States Greffe and Legislative Drafting Office Business Plan 2023.

STATES OF JERSEY

STATES GREFFE AND LEGISLATIVE DRAFTING OFFICE BUSINESS PLAN 2023

Presented to the States on 20th July 2023 by the Privileges and Procedures Committee

STATES GREFFE

2023  R.117

States Greffe Business Plan 2023

Introduction

The States Greffe 2023 Business Plan sets out who we are and what we do. It lists our specific aims for 2023; provides the strategic and operating context in which we operate; and explains how we measure our performance.

As in previous years, the Business Plan is intended to provide greater clarity to the public, States Members and staff within the States and Government of Jersey about our role and objectives. Although an operational document for the States Greffe, the Business Plan has been approved by the Privileges and Procedures Committee (PPC) and formally presented to the States Assembly. In addition to the Business Plan, we publish a States Assembly Annual Report that includes an assessment of progress against the commitments we made for that year.

For the production of this year's Business Plan, the States Greffe followed a new process in which all sections, teams and individuals in the department were asked for their ideas as to what we should aim to achieve in 2023. The ideas were then collated, discussed and Business Plan objectives confirmed by the department's Senior Leadership Team (SLT). Ideas that have not formed an explicit part of the Business

Plan, as they relate more to business as usual' activity, have been used as the basis of operational plans for each of the department's sections.

The process within the department began in the latter part of 2022 and it had initially been envisaged that the Business Plan would be published much earlier in 2023 than has proven to be the case. The SLT has therefore agreed that preparations for 2024 should start earlier this year in order that the 2024 Business Plan is published as close to the start of that year as possible.

What do we want to achieve in 2023?

The activity of the States Greffe is driven by the work of the States Assembly, its Committees and Panels and States Members. Much of what we do is therefore business as usual' and there is always a need for us to be responsive both to the decisions taken by the Assembly and its Committees and Panels and to the requests we receive from States Members.

Nevertheless we have identified 11 objectives for 2023 to which we will work as a department during the course of the year. Delivery of some of these objectives will require political endorsement or support and those objectives have been framed accordingly.

As a result, in addition to delivering our business as usual' activities, we will –

1. Support PPC in the implementation of recommendations from the Jersey Electoral Authority and the CPA Election Observation Mission about the Island's system of election to the States Assembly.
2. Re-establish the automatic voter registration project, working in collaboration with Government Departments (including M&D, Policy and Economy) with the goal of automatic registration being in place ahead of the 2026 election.
3. Present a comprehensive States Members' Training and Development Programme to PPC.
4. Launch the new States Assembly website.
5. Develop, and begin implementing, an Outreach Strategy to help reach and engage more Islanders with the work of the States Assembly.
6. Present proposals to PPC for the enhancement of facilities for States Members, incorporating the States Building, 23 Hill Street and Constituency Offices.
7. Investigate and develop options for improved support for States Members with their constituency work.
8. Publish a procedural manual which explains how Standing Orders are implemented and includes details of rulings and precedents.
9. Present proposals to PPC, under the auspices of the CPA regional disabilities network, for how the States Assembly can better meet the needs of people with disabilities.
10. Deliver the first-ever meeting in Jersey of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly.
11. Develop a CPD programme for Island teachers in order to help build confidence in delivering political education in schools.

In Appendix 1 to this Business Plan, we provide more detail on how we intend to achieve these objectives and how we will measure performance.

Departmental Overview – What we do

The States Greffe's overarching objective is:

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

The core business of the States Greffe is supporting the work of the States Assembly, its Panels and Committees and individual States Members in the work they undertake. There is consequently 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 are actions arising which our staff must implement.

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 department is divided into three sections:

• Chamber and Members' Support (comprising the Members' Resources Team and the Support Services Team)

• Committees and Panels (comprising the Secretariat and Scrutiny functions)

• Digital and Public Engagement

The Legislative Drafting Office (LDO) is also attached to the States Greffe, with the Principal Legislative Drafter reporting to the Greffier of the States, although it is operationally independent. The LDO's Business Plan for 2023 is published as Appendix 3 to this Business Plan as a standalone document.

The department is led by the Greffier of the States who, with the Deputy Greffier of the States and the heads of the three sections, forms the SLT. The Principal Legislative Drafter also regularly attends meetings of the SLT in order that cross-cutting matters are considered and discussed. An organogram setting out the structure of the States Greffe and the relationship to the LDO is attached to this Business Plan as Appendix 2.

The following describes the role played by each of the sections.

Chamber and Members' Support

In administering the work of the States Assembly, the States Greffe supports the Bailiff and all States Members in the management of States business and procedures. This includes providing advice on propositions, questions, statements and other matters before the Assembly. The Greffe is also responsible for the publication of all States documentation (including the Order Paper for each States meeting), the editing of the Official Record (Hansard) and preparation of the States Minutes, as well as the uploading of public business to the States Assembly website. The Members' Resources Team assists Members acting independently with research, constituency casework, where currently possible, and professional development. The Support Services Team ensures the smooth administration of the department and of States proceedings, including the operation of the camera equipment for webcasting, log-noting Scrutiny public hearings and printing and distributing documents.

Committees and Panels

The States Greffe works with the Assembly's Committees and Panels: PPC, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Scrutiny Liaison Committee (SLC) and the Scrutiny Panels. Staff undertake research and advise on the management of these bodies' respective work-programmes; including reviews of legislation, policy and matters of public importance undertaken by the Scrutiny Panels.

Making use of its expertise, experience, knowledge and objective approach, the Greffe also offers an impartial specialist secretariat service  to  the  Council  of Ministers, States Employment Board, Planning Committee and other executive bodies, and offers quality assurance for the Ministerial Decision process.

Digital and Public Engagement

A key function of the States Greffe is the engagement of Islanders in the work of the States Assembly. The Digital and Public Engagement Section oversees communications and engagement in respect of the Assembly's work, as well as that of Scrutiny and other parliamentary bodies. Education, outreach and campaign-management are led from this section; including at election time in support of the responsibilities of the Jersey Electoral Authority via Vote.je.

As part of this work, there is a programme of school visits in term-time to the States Chamber for Year 5 students and the organisation of the annual Youth Assembly, in which students from the Island's post-16 schools and colleges debate topics they propose. The States Greffe also supports the annual Colin Powell Rotary Peace Debate and provides advice and support to the Jersey Youth Parliament, which was launched in 2021.  The Section is also taking forward educational outreach work to encourage engagement with the Assembly and politics across the school curriculum.

Beyond these core activities of the three sections, there is other work we undertake because of our support for the States Assembly and the historical role and expertise of the States Greffe. We administer the States Assembly's work with, and role within, international parliamentary organisations: the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), the Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie (APF) and the British - Irish Parliamentary Assembly (BIPA). We also provide administrative and executive support to a number of independent bodies and office-holders which have been appointed by the States Assembly and which sit independently of both the Government of Jersey and of the States Assembly: the States of Jersey Complaints Panel, the States Members' Remuneration Reviewer, the Jersey Electoral Authority, the Referendum Commission and the Commissioner for Standards.

Departmental Overview – Strategic Context

The aspect of the Jersey Performance Framework most relevant to the work of the States Greffe is that:

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.

In December 2022, the States Assembly adopted the Common Strategic Policy (CSP). In accordance with the States of Jersey Law 2005, the CSP is a statement of the shared policy of the Council of Ministers and, operationally speaking, is therefore of most direct relevance to Government Departments. Nevertheless, elements of the 2022 CSP link to the work we undertake in the States Greffe. Furthermore, the Assembly, its Committees and Panels and States Members will be involved in scrutinising, considering and debating matters brought by the Government in accordance with the CSP – all work for which we will provide administrative and executive support.

Of most relevance to the work of the States Greffe, the 2022 CSP included the aim of creating "a more inclusive, vibrant community where people feel respected and able to flourish, as well as safe and protected". Furthermore, the CSP incorporated the Government's aim to build trust and accountability – both of which are also relevant to the work of the States Assembly. In particular, the CSP stated that the Government will work with PPC and the SLC "in seeking to increase civic engagement and understanding".

The Government Plan is the annual process whereby resources are allocated (both to Government and non-Government departments), with the Plan debated and approved by the States Assembly. In the Government Plan 2023-26 the following additional areas of funding were agreed for the States Greffe:

1. Hosting the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly in Jersey for the first time
2. Public Engagement Growth, including the provision of more operating budget in light of increased activity, the appointment of an Outreach Manager and Creative Content Producer, and allowing for greater Scrutiny research and communications
3. States Greffe and Members' Facilities, including professional development for elected States Members, and addressing shortfalls in transcription expenditure and fees for inter-parliamentary organisations
4. Staff resources within the Legislative Drafting Office
5. The Rules as Code' Project within the Legislative Drafting Office

Departmental Overview – Operating Context

Accountability

The States Greffe is accountable to the States Assembly, the Bailiff (as President of the States), and to individual States 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 Minister for Treasury and Resources for inclusion in the annual Government Plan. However, the budget proposed by PPC must be considered  directly  by the Assembly and  it cannot be changed by Ministers except on the basis of an amendment debated and approved by the Assembly. The services provided by the States Greffe (including its budget) are overseen by PPC and, in relation to the Scrutiny function, the SLC.

Resources

As of 1st April 2023 we were a team of 41 people with a further  8 vacant posts at different stages of recruitment. Our expenditure budget for 2023 is  £8.81 million. Of this, £7.28 million is for staff costs (including elected States Members) and £1.53 million is for the remainder: operational costs ranging from the rent paid on the States Building to the transcription of States Assembly meetings for the production of Hansard.

Risk

The principal risks affecting the department have been identified as follows:

Staff development

We intend to be proactive and flexible in identifying training opportunities of benefit to all colleagues and encouraging participation. We participate in a number of networks for parliamentary staff and encourage colleagues  to  learn  about  and  gain  experience  of  parliamentary  administration  across  the Commonwealth and the French-speaking world. 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 States Assembly's Diversity Forum, a PPC Sub-Committee, 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 Parliamentarian (CWP) and the Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities (CPwD) networks. We encourage flexible working within the States Greffe and support the States-wide women in leadership network (iWill).

Values

The States Employment Board has agreed the following values for all States employees:

• 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 are continuously developing ourselves and our services to be the best they can be for Jersey

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

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

In 2022 the States Greffe adopted and implemented a Wellness Strategy; and a Wellness Committee was established. Primarily composed of staff who do not sit on the  department's  SLT, the Committee has requested that SLT consider whether any enhancements  or additions need to be made to these States - wide values – given the parliamentary context in which we work. The SLT will consider this during the course of 2023.

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.

In late 2022, continuing into 2023, we have undertaken research – including the holding of focus groups with the public – in order to understand better who voted, who did not vote and the reasons for decisions on voting.

We continue to develop a suite of measures of our own performance, covering:

• The number of children and young people we reach with our educational initiatives and the feedback on each programme from children, teachers and parents

• The reach of, and engagement with, our communications activities

• The number of people registering interest in standing for election and the number of potential candidates who access support we provide or co-ordinate

• Number of partners reinforcing public information and campaign messages relating to the States Assembly

• The volume and accuracy of reporting by the local media on States Assembly business

• Consideration of legislation by Scrutiny Panels

• Member satisfaction with Scrutiny and research work

• The satisfaction of the bodies for whom we provide secretariat services

We also participate in CPA benchmarking exercises, which enables Jersey's parliamentary system to be compared with legislatures in other Commonwealth jurisdictions and against a standard framework identified by the CPA.

Appendix 1: 2023 Objectives and Performance Measures

The table below sets out the performance measures we have in place or are developing for our 2023 objectives.

APPENDIX 2 – Organogram

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Legislative Drafting Office Business Plan 2023

Introduction

This is the fourth business plan of the Legislative Drafting Office (LDO) published alongside the States Greffe Business Plan. It sets out our aims for 2023 and the values that drive our work.

Overview of the LDO

The LDO 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 on matters not relating to the production of legislation.

The main purpose of the LDO is:

To prepare draft legislation that gives legal effect to the policy of the Minister or other promoter of it 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.

The work of the LDO feeds into all aspects of the Jersey performance framework to the extent that legislation is required. The Government Legislative Programme sets out the items of legislation that Ministers wish to be lodged in any given year. Minor and routine items that take a short amount of time to draft, as well as work for the States Assembly, its Committees, Panels and individual Members, comprise the rest of the LDO's workload. The work of the LDO therefore supports the whole of Government whenever any of its plans or policies require a law change.

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

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 Scrutiny Panel, analyse their requirements and, through working with the instructor, produce a draft that as 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 Scrutiny 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 to act as guardian of the statute book in a manner that is consistent with the principles of the Free Access to Law Movement, of which the Jersey Legal Information Board (JLIB) is a member. Since the Legislation (Jersey) Law 2021 came into force in September 2021, the Principal Legislative Drafter has a statutory duty to prepare and publish consolidated legislation so that anyone can see what the law is as of today. This gives us our secondary purpose of giving everyone easy access to current law. We are 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 JLIB.

The LDO has seen a number of staff changes for 2023 onwards. The Principal Legislative Drafter is now assisted by 2 Senior Legislative Drafters, sharing the work of the previous Deputy , allowing all 3 more time for drafting as well as better sharing the management load. The existing trainee drafter has now been joined by 2 more trainees recruited locally to replace existing staff. In addition, 2 experienced drafters will be joining later in the year to assist with the key areas of financial services, climate change and road traffic. The previously half-time assistant editor is now full-time. Consultant drafters are assisting with the current workload until the new recruits arrive and one temporary drafter continues to backfill the post of a drafter seconded to lead on tax legislation. The LDO is committed to meeting the legislative priorities of Government arising from the Government Legislative Programme subject to the current level of resources. It will always do the utmost to accommodate all requests once drafting instructions are received.

What we want to achieve in 2023

Our objectives for 2023 are:

• We will continue to work to the requirements of Government to deliver the Government Legislative Programme provided that drafting instructions are supplied and responses to drafts are received within reasonable time to allow for lodging.

• We will continue to 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, to develop a search engine specifically for legislation and a point in time' facility that will be particularly useful to specialist users such as legal practitioners or academics by enabling them to access legislation for a given date in the past.

• We will continue to improve our drafting template as well as further investigate the use of XML, including LawMaker, LegalRuleML and Akoma Ntoso, for the future.

• We will revise and publish our current drafting practice, as required by the Legislation (Jersey) Law 2021. We will continue to examine our house style to develop more

consistency and clarity in how we draft.

• We will promote better understanding of who we are and how we work by engaging as far as we can with States Members and others with whom we interact.

• We will run more of our training courses for instructing officers, which continue to be extremely popular.

• We will bring forward a new Interpretation Law and use it also as a vehicle for tidying up minor errors and other minor changes to the statute book.

• We will use powers retained in the Legislation (Jersey) Law to prepare draft revised legislation to put before the Law Revision Board. The Board is empowered to make changes that fall outside of editorial powers but do not change the meaning (such as changes from "Her Majesty" to "His Majesty").

• We will raise our pioneering work on "Rules as Code" to a new level following the grant of funding for 2 years for our Computer-Readable Legislation Project. Former Senior Legislative Drafter Matthew Waddington has stepped back to work on this project. It is about developing ways for drafters to mark up the logical structure of draft legislation so that it is readable by computers, enabling drafts to be checked for consistency and for application to different scenarios. During 2023 we will develop the concept and test it on actual Jersey legislation.

• We will continue to use social media to promote our achievements and matters of interest to drafters and others worldwide.

• We will continue to participate in international drafting conferences and other training opportunities that may arise, including events in Wales, Italy, Portugal and Kenya.

Our values

The LDO is 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, as refreshed and applied in the LDO, are as follows:

1. 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.

2. We are better together

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

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

Measuring and benchmarking

We  are  committed  to  assisting  Government  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  Government Legislative  Programme  for  each  year.  We  rely  on  Government  Departments  to  send  us appropriately detailed instructions so that we can give effect to Ministers' policy ambitions in legislation. Like the Greffe as a whole, we are also there to respond to the drafting needs of Scrutiny Panels, Committees and individual States Members. Our work is therefore demand-led and does not easily lend itself to targets.

Our Drafting Office Management Information System (Domis) makes it easier 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 has been used for all new drafting projects from the beginning of 2020. With the launch of Domis 2' in March 2022 it became much easier to extract useful management information from the system, such as how long drafting projects are with the LDO and how long they spend being reviewed by the instructing Department or elsewhere. Though time recording on projects was introduced in 2010, it was not followed consistently before the inception of Domis and we are now moving to a stage whereby recording is becoming much more reliable, both in terms of the time recorded and the resulting data, so that in future years we can record overall time spent on drafting. Domis 2 is also capable of producing reports on the state of play of each drafting project to feed back to the Cabinet Office, which hosts the Government Legislative Programme in Perform. This will further enhance the ability to check on how drafting projects are progressing.

In 2021 we began developing a method of monitoring the quality of our services in the form of a brief satisfaction survey to be offered to the relevant instructing officer for each drafting project worked on during the previous year. Pressure of work meant that we did not finalise the survey in time for 2022, but it was distributed in January 2023.

The survey consisted of an introductory question concerning the extent of interaction between the respondent and the LDO, followed by an extended survey consisting of questions eliciting their satisfaction with the various services provided by the LDO, using 3-point Likert scales. The survey was sent to 76 people and 31 responses were returned, of which 21 included answers to the extended survey questions. In these questions, between 18 and 21 respondents selected the most positive response, while the remainder selected the next most positive or neutral response. There were no negative responses. Several respondents followed up with written comments giving further detail of their positive experience, or, in a small number of examples, asking for consideration to be given to points of constructive feedback.

Overall, the feedback from the LDO's first annual survey was overwhelmingly positive.

Resources

The LDO has a budget of over £1.4m. The current in-house staff complement is 13 full-time staff, 10 of whom are legislative drafters (including 3 trainees and one temporary post to backfill a drafter working for Revenue Jersey), and 3 editorial support staff. There is also one further drafter, not included in our complement, who sits outside of the LDO, working on road traffic matters for IHE, plus a further half-time drafter working on our Computer-Readable Legislation Project. The legislative drafters are all lawyers of considerable experience, qualified in a Commonwealth jurisdiction (including the UK), and we are shortly to welcome a second New Zealand drafter to the team along with a drafter from a Canadian jurisdiction. Two of our trainees are Jersey Advocates and the third is our former editor who now has a professional legal qualification. The office is supported as needed with specialist drafting office IT and related support from the Legislative Services Consultant who works for us remotely as needed. A panel of consultant drafters undertake contract drafting work as required but are expected to be used minimally once we are up to full complement.

At the time of writing our organisational chart is as follows: