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STATES OF JERSEY
MINISTERIAL GOVERNMENT: REVIEW (P.98/2020) – COMMENTS
Presented to the States on 17th September 2020 by the Privileges and Procedures Committee
STATES GREFFE
2020 P.98 Com.
COMMENTS
- The Privileges and Procedures Committee (PPC) wishes to draw attention to a number of practical issues arising from Deputy Young's proposition calling for a review of Jersey's system of government (P.98/2020), which is due for debate at the 22nd September sitting.
- Deputy John Young's proposition envisages the Chair of PPC overseeing the creation of a review panel to undertake a comprehensive review of Jersey's system of government, which will report to PPC by July 2021. Deputy Young describes the timetable for implementation of his proposition as "tight but achievable".
- There are 3 points PPC wishes to make about the work involved in setting up the review. Firstly, in order to have a realistic prospect of completing its report by July 2021, the review panel will need to be in place by January 2021. This leaves just over 2 months, from the proposition being adopted to the run-up to Christmas, in order to:
• Draw up terms of reference and have them adopted by the States;
• Define recruitment criteria for the Chair of the panel and the other panel members;
• Recruit the Chair and panel members; and
• Arrange for the appointments to be adopted by the States.
- The proposition refers to the Chair being "appropriately qualified" and the panellists having relevant knowledge and experience. It would be very helpful if the Deputy could set out during the debate what he has in mind on both counts. The Deputy 's view on the appropriate balance between on-and off-Island recruitment is also unclear. Off-Island recruitment tends to be more expensive and could be challenging because of Covid-19; however, some off-Island expertise may be necessary to ensure that the panel has access to the broadest possible range of knowledge and experience.
- The report accompanying the proposition does not dwell on the subject of who will provide the secretariat for this panel, although there is mention of a budget being required for "panel remunerations, admin support, facilities, logistics and research all of which would need to be decided by the Privileges and Procedure Committee with the assistance of the States Greffe".
- PPC's view is that the States Greffe would provide the secretariat. In order to complete this work by next summer, it would be necessary to allocate a member of staff full-time to this project. This could have implications for other areas of work within the Greffe, depending on whether it would be possible to recruit someone to such a role. Deputy Young suggests that the whole exercise might cost around £100,000. There is no identified budget for this and it would be necessary to put together a business case which could not be finalised until the panel had been formed and given the chance to discuss how they wish to work.
- Thirdly, it would also be necessary to put in place a memorandum of understanding agreed with the panel to govern the efficient use of public funds.
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This will take some time to draw up and will also entail some discussion with the panel at the start of their work.
- None of these problems is insurmountable and, of course, if the Assembly adopts this proposition, PPC and the States Greffe will stand ready to implement it. However, it is important for the Assembly to be informed of the likely financial and staffing consequences and the quantum of previously unplanned and unbudgeted work, which would be required in Q4 2020 and Q1 2021 to get this project off the ground.
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