PPC Minutes 30th June 2006

PH/KAK/193  64

PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE (19th Meeting)

30th June 2006

PART A

All members were present, with the exception of Deputy G.C.L.  Baudains, from whom apologies had been received. Senator S. Syvret was not present for Item Nos. A1, A2 and A3. Deputy J. Gallichan was not present for Item Nos. A5 to A8 and B1.

Connétable D.F. Gray of St. Clement - Chairman Senator S. Syvret

Senator M.E. Vibert

Connétable K.A. Le Brun of St. Mary

Deputy C.H. Egré

Deputy J. Gallichan

In attendance -

M.N. de la Haye, Greffier of the States

D.C.G. Filipponi, Assistant Greffier of the States (for a time) Miss P. Horton, Clerk to the Privileges and Procedures Committee

Note: The Minutes of this meeting comprise Part A and Part B.

Minutes. A1.  The Minutes of the meetings held on 23rd May 2006 (Part A only), 31st May

2006 (Part A and Part B), 5th June 2006 (Part A only), 7th June 2006 (Part A only) and 13th June 2006 (Part A and Part B), having been previously circulated, were taken as read and were confirmed.

1st Quarter 2006 A2.  The Committee received and considered the 1st Quarter 2006 Financial Report Financial Report. prepared by the Assistant Greffier of the States.

422/10/1(80)

Encl. The Committee was advised that in accordance with the Public Finances (Jersey)

Law 2005, non-Ministerial Departments were required to submit quarterly financial returns to the Treasury and Resources Minister for each of the four quarterly periods. The States Assembly budget was forecast to be 5.47 per cent underspent at the end of 2006. It was noted that the States Assembly budget was 29.02 per cent spent as at 31st March 2006 and there were no significant financial concerns arising at the end of the 1st quarter period.

The Committee noted the States Assembly Quarterly Financial Report for the period ending 31st March 2006 and requested that a copy of the same be forwarded to the Minister for Treasury and Resources for information purposes.

On a related matter, the Committee discussed the budget for printing which was forecast to be overspent at the end of the year. It was suggested that rather than all States Members receiving copies of all documents which were printed, an opt in' system could be adopted whereby Members request to receive copies of documents such as reports, States Minutes and glossy brochures.

Jersey A3.  The Committee received and considered correspondence received from Mr. Democratic S.W. Pallett, Chairman of the Jersey Democratic Alliance, requesting to meet with Alliance. the Committee to discuss the Alliance's views on the ways to improve voter turnout 465/1(75) in elections and on possible reforms to the current composition of the States.

Encl.

The Committee recalled that it had just engaged MORI to undertake a survey of public opinion on these issues. It was agreed that everyone would be given the opportunity  to  put  forward  their  views  once  the  results  of  the  survey  had  been received  when  a  period  of  public  consultation  would  be  held.  The  Committee requested that Mr. Pallett be advised that the Jersey Democratic Allowance would be more than welcome to discuss matters at that time.

The Committee Clerk was directed to take the necessary action.

Standing Order A4.  The  Committee,  with  reference  to  its  Minute  No.  A4  of  31st  May  2006, 26(7) - Minimum received and considered a report dated 19th June 2006, prepared by the Greffier of lodging period. the States, in connexion with Standing Order 26(7) which made provision for the 1240/4(178) States to reduce a minimum lodging period if they were of the opinion that the Encl. proposition related to a matter of such urgency and importance that it would be

prejudicial to Jersey to delay its debate.

The Committee recalled that on two occasions recently members had agreed to a request to debate a proposition sooner than the required minimum lodging period even though the proposition did not necessarily relate to a matter of such urgency and importance that it would be prejudicial to Jersey to delay the debate' as required by Standing Order 26(7). The Committee further recalled that when the Standing Orders were being drafted it was the intention that this provision would only be used for extremely serious matters; it was not intended to be used to bring forward debates for convenience. It had been agreed that it was important to maintain a relatively high test to ensure that the minimum lodging periods were normally respected although it had been accepted that the current test was possibly too high.

The Committee, having discussed the various options outlined for amending the Standing Order, agreed that it would prefer to enable the States to reduce a minimum lodging period if they were of the opinion that the proposition related to a matter of urgency and importance provided that the relevant Minister or Ministers and the Chairman of the relevant scrutiny panel or panels indicated that they had no objection to the proposed reduction. In this way a dominant political majority would not be able to push matters forward at the expense of scrutiny. The Committee noted that the Standing Order would need to take into account the fact that the proposition might already be in the name of a Minister or scrutiny panel and it would be obvious that they were in favour of reducing the minimum lodging period. In addition some provision would be necessary to cover a situation where the Chairman of the scrutiny panel or panels might not be present in the Assembly and consent would need to be given by the Vice-Chairman or another member of the panel.

Connétable K.A. Le Brun of St. Mary requested that his dissent from this decision be recorded.

The Greffier of the States was requested to take the necessary action.

Questions A5.  The  Committee,  with  reference  to  its  Minute  No.  A6  of  31st  May  2006, without notice to received and considered a draft proposition entitled Questions without notice to Ministers - trial Ministers: trial procedure'.

procedure.

1240/1/2(34) The Committee recalled that it had reconsidered the manner in which the new system

Encl. of holding two 15 minute periods of questions without notice to Minister at each

States' sitting  was  operating.  Several  members  had  suggested  that  the  present arrangements  of  only  allowing  members  to  ask  one  question  without  notice  to Ministers did not permit probing' supplementary questions to follow up the initial question. Those members had suggested that any member asking a question should be permitted to follow this up, if he or she wished, with a second supplementary' question before another member was called.

The Committee considered a draft proposition the purpose of which was to institute a trial procedure allowing any member who asked a question to be called by the presiding officer, if he or she wished, to follow up the initial question and answer with a supplementary' question. In order to ensure that the number of members able to participate during the trial period was not unduly restricted it was proposed that the 15 minute period be extended to 20 minutes. The change would be for a trial period of three months during which time the Committee would consult with all members and, if it was found to be a more satisfactory system, a permanent change would be made to Standing Orders to institute the revised procedure on a permanent basis.

The  Committee  accordingly  approved  the  draft  proposition,  subject  to  minor amendment, and requested that, subject to approval by the Bailiff as required, it be lodged au  Greffe' on  3rd  July  2006,  for  consideration  by  the  States  on  12th September 2006.

The Greffier of the States was requested to take the necessary action.

Printing of A6.  The Committee received and considered e-mail correspondence dated 30th provisional date May 2006, received from Deputy J.A.N. Le Fondre of St. Lawrence requesting that of debate on consideration be given to printing the provisional date a proposition was scheduled to propositions. be debated on the front of the document.

1240/1/2(36)

Encl. The  Committee,  having  discussed  the  matter,  agreed  that  printing  a  date  on

propositions would lead to confusion as so often the dates were changed after they had initially been fixed. The Committee further agreed that most members filed propositions in numerical order and there would be no real advantage to changing this system and requested that Deputy Le Fondre be advised of its decision not to support his suggestion.

The Greffier of the States was requested to take the necessary action. Matters for A7.  The Committee noted the following matters for information -

information.

1. c orrespondence,dated 14th June 2006, sent to Mr.E.Trevor, Chairman, Shopmobility  regarding States Members' car  parking  spaces.  The Committee noted that previously  Shopmobility had the use of more parking spaces in Sand Street Car Park and were able to judge the numberof spaces they needed andallocate the remainder to otherusers. Now spaces had been allocated todisabled parking whichhadresulted in  Shopmobility  not  having enough spaces for  their  customers. The Committee  requested  that  the  Minister of Transport and Technical Services be advised that itwouldbe beneficial to revert to the previous system  and give  Shopmobility control  of  the spaces.  It was further requested that the Minister be advised that the garages inSand Street Car Park allocated for use by States Members were not practical for larger vehiclesandas a result ofpoordesignmanyof the garages were not used. The Committee Clerk was requested to take the necessary action;

2. c orrespondence,dated14th June 2006, sent to the Minister forTransport and TechnicalServices regarding States Members' car parking;
3. correspondence, dated 12th June 2006, sent to the Controller, Social Security Department and the Treasurer of the States regarding States Members' remuneration: social security contributions;
4. c orrespondence, dated 6th June 2006, received from the Bailiff regarding Assistant  Ministers  answering questions in  the  Assembly. The Committee noted the responsereceived from the Bailiff and requested that it be circulated to all Ministers. The Greffier of the States was directed to take thenecessary action; and
5. correspondence, dated  20th  June 2006, received  from  Senator  F.H. Walker , Chief Minister,regarding the appointmentof States membersto public bodies.

Composition and A8.  The Committee, with reference to its Minute No. A1 of 23rd June 2006, election of the discussed the proposed survey of public opinion on electoral reform.

States - opinion

survey on The Committee recalled that it had engaged Ipsos MORI to undertake the public electoral reform. opinion survey on electoral reform and in this regard a first draft of the proposed 465/1(75) survey was received. The Committee agreed that it would meet on Wednesday 5th Encl. July 2006 to discuss the draft in detail. The Committee was advised that some States

members had suggested that members who were not on the Committee should be permitted to be involved in the design of the questionnaire. The Committee agreed that it would not be appropriate to allow one or two States members to provide an input without giving all members the opportunity to comment on the questionnaire. However, the tight schedule to which the Committee was working did not allow time for further consultation.

The Committee Clerk was requested to take the necessary action.