th  July  to  allow  questions  and statements to be dealt with before the start of Public Business on Tuesday 15th July. The extra continuation day on Friday 18th means that this last meeting in July would then have 4 full days allocated for Public Business, although these days would not, of course, need to be used if the volume of business did not require all 4 days.

The autumn session begins on 9th September, the second Tuesday of September as required by Standing Orders. Because of the Air Display on 11th September, it is proposed, as in recent years, to include a continuation day on the morning of 11th

3

only, with an additional continuation (if necessary) on Friday 12th. There is then time for one more meeting of the old' States before the elections.

Standing Order 7 states that the Assembly must not meet in the 21 day period ending on the day of the elections which, in 2014, will be held on Wednesday 15th October 2014.  As  the  21 day  period  prevents  any  States  meeting  after  Wednesday  24th September, it is proposed that the last meeting of the old' States should begin on Monday 22nd to allow a possible full 3 day sitting before the election period cut off'.

The Minister for Treasury and Resources has agreed that the Budget 2015 debate can be held in September 2014 before the elections. Although some may be concerned that the old' States are agreeing the 2015 Budget, it is simply not feasible for it to be dealt with by the new' States. The new Council of Ministers will not be in place until the first week of November, and it would be impossible for the new Council and Minister for Treasury and Resources to lodge a Budget for debate by the end of the year. It should nevertheless be noted that there is provision in the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005 for the Minister for Treasury and Resources to lodge a supplementary Budget at any time, and this could be done by a new Minister in 2015 if he or she deemed it necessary. It should also be noted that with the move to May elections in 2018, there will never again, after 2014, be a need for an old' States to debate the Budget for the following year.

The proposal to debate the Budget 2015 in September has the significant advantage that, unlike in 2011, the old' States will not need to meet again after the elections and, in common with best practice in almost every other parliament, it will be possible for the old' States to complete its business before the elections with no further meetings of the Assembly until the new' States meet for the first time to elect a Chief Minister.

With elections on 15th October it is proposed to allow just over 2 weeks for the initial induction programme of new members before members are sworn in and the new States meet on Monday 3rd November 2014 to elect the Chief Minister. This period will also allow a period of discussion between members in relation to the nomination of candidates for Chief Minister, and nominations for the position will need to be submitted  to  the  Greffier  by  Wednesday  29th  October  2014  (2 weeks  after  the elections).

The proposed dates show the required meetings for the election of Ministers and chairmen of committees and panels (Thursday 6th November with continuation on Friday 7th November if necessary) and for the election of committee/panel members on Tuesday 11th November.

The first 2 meetings of the new States for normal' business are on 25th November and 9th December although, in practice, it is likely that there may be a relatively limited amount of business to debate during these 2 meetings.

R.87/2013

APPENDIX

2014 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 2014.

First Session

Continuation (if necessary) January 21st  January 22nd and 23rd February 4th  February 5th and 6th February 18th  February 19th and 20th March 4th  March 5th and 6th

March 18th  March 19th and 20th

April 1st  April 2nd and 3rd

April 29th  April 30th and May 1st

May 13th  May 14th and 15th

June 3rd  June 4th and 5th

June 17th  June 18th and 19th

July 1st  July 2nd and 3rd

July 14th p.m. (Monday)  July 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th

Second Session

Continuation (if necessary)

September 9th  September 10th, 11th (a.m. only) and 12th September 22nd (Monday)  September 23rd and 24th1

Second Session (new States)

Continuation (if necessary)

November 3rd (Monday)  (Election of Chief Minister)

November 6th (Thursday)  November 7th

(Election of Ministers and Chairmen) November 11th  (Election of committee and panel members) November 25th  November 26th and 27th

December 9th  December 10th and 11th

The first meeting of 2015 will be on 20th January 2015. Greffier of the States

1 Standing Order 7 prevents the States from meeting in the 21 days before the elections on Wednesday 15th October 2014. This 21 day period begins on Thursday 25th September 2014.