States Greffe and Legislative Drafting Office: Business Plan 2020

2020  R.42

States Greffe Business Plan 2020

Introduction

This document sets out what we, the States Greffe, do; our specific aims for 2020; our thinking at this stage about our future plans; the operating context in which we work; and how we measure our performance.

The plan is intended to provide greater clarity, for the public, States Members, and States staff, about our role and our objectives. It was approved by the Privileges and Procedures Committee (PPC) in February 2020, subsequently reviewed to take account of the Covid-19 crisis, and approved with amendments in April 2020. In addition, we will soon publish the States Assembly annual report for 2019, which includes, amongst other things, an assessment of progress in implementing the commitments we made in 2019.

Departmental overview

The States Greffe's objective is:

to enable democracy to flourish by supporting and promoting the States Assembly and engaging people in politics

The core business of the Greffe involves supporting the work of the Assembly and its panels and committees. There is a regular cycle of meetings of all these bodies, for which documents must be assembled or prepared, distributed, published and archived; and following meetings, there will often be actions arising which Greffe staff must implement. Sittings of the Assembly are supported by staff from across the Greffe – including by producing and distributing the documents which are debated, assisting with the production of the transcript of the meeting ("Hansard") and operating the camera equipment for webcasting. We also provide a secretariat to various States bodies including the Council of Ministers, the States Employment Board and the Jersey Overseas Aid Commission

In addition we will continue to organise the programme of visits in term-time to the Assembly by schoolchildren in Year 5. We also organise the annual Youth Assembly, in which students from the Island's post-16 schools and college debate topics they propose and we support the annual Colin Powell peace' debate.

The Greffe also supports a wide range of international activity, including meetings of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians, the annual commemoration of Commonwealth Day, the Commonwealth Youth Parliament, the Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie, and the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly.

Our aim is to undertake all of this work to a high standard, maintaining and enhancing our reputation for professionalism, integrity and delivery to the often challenging timescales demanded by the political process.

The aspect of the Jersey performance framework most relevant to the work of the Greffe is:

Islanders engage in the public decisions that affect their Island

The long-term focus for this outcome is:

Public engagement in decision-making promotes government accountability, a friendly business environment and public trust in government institutions.

The focus for the term of the Government Plan 2020-23 is:

To further enhance governance and transparency in the development and delivery of policy, promote democratic accountability, and support improvements to the electoral system to encourage voter turnout.

The Assembly adopted a Common Strategic Policy in December 2018 and the elements most relevant to the work of the Greffe are these ongoing initiatives':

1. A States Assembly and Council of Ministers that works together for the common good

This Council of Ministers is committed to working more effectively with the States Assembly to deliver better outcomes for Islanders. How we achieve this will be developed by working with the States Assembly over the coming months, but we envisage that this will include improving: the way in which we work with Scrutiny; the way in which we develop policy, such as through the new Policy Development Boards; how we secure improved resources for non- executive States Members; the way in which we engage the Public in the work of the Assembly; and better communication and consultation with the States Assembly. We support the work of PPC in working towards an electoral system that provides a fairer representation to voters across the Island.

2. An electoral system which encourages voter turnout and meets international best practice

This Council of Ministers is committed to supporting the work of the PPC to respond to the report of the 2018 election observers. In particular, we will work with PPC and the States Greffe to introduce a more user-friendly system for electoral registration; to increase the diversity of candidates standing for election and to provide them with more assistance to stand; to identify and address the principal barriers to higher election turnout; and to invite election observers at the 2022 election

3. We will nurture a diverse and inclusive society

We are a diverse community made up of different nationalities, ages and genders. Sometimes these differences act as barriers to participating in society. As a Government we will work to remove barriers and promote inclusion and equal opportunity for all. This includes supporting inclusive communities, encouraging greater diversity in boardrooms and in the Assembly, and ensuring people with disabilities and older people are able to better participate in society. This common theme will be considered in the delivery of each of our strategic priorities, but particularly –

• Putting children first

• Reducing income inequality and improving the standard of living

• Improving Islanders' well-being and mental and physical health

• Create a sustainable, vibrant economy and skilled local workforce for the future.

Specific actions in the Government Plan 2020-23 which we have committed to deliver are:

1. Secure improved resources for non-executive States Members, including dedicated research and casework staff, centrally-funded IT equipment, a funded programme of professional development, and accommodation improvements leading to dedicated office space in Morier House.

2. Improve ways in which we engage the public in the work of the Assembly, including expanding communications support to meet Member demand and expectations, more digital development (especially in relation to Hansard and webcasting), and a funded education strategy.
3. More user-friendly system for electoral registration, supporting PPC in their work with parishes, to replace the current, largely paper-based system of voter registration with a digital system, allowing voters to check online if they are registered, complete automatic or online registration, and be able to exercise a choice as to where they vote on election day.
4. Increase the diversity of candidates and provide more assistance to them to stand. This is a funded strategy to support potential candidates, such as with better information provision, seminars, drop-ins, a helpline etc.
5. Identify and address principal barriers to election turnout. This is a dedicated budget for the 2022 election, to employ a member of staff to drive both electoral law reforms and information provision, with the opportunity to professionalise election support further, ensuring that support matches voter need.
6. Invite election observers in 2022. Fully funded invitation to be made in 2021.

The Greffe is also pledged to support Government in various initiatives to do with closer and more effective working between the executive and the legislature.

We work closely with the Legislative Drafting Office (LDO): the head of that office reports to the Greffier of the States, who is the head of the States Greffe. The LDO's business plan is published alongside this business plan. An organogram setting out the structure of the States Greffe and the relationship to the LDO is appended to this business plan.

The States Greffe is accountable to the States Assembly, the Bailiff as President of the States, and to individual Members. The Greffier of the States is appointed by the Bailiff , with the consent of the States Assembly. The States Greffe's budget is proposed by PPC. Under Article 10 of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 the chair of the Committee submits the budget to the Treasury Minister for inclusion in a Government Plan. This means that the budget proposed by PPC must be considered by the Assembly and cannot be changed by Ministers except on the basis of an amendment proposed in and debated by the Assembly. The services provided by the States Greffe are overseen by PPC and, in relation to the scrutiny function, the Scrutiny Liaison Committee.

What do we want to achieve in 2020?

In addition to delivering our business as usual' activities we have the following objectives for 2020.

1. We will continue to assist PPC in responding to the report of the international mission which observed the 2018 election. We will support the Committee in identifying and addressing the principal barriers to higher election turnout. We will continue to work with the Comité des Connétable s on reform of electoral registration, completing a proof of concept' project on whether People Directory data can be used to enrol eligible people automatically on the electoral register, taking that initiative forward if possible, or alternatively identifying other ways of making electoral registration easier. We will work with PPC and the Diversity Forum on increasing the diversity of candidates standing for election and provide them with more assistance to stand. We will also consult on proposals to reform the law relating to election costs and political donations, with a view to bringing forward draft legislation for the Assembly to consider by spring 2021.

2. We will create a new team to support Members' research, casework and professional development. We will develop debate packs' for Members to use in preparing for major debates and begin publishing research papers on issues of general interest to the Assembly. We will also improve facilities in the States Building so it can be used more effectively as a workplace.
3. We will support the work of a new PPC sub-committee on educational initiatives, which will bring together the Greffe and the Children, Young People, Education and Skills department to co-ordinate various strands of work aimed at raising awareness and understanding of Jersey's political system and encouraging increased political participation by young people. We will support the development of the Student Council and Youth Connect projects. We will develop resources to distribute to schools and youth groups so they can take part in a Jersey equivalent of the UK's Parliament Week' project, beginning in September 2020.
4. We will implement increased staff support for scrutiny and review panels and the Public Accounts Committee and continue to improve publication of panel and committee output in digital formats as well as scrutiny of draft legislation.
5. We will begin a major review of our website and social media strategy and the information we publish about how the Assembly works, with a view to publishing more material which demystifies Assembly procedures and terminology. We will also work with Members on using Office 365 tools more effectively.
6. We will continue to work with government colleagues on designing and implementing a new system for finalising and publishing ministerial decisions.
7. We will make more use of our e-petitions system to disseminate information to petition signatories about Assembly business relating to the subject of the petition they signed.
8. We will develop a strategy for publishing more of our data in open data format, enabling data to be published, interrogated and re-used more easily. We will prioritise work on new templates and systems for propositions and questions as well as examining options for making better use of Hansard data.
9. We will prepare to let a contract or contracts for transcription, webcasting and other electronic services in the Assembly in 2021 and will explore options for subtitling our webcasts and making webcasts since 2016 available online.
10. Ahead of the introduction of time limits on speeches in the Assembly we will install digital clocks in the Chamber.
11. We will work with the Diversity Forum in considering and, where appropriate, implementing the recommendations of the recent gender audit of the States Assembly and in pursuing other priorities identified by the Forum. We will draw up a plan for making the States Building more accessible to people with disabilities.
12. We will support the executive committees of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and the Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie in delivering their ambitious programmes of work. This will include providing additional support to the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians in Jersey. We will organise the meeting of the CPA Crown Dependencies Network in Jersey in September 2020.
13. We will organise a first-ever meeting of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly in Jersey in October 2020.

14. Working with the Bailiff 's Chambers, we will plan to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Island's Liberation.
15. In addition to launching the Members' resources team and improved support for scrutiny we will implement other aspects of the departmental reorganisation which took effect from 1 January 2020. We will also address the recommendations of the recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on non-ministerial departments, particularly in relation to monitoring departmental performance and risk management.
16. We will improve our staff induction process and also identify and develop more professional development opportunities for our staff, including encouraging staff to gain experience of working in other legislatures.

Our work responds directly to the needs and requirements of States Members and we will be flexible and, if necessary, take on additional projects as the year goes on, reprioritising existing work accordingly. As an example, in March/April we planned for and implemented online sittings of the States Assembly in response to the Covid-19 crisis.

Looking ahead

We are beginning work on a number of initiatives which we expect will come to fruition in 2021 or later. These include:

• Commemoration in 2021 of constitutional changes in 1771, including the publication of the 1771 law code and the decision that the Royal Court could no longer legislate, leaving the States Assembly as the Island's only legislative body.

• Responding to the refurbishment of Morier House, the timing of which is currently uncertain.

• Considering whether and how digital ID could be used to support electronic and online voting (which is dependent on reforming the current system of electoral registration).

• Implementing the Assembly's decision in agreeing the Common Strategic Policy to invite election observers to observe and report on the 2022 election.

Operating context Values

The States Employment Board has agreed these values for States staff

• We are respectful – we care about people as individuals and show respect for their rights, views and feelings

• We are better together – we share knowledge and expertise, valuing the benefits of working together

• We are always improving – we're continuously developing ourselves and our services to be the best they can be for Jersey

• We are customer focused – we're passionate about making Jersey a better place to live and work for everyone

• We deliver – we're proud of Jersey as a place and are passionate about shaping and delivering great public services

Resources

As of 1 February 2020 we are a team of 38 people (36.14 full time equivalents), although we are in the process of recruiting 14 new members of staff and have a further two vacant posts.

Our budget for 2020 is £6.1m, which is £1m more than in 2019 as we successfully bid for additional funds in the Government Plan 2020-23. Of this, £2.6m is provided to pay States Members' remuneration. Pay and associated costs of Greffe staff amounts to around £2,577,000. This leaves around £1,030,000, to pay for everything else, from the rent on the States Building to the transcription of Hansard.

Risks

The Greffe's risk register contains the following risks:

We will review our risk management arrangements during 2020.

Key strategies

PPC's strategy for engaging the public in Jersey's democracy 2017-20 has now come to an end. We will review it during 2020 and consider drawing up a new strategy for the period 2020-22.

PPC has recently agreed an education strategy which we will review and publish during 2020.

We will also draw up strategies for making better use of Assembly data and for our work to improve participation in the 2022 election.

We support the implementation of the CPA (Jersey) branch strategy and are also assisting the Diversity Forum in drawing up its strategy for 2020-22.

Staff development

We are actively engaged with the Team Jersey programme and have also invested in coaching and leadership training for our senior leadership team. We participate in a number of British Isles networks for parliamentary staff and encourage colleagues to learn about and gain experience of parliamentary administration across the Commonwealth and Francophonie. We have committed to developing more opportunities for staff to gain experience of parliamentary work in other places, in order to develop their skills.

Equality and diversity

We actively support the work of the Assembly's Diversity Forum, which "is working towards the aim of the States Assembly fully reflecting the population of Jersey and representing all of the communities and interests in the Island", as well as the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians. We encourage flexible working within the Greffe and support the States-wide women in leadership network (iWill). In 2020 we will fund an iWill networking event with Professor Sarah Childs, whose work on the Good Parliament project inspired the establishment of the Diversity Forum.

Measuring and benchmarking

The outcome set out in the Jersey performance framework which we wish to see achieved is:

Islanders engage in the public decisions that affect their Island

The published indicators which show how Jersey is doing in relation to this outcome are:

• % of Islanders who agree that they can influence decisions that affect Jersey

• % of Islanders who engaged in civic activities in the last 12 months

• Number of Islanders registered to vote

• Voter turnout in Island-wide elections

• % of States Members returned unopposed at Island-wide elections

• Average score for Islanders' level of trust in the States Assembly.

We have asked for additional questions to be included in this year's Jersey Opinion and Lifestyle Survey on engagement with States Members and people's knowledge of the Assembly.

We are developing a suite of measures of our own performance, covering:

• The number of Year 5 children visiting the Assembly and their feedback

• The reach of our communications activities

• Consideration of legislation by scrutiny panels

• Member satisfaction with scrutiny and research work

More details can be found in Appendix 2.

We will propose that Jersey again participates in the CPA benchmarking exercise, which enables Jersey's parliamentary system to be compared with legislatures in other Commonwealth jurisdictions.

APPENDIX 1 – Organogram

Appendix 2: Detailed performance measures

The table below sets out the performance measures we have in place or are developing for our 2020 objectives.

Legislative Drafting Office Business Plan 2020

Introduction

This is the first time that the Legislative Drafting Office (LDO) has produced its own business plan under the umbrella of the States Greffe Business Plan. During last year steps were taken to complete the transfer of our budget to sit under the States Greffe and 2020 is the first full year of the operation of the new arrangements and for which there is clarity as to the relationship between the LDO and the States Greffe. This Plan is published alongside the States Greffe Business Plan, reflecting the LDO's position in the structure as a distinct unit operating with the support of the wider Department.

Overview of the LDO

The Legislative Drafting Office sits within the States Greffe as a separate unit. It shares the States Greffe budget and the Greffier of the States is the line manager of the Principal Legislative Drafter and the accounting officer for the LDO as well as for the States Greffe. The States Greffe provides accommodation, facilities and services to the LDO, including administrative support on matters not related to the production of legislation (such as the paying of invoices or booking flights and accommodation).

The LDO has a current complement of 13 people (12.5 FTE), 9 of whom are legislative drafters (including one in training and one on secondment), one is a temporary paralegal and 3 (2.5 FTE) are essential support staff. The legislative drafters are all lawyers of considerable experience, qualified in a Commonwealth jurisdiction (including the UK), and apart from the trainee each has at least 10 years' legislation drafting experience. The trainee is a Jersey advocate.

Under its former name of the Law Draftsman's Office the LDO emerged under a similar relationship with the States Greffe when the posts of Greffier of the States and Law Draftsman were split in 1992. From 2005 to 2018 the office was part of the Chief Minister's Office.

The main purpose of the LDO is:

1. To prepare draft legislation that gives legal effect to the policy of the Minister or other promoter of it; and
2. To do so in a way that is:

1. sufficiently unambiguous as to leave no room for construction other than that intended by the promoter; and
2. sufficiently clear as to be readily understood by the users of the legislation.

One of the purposes of the States Greffe is to support the work of the States Assembly and its Committees and Scrutiny Panels and the LDO plays a part in supporting this work by providing drafting services to these bodies.

The secondary purpose of the LDO is to ensure accurate and up-to-date access is provided to Jersey legislation.

Our values

The LDO is an office staffed by lawyers and support staff with specialist skills committed to delivering high quality legislation for Jersey in accordance with public policy. The core values of the Government of Jersey are reflected in what we do and are applied in the LDO as follows:

• We are respectful: We aim to treat all those we come across in our work with respect and co- operate with them as appropriate in all our dealings. We care about our colleagues as individuals and respect their positions and responsibilities in the workplace. We also respect their opinions even when we disagree with them.

• We are better together: We share knowledge and expertise, valuing the benefits of working collaboratively with colleagues across many departments and disciplines to help maintain the highest standards in drafting legislation for Jersey.

• We are always improving: We look for ways of improving our expertise for the benefit of Jersey, whether it be modernising or simplifying our style of drafting or upgrading the technology that supports what we do. We look outwards to the practices and systems that evolve in drafting offices in other Commonwealth jurisdictions and take opportunities to learn from and share ideas with them.

• We are customer focused: We are passionate about using our expertise to produce legislation that benefits the people of Jersey. We never forget that our purpose is to respond to the needs of those who instruct us, and, through them, the wider public. We aim to meet their needs as efficiently and effectively as we can.

• We deliver: We are proud of working for Jersey and are passionate about delivering high-quality draft legislation as quickly as is consistent with the high degree of accuracy our work demands.

How we work

The LDO's mission statement is turning policy into Jersey law. This is achieved by taking the policy of Government (or, where applicable, that of an individual States Member, Committee or Scrutiny Panel) and producing draft legislation which, if the States Assembly (or in the case of an Order, a Minister) so decides, can pass into law.

We receive instructions from the Department, Member, Committee or Panel, analyse their requirements and, through working with the instructor, produce a draft that so far as is possible reflects their policy intention. Most of our work is for Government, and with large legislative items this necessitates honing the policy through a number of drafts. But importantly the office also assists Members and Panels who wish to alter Government policy, principally by preparing for them amendments to any Government legislation that requires passing by the States Assembly.

The LDO also has a responsibility as guardian of the statute book, including obligations in light of Jersey's having signed up to the Free Access to Law Movement. This gives us our secondary purpose of enabling all persons to have easy access to current law. We are therefore responsible for notifying the public of any new legislation, maintaining a continually updated database of legislation, and ensuring it is published. This is done in conjunction with the Jersey Legal Information Board (JLIB).

The work of the LDO feeds into all aspects of the Jersey performance framework to the extent that legislation is required. As the first priority of Government is putting children first, a key aspect of the community wellbeing section of the framework relates to children. The LDO has dedicated one of its senior drafters to work on legislation relating to children in preference to any other work and has backfilled her work on other drafting projects. The LDO is committed to meeting the legislative priorities of Government arising from the framework according to those priorities and its available resources, whether in relation to social, economic or environmental legislation.

What we want to achieve in 2020

These are our specific objectives for 2020:

• We will work to the requirements of Government in respect of the priorities set out in the Policy Pipeline developed by Strategic Planning, Policy and Performance.

• We will make the best use of the additional features of the new drafting template delivered in 2019 (for which a further feature is due to be delivered in 2020) to speed up our drafting and minimise errors in published legislation.

• We will use the services of our new Legislation Editor to improve drafting quality by ensuring consistency and eliminating grammatical and other non-legal errors and increasing the efficacy of existing review processes by enabling the reviews by drafters to focus on legal matters.

• We will work with the Privileges and Procedures Committee to secure the passing of a Law that enables the current version of Jersey legislation to be authorised, that consolidates provisions about the making and publishing of legislation into one place and that sets out the functions of the Legislative Drafting Office.

• We will work with JLIB to enhance the appearance and usability of the legislation section of the jerseylaw.je website to improve access to the law by all users and to develop a search engine specifically for legislation and a point in time facility' that will enable specialist users to access legislation for a given date in the past.

• We will continue our training courses for instructing officers as demand requires and provide further information on the law drafting process and related matters to States members;

• We will make the best use of the new case management system Domis to store and retrieve documents efficiently and to avoid the creation of any new paper files.

• We will continue to improve office processes and provide opportunities to engage with drafters or editors in other offices for the purposes of skill enhancement and to seek efficiencies.

• We will continue to participate in international drafting conferences and other training opportunities that may arise.

2019 was a year of great change for the LDO as many initiatives came to fruition with the delivery in April of the new drafting template and workflow system and, in December, the wiki "Saver" (Jerriais for "to know") an editable electronic repository for the office's procedures and practices. 2019 also saw the recruitment of the Legislation Editor and 2 new drafters to cover Brexit and to backfill for the drafter leading on the drafting of legislation relating to children to meet the Government's number one priority. A major change was the move from revising the statute book annually by means of the Law Revision process to keeping it up to date. The case management system Domis (Drafting Office Management Information System) went live in January 2020.

In December 2019 the office moved into a discrete area on the first floor of Morier House, so the staff are for the first time together in their own quiet area conducive to drafting work. 2020 is a year of consolidation as the LDO makes the best use of the reforms and resources that were delivered to improve both quality and efficiency. The LDO has already had a visit from our Guernsey counterparts to share with them the value inherent in the Legislation Editor post, a series of exchange visits are planned with the Scott ish Parliamentary Counsel Office and some drafters will be able to attend and present papers at a drafting conference to be held in Cardiff in June. Further changes to the jerseylaw.je website, hopefully underpinned by changes in the planned draft Legislation Law (should this gain political support), will greatly enhance an essential service to the public. In her capacity as a member of the Council of the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel (CALC) the Principal Legislative Drafter is leading on the setting up a sub-group of legislation editors from around the Commonwealth and hopes this networking opportunity will be of benefit to the LDO's Editor, the first to hold this post in a British Drafting Office.

The Principal Legislative Drafter has a place on the Senior Leadership Team of the States Greffe to enable the sharing of ideas and initiatives and the States Greffe's new Extended Leadership Team has been opened to include her deputy and the Legislation Editor. We hope that this will further streamline any opportunities for joint working. The LDO is playing a leading role in the States Greffe's contribution for Liberation 75 by preparing material on the legislation of the occupation years and how it came about.

Measuring and benchmarking

We are committed to assisting Government to meet all the outcomes set out in the Jersey performance framework that require or are assisted by the delivery of new legislation. We rely on Government Departments to send us instructions so that we can give effect to their policy ambitions in legislation. We are also there to respond to the drafting needs of Scrutiny Panels, Committees and individual States Members. Though therefore the measure of quantity is demand- driven we are developing a suite of measures governing our own performance.

Now that Domis has been installed it will be much easier going forward for the Principal Legislative Drafter to track progress on legislation projects. Domis, as well as being a way to store and retrieve electronic documents, provides a semi-automated system of recording time which will be used for all new drafting projects from 2020. Time recording on projects was introduced in 2010 but has not been followed consistently.

The value of time recording is:

• It enables the Principal Legislative Drafter to monitor how much of the drafters' time is spent on drafting, which may prompt a review of drafting workloads, the speed of delivery of instructions and the capacity of the office to meet the demands of our customers.

• Over time it will be possible to build up a broad picture of the amount of drafter time that is spent on certain types of drafting matters. If a particular matter seems to be taking a lot longer than expected, action can be taken to identify the causes.

• It may make it easier to assess efficiency gains as a result of new technology or other innovation by comparing similar projects before and after the introduction of new measures.

• When projects are abandoned or change direction it will enable the costs in terms of wasted drafting time to be identified.

By employing a mixture of permanent staff, contract drafters and external consultants the office maximises its ability to respond to the fluctuating demands on our services.

In addition to measuring output we will be looking to monitor the quality of our services by developing, in relation to new matters, a brief satisfaction survey to be offered to the instructing officer for each matter.

Our service to our customers could be further measured, for example by introducing requirements as to response times in relation to emails requesting drafting services, meeting deadlines for lodging legislation projets and amendments to them and in relation to updating the legislation section of jerseylaw.je.

The following table shows the volume of legislation passed since 2000. This does not tally with the drafting produced in any one year because of the time lag between completion of drafting and legislation being passed. Because the size of drafting projects varies greatly, the numbers produced cannot give a wholly accurate indication of work volumes but nevertheless shows a general trend, which appears to be fairly static. Where drafting is undertaken and legislation does not come forward because the project is abandoned, or the drafting is for amendments to Projets, this is not reflected in the table, although it is reflected in the time recorded.