States of Jersey Law 2005: delegation of functions – Education, Sport and Culture.

STATES OF JERSEY

STATES OF JERSEY LAW 2005: DELEGATION OF FUNCTIONS – EDUCATION, SPORT AND CULTURE

Presented to the States on 17th November 2014 by the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture

STATES GREFFE

2014   Price code: B  R.161

REPORT

On  13th November 2014, the  Minister for  Education, Sport and  Culture made a Ministerial Decision delegating certain of his functions under Article 28 of the States of Jersey Law 2005 (MD-ESC-2014-0026, available at www.gov.je).

Article 28 of the States of Jersey Law 2005 permits a Minister to delegate, wholly or partly, functions to an Assistant Minister or an officer.

The Law states, inter alia –

"28  Power of Minister to delegate functions

1. A Minister may delegate, wholly or partly, functions conferred upon or vested in the Minister by or under this Law or any other enactment or any enactment of the United Kingdom having effect in Jersey, to –

1. one of his or her Assistant Ministers;
2. an officer.

2. A Minister shall not delegate –
   1. any power to make an enactment;
   2. any power to decide an appeal under an enactment;
   3. any function the delegation of which is prohibited by an enactment.
3. The delegation of functions by a Minister under this Article shall not prevent the Minister exercising those functions personally.
4. Where  any  licence,  permit  or  authorization  is  granted  in  purported exercise  of  functions  delegated  under  paragraph (1),  no  criminal proceedings shall lie against any person for any act done, or omitted to be done, in good faith and in accordance with the terms of the licence, permit  or  authorization,  by  reason  that  the  functions  had  not  been delegated,  or  that  any  requirement  attached  to  the  delegation  of  the functions had not been complied with.
5. In this Article –

"Minister" includes the Chief Minister;

"officer"  means  a  States'  employee  within  the  meaning  of  the Employment  of  States  of  Jersey  Employees  (Jersey)  Law 2005  and includes a member of the States of Jersey Police Force and an officer appointed  under  paragraph 1(1)  of  Part 1  of  Schedule 2  to  the Immigration Act 1971 as extended to Jersey by the Immigration (Jersey) Order 1993.

6. The  States  may  by Regulations  amend  the  definition  "officer"  in paragraph (5)."

The terms of the delegations, and the legislation under which those delegations were made, were  recorded in a Report attached  to the Ministerial Decision, as shown below –

1. Introduction

1. The law relating to the delegation of functions is set out in Article 28 of the States of Jersey Law 2005, and this includes the power of the Minister  to  delegate  to  the  Director  functions  conferred  upon  or vested in the Minister by or under this Law or any other enactment or any enactment of the United Kingdom having effect in Jersey'.
2. Article 28 also states that –

"(2)  A Minister shall not delegate –

1. any power to make an enactment;
2. any power to decide an appeal under an enactment;
3. any function the delegation of which is prohibited by an enactment.

3. The delegation of functions by a Minister under this Article shall not prevent the Minister exercising those functions personally."

2. The rationale behind delegation

The  delegation  of  authority  in  respect  of  a  significant  number  of administrative areas is intended to release the Minister from potentially time- consuming business, thus enabling him to focus on matters of policy and governance  with  the  freedom  to  establish  framework  and  review administrative decisions as appropriate.

3. Delegation of Functions

The Schedule identifies items for which Ministerial decisions are necessary and those which may be delegated to the Director.

The level of proposed authority for each item presumes that –

1. decisions made under delegated authority will be made in accordance with  existing  policies  already  approved  by  the  Minister  or  the Education, Sport and Culture Committee as formerly constituted;
2. decisions made under delegated authority and marked by [R] in the Schedule shall be reported to the Minister at the earliest opportunity;
3. decisions, which may be made within existing policies but which may prove to be contentious, will be referred to the Minister as necessary; and
4. decisions on issues which fall outside or are not covered by existing policies,  will  be  referred  to  the  Minister  for  approval,  in  which circumstances  the  decision  would  be  reflected  in  all  similar circumstances.

Schedule of Delegated Functions – November 2014

Education, Sport and Culture RESPONSIBILITY FOR FUNCTIONS

* Note: This takes into account the responsibilities of Chief Officers of States Departments as accounting officers' under the Finance Law.