Appointment of Chair of the Statistics Council

STATES OF JERSEY

APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR OF THE STATISTICS COUNCIL

Presented to the States on 24th April 2025 by the Chief Minister

STATES GREFFE

2025  R.54

REPORT

Introduction  

The Chief Minister is presenting this Report to the States Assembly, giving 2 weeks' notice of his proposed intention to appoint Ms Kathryn Chamberlain as Chair of the Statistics Council.

The Statistics Council is established under Article 7C and Schedule 2 of the Statistics and Census (Jersey) Law 2018 (the "2018 Law"), as amended by the Statistics and Census (Jersey) Amendment Law 2025 which came into force on 21 February 2025. 7C state –

"7C Establishment and meetings of Statistics Council

1. There is established a body known as the Statistics Council, consisting of a Chair and no fewer than 6 and no more than 10 other individuals appointed by the Minister.
2. The individuals must, as far as reasonably practicable, reflect a range of users of statistics in Jersey, including the public, the media, researchers, students,  businesses,  public  authorities,  and  non-governmental organisations.
3. The Chair presides over all meetings of the Statistics Council but in the absence of the Chair another member may preside.
4. The Chief Statistician must attend each meeting of the Statistics Council at which it takes decisions in relation to any of its statutory functions (a "formal meeting"), but in an advisory capacity only.
5. The Statistics Council must hold formal meetings at least 3 times each calendar year.
6. Subject to this Article, Article 7D and the Rules of Conduct issued under it, the Statistics Council may determine its own procedure, including when and how frequently it meets.
7. The Statistics Council may meet informally without the Chief Statistician being present, but it must not make any decisions that are required to be made at a formal meeting.
8. The Statistics Council must publish in a manner agreed by the Council the minutes of its formal meetings, including a record of decisions taken in relation to its statutory functions, as soon as reasonably practicable after the meeting in question has taken place.
9. Schedule 2 makes further provision with respect to the membership of the Statistics Council and may be amended by Regulations made by the States to make different provision in that respect."

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Paragraph 2 of Schedule 2 to the 2018 Law provides that –

2 Appointment and dismissal

1. Members of the Statistics Council –

1. hold office for a term of 3 years, and on expiry of their term are eligible  for  re-appointment,  subject  to  serving  a  maximum  of 3 terms;
2. hold and vacate office in accordance with the terms and conditions of their appointment as determined by the Minister.

2. Before  making  an  appointment  the  Minister  must  consult  the  Jersey Appointments Commission.
3. Article 2 of the Appointment Procedures Law applies to the appointment of Statistics Council members.

Background to the Statistics Council  

Amendments  to  the  2018  Law,  which  were  adopted  by  the  States  Assembly  in September 2024, have created the new Statistics Council, in line with international guidance, to replace the Statistics Users' Group.

Article 7E(1) provides that the Statistics Council is independent of the Chief Minister and that it "has the primary function of overseeing the Jersey Statistical System by:

1. advising public authorities  on  the  production,  use,  quality,  relevance,  and integrity of the statistics they produce that describe, on a representative basis, the economic, demographic, social and environmental situation in Jersey; and
2. advising generally in relation to tier 1 statistics."

The  Statistics  Council  has  further  specific  responsibilities  under  the  2018  Law, including:

• advising the Chief Minister on the appointment of the Chief Statistician and being informed of their suspension or dismissal as soon as is appropriate (Schedule 1);

• advising the Chief Statistician on their annual report, the plan for Statistics Jersey and the strategy for the JSS (Article 7(4));

• presenting recommendations to the Chief Statistician, the Chief Minister and the States Assembly on statistics produced by the JSS as the Council sees fit (Article 7E(2)(a));

• raising  concerns  and  issuing  public  comment  on  any  statistics  which  are produced by public authorities, and which describe on a representative basis the economic,  demographic,  social  and  environmental  phenomena  of  Jersey (Article 7E(2)(a));

• advising the States Assembly where it has concerns in relation to the funding, resources, or independence of the Office of the Chief Statistician or the JSS (Article 7F(3)(a));

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• advising the Chief Statistician on the contents of and any revisions to the Code of Practice (Article 7I(2));

• advising the Chief Statistician and Chief Minister when the Council believes that independent expert reviews of tier 1 statistics are required (Article 7I(8) and (9));

• nominating statistics to be tier 1 statistics and advising the Chief Statistician on the contents of the list of tier 1 statistics (Article 7J(1) and (2));

• advising the Chief Statistician on the process for suspending statistical reports from the list of tier 1 statistics (Article 7J(6));

• advising the Chief Statistician on the programme of and criteria for reviews of tier 1 statistics (Article 7J(9)); and

• advising the Chief Minister on whether statistical reports should be removed from the list of tier 1 statistics (Article 7K(2)).

Matters relating to the appointment  

The Statistics Council is a new body with enhanced responsibilities under the 2018 Law compared with those of the previous Statistics Users' Group. On the advice of the Jersey Appointments Commission, it has, therefore, been necessary to recruit a new Chair and members of the Council.

In accordance with the requirements of the 2018 Law, the selection process for the new Chair was overseen by the Jersey Appointments Commission.

Financial and resource implications  

The Chair will be contracted to work no more than12 days per year at £525 per day. Time spent travelling to and from Jersey is also able to be claimed.  

Short biography: Ms Kathryn Chamberlain

Kathryn (Kate) Chamberlain lives and works in Wales. She is an experienced Chief Executive, having spent seven years as CEO at Healthcare Inspectorate Wales and most recently three years as Chief Executive of the Independent Monitoring Authority for the Citizens' Rights Agreements. Previously, Kate was the Welsh Government's Chief Statistician and Head of Knowledge and Analytical Services.

Kate has experience in both Executive and Non-Executive roles in public authorities. Recent roles include Chair of the Wales Audit Office, non-executive Director at the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales, and Commissioner for the Jersey Care Commission.

Kate holds a degree and a PhD in statistics from the University of Cardiff, Wales.