Privileges and Procedures Committee 21st August 2018

PM/SB/241

PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE (6th Meeting)

21st August 2018

PART A (Non-Exempt)

All members were present, with the exception of Connétable A.S. Crowcroft of St. Helier , Connétable C.H. Taylor of St. John and Deputy J.M. Macon of St. Saviour , from whom apologies for absence had been received.

Deputy R. Labey of St. Helier , Chairman Deputy S.M. Wickenden of St. Helier Deputy M.R. Le Hegarat of St. Helier Deputy C.S. Alves of St. Helier

In attendance -

L.M. Hart , Deputy Greffier of the States W. Millow , Assistant Greffier of the States P. Monamy, Senior Committee Clerk

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

Minutes.  A1.  The Minutes of the meetings held on 28th June 2018 (Part A and Part B), 17th

July 2018 (Part A and Part B), 31st July 2018 (Part A and Part B), 6th August 2018 (Part A only) and 7th August 2018 (Part A only), having been previously circulated, were taken as read and were confirmed.

States  A2.  The Committee received the list of forthcoming business for debate by the Assembly:  States Assembly at its next 2 meetings, to be held on 11th and 25th September 2018 forthcoming  respectively and decided that it wished to comment on the following proposition – business for

debate.  P.96/2018: Public impact of propositions: amendment to standing orders' 465/1(210)  (P.96/2018 - lodged au Greffe' on 3rd August by Deputy G.C.U.

Guida of St. Lawrence ). (see Minute No. A3 of this meeting).

With  regard  principally  to  the  Draft  Sea  Fisheries  (Minimum  Size  Limits) (Amendment No. 6) (Jersey) Regulations 201- (P.93/2018 – lodged au Greffe' on 20th July 2018 by the Minister for the Environment), but also with reference to draft Regulations  generally  which  sought  to  amend  principal  Laws,  the  Committee considered it to be unsatisfactory that reference could be made in a brief report accompanying the draft legislation to the existence of scientific evidence' and discussions having taken place for which no evidence was provided to the States Assembly. The Committee decided that it wished to comment on the matter in appropriate terms and requested the Deputy Greffier of the States to prepare a draft for its consideration.

The Committee recognised that P.100/2018 – Rejection of Planning Application relating to Retreat Farm, La Rue de la Frontiere, St. Mary and Rue des Varvots, St. Lawrence : rescindment of Ministerial Decision', presently set down for debate on 25th September 2018, would be unable to proceed on that date as court action had now been initiated by the property owner concerned.

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Public impact  A3.  The Committee considered a draft comment, prepared by the Greffier of the of  States, relating to a proposition entitled: Public impact of propositions: amendment propositions:  to standing orders' (P.96/2018 - lodged au Greffe' on 3rd August by Deputy G.C.U. proposed  Guida of St. Lawrence ).

amendment to

Standing  The Committee noted that the proposition rightly emphasised that States members Orders'  had  a  responsibility  to  think  through  the  full  implications  and  costs  of  any (P.96/2018) –  proposition  they  brought  before  the  States.  However,  it  was  considered  that comment.  codifying such responsibility in a Standing Order was fraught with difficulty. 450/99/2(5)

The Committee further noted that amendments to the proposition had subsequently been lodged au Greffe' by -

1. Deputy S.M. Wickenden of St. Helier - seeking to limit the proposition to apply principally to Ministers and Assistant Ministers, as he considered that it was usually a Ministerial decision to bring forward projets to change  legislation  (although  it  was  also  recognised  that  this  was sometimes initiated by a Committee), whereas backbench Members of the States usually requested the appropriate Minister to bring forward such changes; and
2. Senator S.C. Ferguson – seeking to bring some practicality around the feasibility of policing or enforcing proposals initiated by members.

The Committee considered that properly quantifying all of the various economic effects, in the absence of clear and robust methodology, would be extremely difficult if not impossible for States departments to achieve and would be completely beyond the means of a backbench member, even with the assistance of the States Greffe. The Committee considered that such statements would not be objective: they would be a facet of the argument for the change being proposed and, as such, were likely to add little of value to the debate. The Committee decided that it would not seek to present comments relating to the 2 amendments as it considered its response to the main proposition to be sufficiently robust.

The Committee accordingly approved its comment on P.96/2018 and directed the Greffier of the States to arrange for its presentation to the States.

Matters  A4.  The Committee received an oral report from the Deputy Greffier of the States arising:  regarding –

updates.

1240/13(105)  (a)  E-Petitions  (Minute  No. B5  of  17th  July  2018  of  the  Committee

referred): the electronic system for initiating e-petitions was now live, although some teething problems with the identification of Jersey I.P. (internet  provider)  addresses  had  been  experienced  and  were  being addressed. It was confirmed that once an e-petition had gained 1,000 signatures and had been submitted to the relevant Minister, a response should then be provided within 21 working days (which it was noted was the same period under the e-petitions system in operation in the United Kingdom);

424/99/1/1(7)  (b) People Directory': The Committee received an oral update regarding + (8)  the  work  of  its  Sub-Committee  considering  the  Commonwealth Parliamentary  Association  Electoral  Observers'  Report  (the  Report) compiled after this year's elections. The Committee recalled that in order to comply with the Venice Commission standards, it was necessary to

6th Meeting 21.08.18

ensure that any changes to election related legislation was made well in advance of the next elections in 2022 and certainly not within 12 months of that event. Therefore it was imperative that any work undertaken was completed in the next 2 years, so that changes to the relevant legislation could be taken through the Assembly in good time. It was noted that Recommendations 5 and 6 of the Report were intrinsically linked to the introduction of the People's Directory' which it was understood had been due to go live this year but had yet to reach fruition. This was seen as an integral part of the improvements needed to the electoral system, given that  a  centralised  digital  register  would  remove  several  layers  of complexity from the existing process and allow voting to take place in a wider range of public venues. The Committee agreed that it was essential there was some certainty that a sufficiently robust system would be in place for 2022, otherwise alternative amendments to the existing Law would need to be considered, in order to facilitate easier access to the registration and voting process. The Chairman agreed to write to the Chief Minister to ascertain what progress had been made to date;

1497/99(1)  (c)  Commissioner for Standards: Mr. P. Kernaghan, the Commissioner for

Standards, had offered a number of dates in September 2018 when he would be available to meet the Committee in order to discuss his report on the complaint against Deputy M.R. Higgins. The Committee agreed that it would be desirable to use the opportunity of the Commissioner's visit  to  discuss  matters  of  interest  generally,  and  also  to  allow  an opportunity for the Commissioner to meet other Members of the States, as well as the Chief Minister - Senator J.A.N. Le Fondré having expressed an interest in meeting him. The Chairman suggested that, rather than arranging to meet the Commissioner during a States lunchtime recess, it would be preferable for a separate date to be set aside for his visit, with Thursday 27th September 2018 – although scheduled as a potential States continuation day - appearing to be mutually convenient. The Deputy Greffier  of  the  States  was  asked  to  ascertain  the  Chief  Minister's availability on that date and to make the necessary arrangements for the visit; and

424/99/1/1(9)  (d) Sub-Committee membership: The Chairman advised the Committee

that he had spoken earlier that day with the Chairman of the Comité des Connétable s and wished to respond formally to her letter of 27 July 2018 offering support on the Sub-Committee. The Committee agreed that, whilst it would seek the input of the Comité, it was not recruiting any additional members to the Sub-Committee. The Deputy Greffier of the States  was  directed  to  prepare  an  appropriately  drafted  response accordingly.