14/03/2013

IC/SC/098

PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE (26th Meeting)

14th March 2013

PART A

All  members  were  present,  with  the  exception  of  Senator  Sir  P.M.   Bailhache , Deputy K.L. Moore , from whom apologies had been received.

Connétable A.S. Crowcroft of St. Helier , Chairman Senator S.C. Ferguson

Connétable L. Norman of St. Clement

Deputy J.A. Martin

Deputy M. Tadier

In attendance -

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

A.H. Harris , Deputy Greffier of the States

I. Clarkson, 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 14th November 2012 (Parts A and B)

and 7th February 2013 (Parts A and B), having been circulated previously, were taken as read and were confirmed.

Draft  A2. The Committee, with reference to its Minute No. B3 of 7th February 2013, Referendum  recalled its decision to commission a voter registration campaign in advance of the (Reform of  forthcoming referendum, which had been approved by the States Assembly.

States

Assembly)  The Committee was advised that the States Greffe had made preparations for a (Jersey) Act  voter  registration  and  turnout  campaign  that  could  include: a  re-launched 201-: voter  www.vote.je website; radio and newspaper advertisements; banners and posters; registration  social media engagement, and production of publications for distribution to all and  households in the Island. In the event that recognisable campaign groups for each campaigning. of the options began to campaign actively, those campaign groups could be given 1417/1(3) equal space in a publication to put across their arguments, in much the same way

as the election manifesto booklet had been produced and distributed prior to the 2011 public  elections.   Implementing  the  full  package  of  proposals  would necessitate a budget of £40,000.

The Committee noted and endorsed the voter registration and turnout campaign proposal.

The Committee also considered electronic correspondence submitted by Mr. D. Wimberley  of  St.  Mary  and  by  the  political  campaign  group  Reform  Jersey concerning arrangements for the forthcoming referendum. It observed that the following 4 issues had been raised in the correspondence –

1. campaign funding;
2. campaign expenditure limits;

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3. access to the electoral register, and
4. regulating media coverage.

Having reflected on its terms of reference, the Committee concluded that the above matters  generally  fell  outside  of  its  remit.   Neither  was  it  apparent  that existing legislation and  enforcement  mechanisms offered  a  means  for  the Committee to exercise influence.

The Committee noted an article in the Jersey Evening Post newspaper of 14th March, which referred to the formation of a second option A campaign group. Given a lack of clarity as to which, if any, groups were actively campaigning for options B and C,  this development was thought to highlight the difficulty the Committee would face in distributing public funds equitably. It was agreed that the proposal to offer 3 representative campaign groups free space in a publication

to be managed by the States Greffe and for distribution to all households in the Island would be a constructive way forward in the circumstances.

The Committee recalled that access to the electoral register was controlled by Article 12 of the Public  Elections (Jersey)  Law 2002. Referendum campaign groups were not recognised by Article 12. Moreover, there were related data protection issues to consider in the absence of formal recognition of referendum campaign groups.

The Committee acknowledged that, as a matter of good practice, it would be appropriate in due course to evaluate its role in the forthcoming referendum and, if necessary, to consider making recommendations to the States Assembly.

The Committee agreed that both Mr. Wimberley and Reform Jersey should be notified of the Committee's position.

The Committee Clerk was authorised to take the necessary action.

Machinery of  A3. The Committee, with reference to its Minute No. A6 of 7th February 2013, Government  recalled  that  the  Machinery  of  Government  Review  Sub-Committee  had  been Review Sub- reflecting on feedback received from the Scrutiny Panels and the Public Accounts Committee:  Committee regarding its draft interim report.

update.

465/1(182) The  Committee  considered  the  revised  interim  report  of  the  Machinery  of

Government Review Sub-Committee.

It  was  explained  that  the  Sub-Committee had  settled  on  a  series  of initial recommendations pending the  outcome  of the  forthcoming referendum  on the constitution of the States Assembly. These were intended –

1. to  address  a  lack  of  clarity  regarding  the constitution,  terms  of reference and accountability of a series of ministerial advisory and oversight groups;
2. to result in the Chief Minister being empowered to dismiss a Minister without prior recourse to the States Assembly;
3. to  ensure  that  the  Council  of  Ministers  maintained  as a  standing agenda item a documented summary update onthe work programmes of each individual Minister;
4. to clarify that the majority of States Members were convinced of the need  to  maintain  minority  government  as recommended  by  the Clothier Panel, and

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5. to  engage the  Chairmen's  Committee  regarding  the  Electoral Commission's subsidiary recommendation on legislative scrutiny.

Having  reviewed  the  draft,  the  Committee  concluded  that  a  brief  executive summary should be added to the same prior to publication. It further concluded –

1. that recommendations 1 and 2 should be amended to require details of the anticipated duration of each advisory or oversight group formed by the executive;
2. that an additional recommendation, requiring the Council of Ministers to publish and to keep updated a collated list of all advisory and oversight groups formed to progress the development or revision of policy, should be added; and,
3. that  the  word  ongoing'  should  be removed  from  the existing Recommendation 5.

Further to the above, the Committee formed the view that, subject to the outcome of any future consultation on the  interim report, it was minded to amend the existing Recommendation 3 so as to propose that the Chief Minister be empowered both to hire and dismiss individual Ministers as per the recommendations made in the Clothier Report of December 2000.

The Committee agreed that the amended interim report should be recirculated for approval at its next meeting, following which the report would be presented to the States.

The Committee Clerk was authorised to take the necessary action.

Minister for  A4. The Committee, with reference to its Minute No. B3 of 19th December External  2012, noted that the Chief Minister had been invited to attend a meeting of the Relations. Committee to discuss the matter of a Minister for External Relations.

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The Committee considered correspondence, dated 15th February 2013, from the Chief Minister concerning the proposed establishment of the office of Minister for External Relations. It observed that the Council of Ministers had endorsed the proposal on 7th December 2012 and that it had elected to share with the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel the draft States of Jersey (Minister for External Relations) (Jersey) Regulations 201-,

The Committee was advised that the Chief Minister anticipated being available to attend the Committee's next meeting on 25th April to discuss the matter.

The Committee noted the correspondence from the Chief Minister.

On  a  related  matter,  Senator  S.C.  Ferguson  advised  the  Committee  that  the Corporate  Services  Scrutiny  Panel  had  begun  its  review  of  the  proposal  and expected to report to the States in May 2013.

States  A5. The Committee, with reference to its Minute No. A3 of 14th March 2012, Assembly:  received the annual report of the States Assembly and the officers concerned in the Annual Report  preparation of the report for their work.

2012.

1240/25(7) The Committee, having requested that certain photographs displayed in the report

be interchanged, agreed to present the report to the States once a Foreword from the Bailiff and an Introduction from the Committee Chairman had been added. The Greffier of the States was requested to take the necessary action.