Diversity Forum (PPC Sub-Committee) - 2019

PPC Diversity Forum #1 23 April 2019

14:33

Privileges and Procedures Committee: Diversity Forum Meeting 1: 23 April 2019

Memberspresent: Deputy L.M.C. Doublet (Chair), Senator K.L. Moore , Senator S.Y. Mézec , Deputy J.M. Maçon, Deputy K.F. Morel , Deputy J.H. Perchard and Deputy I. Gardiner .

Apologies were received from Senator I.J. Gorst and Deputy C.S. Alves .

1. Membership

It was noted that Deputy K.G. Pamplin had indicated that he did not wish to continue as a member of the Forum because of his workload, although he remained a supporter of the Forum's aims.

Itwasagreed toinvitethe ChiefMinistertobeamemberofthe Forum.

2. Terms of reference

The Forum discussed options for itstermsofreferencewhichcould be encapsulated as follows

The Diversity Forum is working towards the aim of the States Assembly fully reflecting the population of Jersey and representing all of the communities and interests in the Island. It aims to increase public engagement in democratic processes, particularly in relation to underrepresented groups.

TheDiversityForumisaSubCommitteeofthePrivilegesandProcedures

Committee (PPC) and will assist PPC in ensuring that the support and facilities availableforStatesMembers,and the Assembly's framework of rules, encourage the development of a diverse and inclusive Assembly. The Diversity Forum will support PPC in its work to increasethediversityofcandidates standing for election,toprovidethemwithmore assistance to stand, and in identifying and addressing the principal barriers to higher election turnout across the population; and it will support the Government to achieve its aim of removing barriers and promotinginclusionandequal opportunity for all.

The Diversity Forum will take an evidencebased approach to itswork,including benchmarking against international best practice.

The Forum agreed to consider these terms of reference at its next meeting, following which they would be put to PPC for that committee's endorsement.

3.Initialaims/earlypriorities, including supporting the work of PPC The Forum agreed that small groups of Members should focus on thefollowingaims,as set out below:

• encourage more women to engage in the democratic process ( Deputy Doublet (lead) with Deputies Morel and Perchard)
• make connections with Jersey's Portuguese,Polishandotherminority communities to encourage greater participation in the democratic process. ( Deputy Alves (lead) with Senator Moore and Deputy Gardiner )
• raise the profile of the work undertaken by States Members and the characteristics, skills and experiences which States Members bring to the role, in order to encourage a broader range of people to engage with democratic processes ( Deputy Maçon)
• produce and gain agreement to a policy on maternity, paternity, parental, adoption and caring leave for States Members and to consider policies on working conditions for Members to encourage diversity and inclusion, dealing, for example, with disability and mental health) ( Deputy Morel (lead) with Senators Moore and Mézec )
• complete an InterParliamentary Union Gender Sensitive audit of the States Assembly and to promote implementation of recommendations ( Deputy Doublet (lead)with Deputies Morel and Perchard)

It was agreed that the Forum should look at how diversity and public engagement are measured in other jurisdictions toconsideroptionswhichwould work in Jersey.

Itwasalsoagreedtoconsiderhow a project could be developed to promote inclusivity in respect of social class.

4. Ways of working

Project groups would be expected to get on with work in their area and to report back to meetings of the Forum, which would be held each two months. Deputy Doublet would meet regularly with Deputy Labey to coordinate work with the Privileges and Procedures Committee.

Deputy Doublet wouldissueapress release on the relaunch of theForumandask community groups to contact the Forum with ideas for new initiatives. Consideration would be given to holding a dropin session for such groups.

5. Date of next meeting

The Forum's next meetings would take place on:

24 June, 16 September and 18 November, all at 3.30pm in the Blampied Room.

24 June 2019 15:36

Privileges and Procedures Committee: Diversity Forum Meeting 2: 24 June 2019

Memberspresent: Deputy L.M.C. Doublet (Chair), Senator S.Y. Mézec , Deputy J.M. Maçon, Deputy K.F. Morel , Deputy C.S. Alves . and Deputy I. Gardiner .

Apologies were received from SenatorI.J. Gorst ,SenatorK.L. Moore and Deputy J.H. Perchard

1. Minutes of the meeting of 23 April

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed.

In relation to item 1 (membership), it was noted that the Deputy of Grouville had been asked to join the Forum, as a representative of the Chief Minister.

Item 3 (initial aims/ early priorities) made reference to "looking at how diversity and public engagementaremeasuredinother jurisdictions to consider options which would work in Jersey" and it was agreed that the Greffier would provide a note for the Forum on this.

2. Terms of reference

The draft terms of reference circulated as part of the minutes of the meeting on 23 April were agreed by the Forum and would be transmitted to PPC for their endorsement.

3. Gender audit report

The draft report of the gender audit working group, which had previously been circulated, was agreed. The Chair said she would add a foreword and submit the report to PPC for consideration at its July meeting. The Forum thought it would be desirable for her to make a statement in the Assembly at the time of publication: the Greffier agreed to considerwhetherthiswouldbe permissible under Standing Orders. Consideration would also be given to making a short film about the gender audit.

4. Workstreams

Engaging women

The chair said that the women's suffrage celebrations were the main focus at present but she suggested that another initiative could be to develop short work shadowing placements for women with the Greffe and/or with States Members. It was agreed that the Chair should take this forward.

Engaging minority communities

Deputy Alves and Gardiner gave a presentation about the work they and Senator Moore had undertaken on engaging minority communities with the political process. A number of ideas came out of this work, including:

• Ensuring that the Forum has a presence at community events, such as the Madeiran food fair
• PrintingpostcardsforpeopletosubmitideasandfeedbacktotheStates,foruseatsuch events and otherwise
• Working with the consuls to enhance their communication with minority communities, especially on civic and political matters
• Encouraging Constables to hold 'comingofage'eventsfor16yearolds, perhaps connected to parish assemblies on topics likely to appeal to young people
• Working with the Greffe to provide resource packs for schools on Jersey's history and political system
• Engagingwithschoolstudentleadershipforums,offeringthemspeakers, for example; and engaging with the new youth parliament organisation when it gets going
• 'Inductionpacks'forpeoplewho visit social security for the first time to register to work in Jersey

It was agreed that the group would prioritise organising a Diversity Forum presence at community eventsandpilotinga 'comingof age' event in a parish. The Greffe's comms officer would be asked to design a Diversity Forum logo and pullup banner.

(Information about why people choose to vote or not to vote in Jersey can be found here: https://www.comresglobal.com/polls/statesofjerseyvoterengagementsurvey)

Parental leave

It was agreed that Deputy Morel and Senators Mezec and Moore would pick up on the work PPC had previously led on changing Standing Orders to permit Members totake parentalleaveandwould

also consider how parish/constituency work could be dealt with during periods of such leave. The Greffier said he would pass the relevant information on about previous work on this matter to the group.

In addition, the group would consider the inclusivity of the Assembly in relation to disabilities. This would cover pastoral care for Members. The Greffier said he would pass on details of some work which the Greffe had started on this and also find out whether the States' contract with Axa for counselling support for staff could be extended to Members.

Social class

It was agreed to arrange a meeting, either involving the whole ForumorjusttheChair,withBrett Sparks, of Unite the Union, to discuss the issue of inclusivity and social class.

5. Next meeting

The next meeting was scheduled for Monday 16 September at 3.30pm. The Chair said she would arrange catchups with project leads in late July.

16 September 2019 15:37

Privileges and Procedures Committee: Diversity Forum Note of an informal meeting: 16 September 2019

Memberspresent: Deputy L.M.C. Doublet (Chair), Senator K.L. Moore , Deputy K. F. Morel of St. Lawrence , Deputy I. Gardiner of St. Helier .

ApologieswerereceivedfromSenatorI.J. Gorst ,,SenatorS.Y. Mézec , Deputy C.F. Labey of Grouville , Deputy J.M. Maçon of St. Saviour and Deputy C.S. Alves of St. Helier .

The meeting was inquorate and could not formally take decisions.

Matters discussed:

• Parental responsibilities. Members discussed the pros and cons of extending the proposal for Members with parental responsibilities to be able to have their reason for absence from the Assembly recorded without it being subject to possible challenge to cover other situations, such as a family member's ill health, but agreed not to do so and instead to seek further information from SEB on the rules applying to States employees in such situations. Deputy Doublet would circulate by email the Standing Order change on parentalresponsibilitiesand

an accompanying report, for formal endorsement by the Forum, with a view to PPC being asked to lodge the change when it meets on 7 October.

• Diversity and public engagement benchmarking: the Chair proposedthattheStatisticsUnitbe asked to produce an analysis of the 2018 Comres public opinion survey, so that the Forum could focus its efforts on those groups which are interested in politics but do not engage. Adding questions to the annual Social Survey was also discussed. Deputy Morel drew attention to this website: http://www.mipex.eu/ which might provide some pointers to benchmarking work in Jersey. Senator Moore saidshewasinterestedinfollowing up on the gender

monitoring of scrutiny witnesses undertaken in the UK and the Greffier said he would raise this with Tim Oldham for the Scrutiny Liaison Committee to discuss. Members also discussed how the number and types of contacts between the public and States Members could be monitored.

• In terms of other workstreams, the importance of pursuing the 'coming of age' idea with parishes was emphasised. The Chair asked for more information ontheworkstreams,andthe Members involved, to be included on agendas in future.
• TheChair saidshewouldcallameetingonMonday14Octoberat 2.30pm to discuss followup

of the gender audit report. She and Deputy Morel had arranged to meet the Deputy Bailiff to discussconcernsaboutthefrequency andlatenoticeoflatesittings of the Assembly, which

was one of the matters raised in the gender audit report.

Next meeting: Monday 14 October, 2.30pm, Blampied Room.

14 October 2019 12:29

Privileges and Procedures Committee: Diversity Forum Meeting 4: 14 October 2019

Memberspresent: Deputy L.M.C. Doublet (Chair), Senator I.J. Gorst ,SenatorS.Y. Mézec , Deputy J.H. Perchard of St. Saviour and Deputy I. Gardiner of St. Helier .

Apologies were received from Senator K.L. Moore , Deputy C.F. Labey of Grouville , Deputy K.F. Morel of St. Lawrence and Deputy C.S. Alves of St. Helier.

1. Making connections with minority communities

The Forum welcomed Patrick Lynch, the recentlyappointed chief executive of Caritas in Jersey, who outlined some of the work Caritas is undertaking in this area. Caritas had good links with some minority communities but not all of them and one of Mr Lynch's priorities was to meet all of the various consols and understand more about the issues facing each community. However, it was also important to engage from the bottom up as well as from the top down.

Mr Lynch circulated a guide on living in Jersey which had been prepared by Polish colleagues and which provided a considerable amount of information on official requirements for life in the Island. He said that if people had more confidence in understanding how Jersey works they would be more likely to engage politically. He was interested in establishing an initiative to welcome people to the Island, including shortterm workers, and would welcome the opportunity to work with the States on this.

In terms of political engagement, recent experience of the Polish election showed that if minority communities encouraged engagement with politics in 'home' countries that could help encourage engagement in Jersey too.

The Forum debated a number of mattersrelatedto thisissue,such as whether it was better to focus on translation of material into otherlanguagesorteaching'survival'English;howthetranslationof political material should be funded; and how to reach differentcommunitieswith political information. Mr Lynch agreed to put the Forum in touch with minority community groups introduced in communicating with the Assembly and the Forum thanked Mr Lynch for his time.

2. Update on workstreams

The Chair said she had met Deborah Midgley from the Trident programme to discuss a possible work shadowingschemewherebyyoungwomen could shadow women States Members; she also planned tomeetcareersteachersforthesamereason. Deputy Perchardsaid that the iWill network was also interested in this area and it was agreed to liaise with Kate Nutt to ensure that if there were two initiatives in this area that they are coordinated.

Deputy Gardiner said that she had learnt about experience in other jurisdictions of shortterm political internships, both with politicians and with parliamentary administrations. She said she would provide details to the Greffier.

The Chair said she would speak to Hannah MadenAdams about branding for the Diversity Forum and putting together a calendar of events for 2020.

The Chair reported back from PPC that the standing order change on parental leave was ready for lodging. The report accompanying the proposition said that the Forumwouldlooknextatcaring leave, with a view to writing to SEB about the rules applying to States employees, which could form the basis for arrangements for States Members. The Greffier undertook to research this matter.

Finally, the Greffier recommended that the Forum should put its terms of reference to PPC for approval and it was agreed that this opportunity would be taken to reduce the Forum's quorum to four.

3. StatesAssemblyGenderAudit:followup

The Forum agreed followup actions as follows:

TheForumbecameinquorateduring discussion of the followup to the Gender Audit. The next meeting was scheduled for Monday 18 November and the Chair said she would bring the meeting forward to 2p.m. in order to assist ministers to attend.

Diversity Forum #5 16 December 2019

14:01

Privileges and Procedures Committee: Diversity Forum Meeting 5: 16 December 2019

Memberspresent: Deputy L.M.C. Doublet (Chair), Senator S.Y. Mézec , Deputy J.M. Maçon of St. Saviour , Deputy C.S. Alves of St. Helier and Deputy K. Pamplin of St. Saviour .

Apologies were received from Senator K.L. Moore , Deputy C.F. Labey of Grouville , Deputy K.F. Morel of St. Lawrence , Deputy J.H. Perchard of St. Saviour and Deputy I. Gardiner of St. Helier

1. Minutes of previous meetings

The minutes of the meetings of 24 June and 14 October 2019 were approved. It was noted that PPC had agreed that the quorum of the Forum should be four.

TheGreffiersaidhewouldpick upthequestionastowhetherthe Axa contract for counselling and wellbeing support could be extend to cover States Members.

It was agreed that Deputy Alves should follow up the presentation from the Chief Executive of Caritas at the previous meeting, because of links to her work on the St. Helier community strategy working group and the Island identity policy development board. It was important to avoid duplication with other committees and groups.

TheChair she hadmetagroupofcareers'teachersatHighlands to discuss the possibility of setting

up a work shadowing scheme for people interested in politics. They had reacted positively but there were a number of ideas about the focus of such a scheme and how it would work in practice, which she would like to reflect on. Coordinationwith other groupswas also important and something she asked the Greffe to manage.

Noprogresshadbeenmadeonbrandingandpublicitybecauseof staff changes in the Greffe. It

would be important to resolve this as soon as possible, particularly if the Forum was going to have a presence at events organised by national community groups in the spring and summer. Staff support for the Forum was also discussed. The Greffier explained that more support would be available in 2020, after the recruitment of new research and project officers which was planned to commence in January.

2. Visit to Guernsey for launch of Women in Public Life network

The Chair said that she had been invited to attend the launch of Guernsey's Women in Public Life network on 22 January 2020 by Shelaine Green, the Chair of the organisation. The Greffier said it would be possible for the Greffe to cover the cost of two Members attending, given that travel costs would be modest and promoting diversity and interIsland links were Common Strategic Policy objectives. The Forum agreed that the Chair and another Member should attend the launch of Guernsey's Women in Public Life network on 22 January 2020. The Chair would discuss with interested Members who was best placed to attend.

3. Update on workstreams

• encourage more women to engage in the democratic process

Inadditiontothe commentsabove,theChairsaidthattheWomen in Politics group was considering its future direction and she would discuss with them how the Forum could best support their work.

• make connections with Jersey's Portuguese, Polish and other minority communities to encourage greaterparticipationinthedemocraticprocess.

Deputy Alves said she had spoken to the Polish Hon. Consul and was arranging other meetings, ahead of planning for how the Forum could have a presence at community events later in the year. She was also considering possible funding options. The possibility of a 'coming of age' ceremony had been discussed in St. Helier but there were differences of view as to how it could work.

• raise the profile of the work undertaken by States Members and the characteristics, skills and experiences which States Members bring to the role, in order toencourageabroaderrangeof people to engage with democratic processes

Itwassuggestedthat thiscouldberaiseddirectly withPPCin order to decide the best way forward.

• produce and gainagreementtoapolicyonmaternity,paternity, parental, adoption and caring leave for States Members and to consider policies on working conditions for Members to encourage diversity and inclusion, dealing, for example, with disability and mental health)

The Greffier said that there were discussions on this matter withtheChairofPPCinorderto ensure that the proposal can be implemented successfully.

• complete an InterParliamentary Union Gender Sensitive audit of the States Assembly and to promote implementation of recommendations

Further consideration of the recommendations of the gender audit was deferred until a subsequent meeting.

4. Future meeting dates

It was agreed that the Forum should meet in future on Tuesdays at 2pm, avoiding States weeks and meetings of the Planning Committee, and that there should be coordination with ministerial diaries where possible.

5. Proposition: Diversity Working Group (P.118/2019): possible Diversity Forum response

Deputy Maçon said he was undertaking further work on his proposition and might seek to amend it. The key thing was to have government buyin, including officer support, for the concept of greater diversity on States boards and related organisations. Issues he was considering including whether there could be a published pipeline so people could see future vacancies, clarity about the work involved with different appointments, and whether bodies should include a community representative, as a pathway into such positions. Deputy Maçon

withdrew so that the Forum could discuss the matter further. Members broadly supported Deputy Maçon's proposition and the further work he was now considering. The Forum agreed that it was content for PPC to commentonthe propositiontothe effect that the Forum should be the working party appointed to work on the matter, should this be the Council of Ministers' preference.

Next meeting: to be arranged by the Chair in January 2020