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MH/KAK/290 67
PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE (14th Meeting)
4th October 2002
PART A
(Business conducted by telephone)
All members were present.
In attendance -
F.G. Le Maistre, Acting Committee Clerk.
Note: The Minutes of this meeting comprise Part A only.
Machinery of A1. The Committee, with reference to its Act No. A12 of 2nd October 2002, gave Government: further consideration to whether it should comment on the Report and Proposition of Freedom of Senator S. Syvret on Freedom of Representation (P.173/2002).
Representation
(P.173/2002) The Committee, with reference to its Act No. A9(a) and (b) of 30th July 2002, recalled 1240/22/1(12) that it had previously made its position on the doctrine of collective responsibility
clear to the Policy and Resources Committee both in its Committee Act and in a letter Ex.Off. from the President, dated 23rd August 2002. It had requested the Policy and Resources States (2) Committee to consider withdrawing the appendix Guidance and Procedure for Pub.Ed. Ministers' from its Report on the grounds that it was not a matter that needed to be
determined by a parliamentary body. In its view, the issue of collective responsibility
likewise should not be prescribed at this stage but should be left for the Council of
Ministers to determine once in office. The Committee had expressed the opinion that
the doctrine of collective responsibility, as set out in the Report of the Policy and
Resources Committee, was too prescriptive. It should be left for the Chief Minister to
develop accordingly to his/her own management style. It suggested that the arguments
over this issue should be left until more pressing issues in respect of the Machinery of
Government Reforms had been resolved.
The Committee agreed to comment on Senator Syvret's projet P.173/2002 in the following terms -
T he Committee has suggested to the Policy and Resources Committee that the
doctrine of collective responsibility is not a matter which ought to be prescribed now and, in any event, it is not something which needs to be determined by a parliamentary body. Likewise, the Committee believes that the Code of Conduct for Ministers, as set out in the appendix entitled Guidance and Procedures for Ministers' to the Report of the Policy and Resources Committee (P.171/2002), should not be debated by the States. The Code for Ministers was not binding in the same sense as the Code of Conduct for Members or Standing Orders of the States of Jersey. The language in the Code of Conduct for Ministers should be advisory rather than mandatory. It should be a matter for the Council to consider and adopt for itself once it has taken office.
T he Committee considers the Report and Proposition of Senator Syvret in the
same light. It suggests that the States should not seek to bind the Council of Ministers at this stage.
The Greffier of the States was requested to take the necessary action for the comment to be presented to the States