PPC Minutes 4th May 2007

PH/KAK/137  164

PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE (45th Meeting)

4th May 2007

PART A

All members were present, with the exception of Deputy C.H. Egré, from whom apologies had been received.

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

Senator M.E. Vibert

Connétable K.A. Le Brun of St. Mary

Deputy G.C.L. Baudains

Deputy J. Gallichan

In attendance -

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

Mrs. A.H. Harris , Deputy Greffier of the States

Mrs. D. Abbot-McGuire, Finance and Administration Manager (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 11th April 2007 (Part A and Part B) and

17th April 2007 (Part A only), having been previously circulated, were taken as read and were confirmed.

Quarterly Report A2.  The Committee, with reference to its Minute No. A2 of 7th February 2007, - States' received and considered the First Quarter Report 2007 for the States Assembly, Assembly - First prepared by the Finance and Administration Manager. Quarter 2007.

422/10/1(80) The Committee, having been advised that the States Assembly budget was predicted Encl. to be underspent at the end of 2007, accordingly noted the States Assembly Quarterly

Financial Report for the First Quarter 2007.

Installation of A3.  The Committee received and considered a report, prepared by the Finance and showers in States Administration Manager in connexion with the installation of showers in the States Building for use Building for the use States Members.

of States

Members. The Committee was advised that some Members had asked to have shower facilities 1240/9/3(1) provided  in  the  States  Building.  In  this  regard  the  Finance  and  Administration Encl. Manager outlined three options for the Committee to consider as follows -

1. C onstruct separate area for shower facilities - The Committeewas advised that the kitchen near the interview roomscouldbeconverted into a showerroom with a changing area.The only disadvantagewas that itwould result in the loss of a kitchen facility. Therewasno other area in the States Buildingwhich could be converted into a showerroom and as the building was a designated Site of Special Interest planning

permission would not be given for constructing a shower in a separate area;

2. U se the existing showers in the basement - The existing showers in the basement  could be used  but  only  by a  limited  number of States Members;
3. Install showers in toilets on ground floor - One cubicle in eachof the Men'sandWomen's toilets couldbe converted into a shower cubicle. This would result inthe loss ofthreecubicles in eacharea and the loss of two urinals in the Men's toilets. The disadvantages of this option were as follows -

1. th ere would not beanareato keep clothes ortowels in the toilets;
2. th ere were already lockers provided butusers would need to be aware that these were somedistance away from the toilets;
3. t here would not beany facilities for washingor drying towels;
4. t he toilets couldbecome untidy iftowelsand clothes were left hanging onhooks.Users would need to be informed that they were responsible for removing all items from the toilets;
5. t hespace available in the Women's toilets waslargeenoughto install a shower cubicle and changingarea although part of the window would be blocked up. Thespace available with the loss of two urinals in the Men's toilet would also belargeenough to install a shower cubicle with a changing area.

The Committee, having considered the three options, opined that it would not be necessary to have separate shower facilities for men and women and agreed that the kitchen should be converted into a unisex shower facility. The Committee requested that it be advised of the estimated cost for converting the kitchen into a shower facility prior to any further action being taken.

The Finance and Administration Manager was directed to take the necessary action.

Composition and A4.  The Committee, with reference to its Minute No. A1 of 27th April 2007, Election of the resumed consideration of the Composition and Election of the States Assembly. States Assembly.

465/1(75) The Committee having expressed its disappointment with the outcome of the recent

States debate on the matter of the reform of the States Assembly agreed that it would continue to work on proposals for reform. The Committee felt that a report should be prepared outlining the reasons why some of the options already considered were not satisfactory and that workable options should be put forward for consideration by the States Assembly.

The Committee opined that although there had been extensive public consultation no real consensus had been established and it would be difficult to present workable options that were satisfactory to everyone. The Committee discussed the matter in detail and agreed that one of the options put forward should be to have a number of large constituencies with the 12 Parish Connétable s remaining in the States as it was felt that this option would address the imbalance in representation in the Island particularly in relation to Deputies seats where changes in population had not been reflected in the allocation of seats which had remained unchanged for many years. The second option that the Committee requested to be put forward was for one class of States member elected on a Parish basis and the 12 Parish Connétable s all with the same term of office. The Committee felt strongly that the public should be given the opportunity to express a view on the proposals and any proposed reform should be put to the electorate in a referendum.

The Committee agreed that the Chairman should make a statement at the next States sitting advising members of its intention to continue to work on proposals for the reform of the composition of the States Assembly.

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

Code of Practice A5.  The Committee received and considered a report entitled Code of Practice on on Public Access Public Access to Official Information: Annual Report for 2006'.

to Official

Information: The  Committee  recalled  that  a  report  concerning  the  operation  of  the  Code  of Annual Report Practice  on  Public  Access  to  Official  Information  was  presented  to  the  States for 2006. annually.  It was noted  that a  total of 73 applications  under  the Code  had been 955(32) recorded by individual departments of the States, the majority of which had been

made to the Health and Social Services Department.

The Committee, having noted that the Code of Practice on Public Access to Official Information had been in force since 20th January 2000, agreed that the current format of the Annual Report should be revised.

The Deputy Greffier of the States was directed to take the necessary action.

Distribution of A6.  The  Committee  received  and  considered  a  report  dated  27th  April  2007, weekly meeting prepared by the Greffier of the States, in connexion with the distribution of weekly sheet to all States meeting sheets to all States Members.

Members.

1240/9/1(140) The Committee was advised that the abolition of the list was suggested by the States Encl. Greffe some years ago but, at that stage, the idea met with little support. Some

members had pointed out that they found the printed list extremely useful to take around with them and they would simply have to print out a list at their own expense if it was only found on a website. In addition other members had pointed out that the list provided a weekly reminder of meetings without the need to make the effort to look specifically at a website. Some members had felt that they would miss important meetings if they did not receive the weekly reminder.

The Committee felt that, although the abovementioned objections possibly remained valid for some members today, there were environmental and cost cutting issues that needed to be taken into consideration. The Committee discussed the circulation of the list and  also  the  States  Minutes,  all  reports  including "glossy" reports  from  the Comptroller and Auditor General and a number of other organisations including Jersey Tourism. The Committee was of the opinion that it was not necessary for the abovementioned to be distributed to all States members and agreed that they should only be circulated to members who specifically requested a hard copy. Hard copies of the documents could be made available for all members to view when the States were meeting and at other times members could be emailed a list of the documents which had been produced and advised that a hard copy could be collected from the States Bookshop if required.

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

Scanners for A7.  The Committee considered an e-mail received from Deputy P.V.F. Le Claire States Members' requesting the provision of two scanners in the States Members' Computer Room. Computer Room.

1240/9/3(2) The Committee noted that Deputy Le Claire felt that it would be of benefit to him Encl. and  other  States  Members  to  have  scanners  provided.  The  Finance  and

Administration Manager advised the Committee that it was possible to add a scanner to the existing printer in the Computer Room and this would be covered by the current maintenance agreement.

The  Committee,  having  been  advised  that  the  cost  would  be £320,  accordingly approved the instillation of a scanner in the States Members' Computer Room.

The Finance and Administration Manager was directed to take the necessary action.

Laptops - use of A8.  The Committee considered an e-mail received from Deputy P.V.F. Le Claire in the States enquiring whether he would be permitted to use his laptop in the States Chamber. Chamber.

1240/9/3(3) The Committee was advised that, at present, there was no decision on permitting the Encl. extensive use of laptops. The Committee considered Standing Order 99(1) which

stated -

99  Behaviour of members during meeting

(1)  B  efore entering the Chamber, a member of the States must switch off any mobile telephone and every other electronic device he or she has with him or her that would be likely to disturb the proceedings of the States.

The Committee felt that given the size of members' desks in the Chamber and the room available to members there was not enough space to accommodate laptops without causing disruption. Any decision on this matter would apply to all members and if a large number of members were to bring laptops the disruption would almost certainly disturb debates. The Committee also felt that members would be tempted to answer e-mails rather than concentrate on the proceedings.

The  Committee  agreed  that   Deputy  Le  Claire  should  be  advised  that  it did not support the use laptops in the States Chamber at the present time.

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

E-Petitions. A9.  The Committee considered an e-mail received from Deputy P.V.F. Le Claire 1240/22(46) regarding the use of electronic petitions.

Encl.

The Committee was advised that e-petitions were used in the United Kingdom where the system was run by the Prime Minister's Office. The Committee felt that the cost of implementing and managing such a system would be considerable and the amount of work involved in policing it would be immense. The Committee agreed that as States  members  were  very  accessible  to  the  public  and  the  present  system  for petitions appeared to work well it would not support the introduction of an electronic petition system at the present time and requested that Deputy Le Claire be advised accordingly.

The Greffier of the States was directed to take the necessary action. Matters for A10.  The Committee noted the following matters for information -

information.

1. t hat Senator P.V.F.Le Claire felt aggrieved atsomeofthecomments made concerning him bySenatorB.E.Shenton during the last States sitting. TheCommitteeopined that it was the Presiding Officerwhowas responsible fordecidingwhether the content of a speech wasappropriate or not and toensure that standing Orders were observed;
2. a n e-mail received from Deputy G.P. Southern concerning the action taken by the Committee in relation to the registration of political parties. The Committee requested that Deputy Southern be informed of the dates of its discussionsof the matter and also that his draft proposition had been consideredat its meeting on 10th January 2007atwhich time it had beenagreed that it wouldbe preferable if States memberscould consider the full proposalsabout to be put forwardbytheCommittee; and
3. the  Committee  confirmed  that  its  next meeting  would be held  on Wednesday, 23rd May 2007, commencing at 9.30  a.m.  in  the Le Capelain Room, States Building, Royal Square, St. Helier .

Draft States of A11.  The Committee, with reference to its Minute No. A7 of 10th January 2007, Jersey received and considered a report dated 30th April 2007, prepared by the Greffier of (Amendment No. the States in connexion with the draft States of Jersey (Amendment No. 3) Law 200-. 3) Law 200-. 450(5) The Committee recalled that the Chairmen of the Scrutiny Panels had found that it Encl. would  be  advantageous  to  allow  advisers  to  scrutiny  panels  to  participate  in

questioning at hearings. However, it had been noted that only States Members were protected by immunity from proceedings by the States of Jersey (Powers, Privileges and Immunities) (Scrutiny Panels, PAC and PPC) (Jersey) Regulations 2006. The Committee had agreed that it was prepared to bring forward an amendment to the States of Jersey Law 2005 to cover this matter once the Chairmen's Committee had prepared a draft protocol showing how this would work in practice.

The Committee, having noted that the draft protocol had been prepared, considered the draft States of Jersey (Amendment No. 3) (Jersey) Law 200- which it was noted would enable the States to make Regulations to provide that persons appointed by a States' committee or panel to advise on technical matters had immunity from civil or criminal  liability  when  asking  any  questions  of  persons  appearing  before  the committee or panel.

The  Committee  accordingly  approved  the  States  of  Jersey  (Amendment  No.  3) (Jersey)  Law  200- and  requested  that  it  be  lodged au  Greffe' at  the  earliest opportunity for consideration by the States.

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