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PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE (30th Meeting)
18th October 2021
PART A (Non-Exempt)
All members were present, with the exception of Deputy M.R. Le Hegarat of St. Helier and Deputy G.C.U. Guida of St Lawrence from whom apologies had been received. Connétable A.S. Crowcroft of St. Helier was absent from the meeting.
Deputy C.S. Alves of St. Helier , Chair Senator T.A. Vallois, Vice-Chair Connétable K. Shenton-Stone of St Martin Deputy R. Labey of St. Helier
In attendance -
Dr. M. Egan, Greffier of the States
L.M. Hart , Deputy Greffier of the States
W. Millow , Assistant Greffier (Chamber and Members' Support) Advocate A. Clarke, Judicial Greffier (Item B1) Mr. J. Willis, HLG Associates Limited (Item B2)
Mr R. Myers, HLG Associates Limited (Item B2) A. Harris , Principal Committee and Panel Officer
R. Graham, Principal Research and Casework Officer (Item B4)
P. Le Conte, Secretariat Officer
Note: The Minutes of this meeting comprise Part A and Part B.
Minutes. A1. The Minutes of the meetings held by the Committee on 6th September 2021 (Part
A) and 22nd September 2021 (Part A and Part B) having previously been circulated, were approved.
Forthcoming A2. The Committee, with reference to Minute No. A2 of its meeting of 22nd September business for 2021, considered forthcoming business for debate by the Assembly at its meetings on debate by the 2nd November 2021 and 23rd November 2021. The Committee decided that it did not Assembly. wish to make a formal comment on any of the propositions which had been lodged au
Greffe' for debate on those days.
The Committee noted that an e-petition entitled Stop the double taxation of the Jersey Pension' had been created on 29th April 2021 and was due to close on 29th October 2021. The e-petition had received over 2,000 signatures and had received a response from the Minister for Treasury and Resources. The Committee recalled that, should the petition receive 5,000 signatures, it would be considered for debate in the States Assembly.
The Greffier of the States explained that the petitioner had been active in writing to the States Greffe and had raised concerns that a large proportion of those who were likely to sign the petition may not have access to a computer to be able to do so. With this in mind, the Committee discussed whether to make an exception to the signature threshold and organise an in-committee debate so that the matter could be discussed by the Assembly.
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The Committee agreed that an in-committee debate would not result in a definitive outcome, particularly as the Minister for Treasury and Resources had already responded. Furthermore, the Committee agreed that it needed to be consistent in its approach and only consider petitions for debate once they had received 5,000 signatures. Making an exception to the signature threshold could risk setting a precedent that future petitions would be discussed by the Assembly even when they had not reached the appropriate number of signatures.
The Committee requested the Principal Committee and Panel Officer to contact the petitioner to advise him of the Committee's position and to suggest that he contact a relevant States Member in order to take the matter forward.
Update on the A3. The Committee, with reference to Minute No. A3 of its meeting of 22nd September work of the 2021, received and considered a paper by the Principal Committee and Panel Officer Sub- regarding an update on the work of the Sub-Committees. The Committee noted the Committees. following updates:
Election Observers Sub-Committee – the Deputy Greffier of the States advised that discussions were ongoing between the States Greffe, Judicial Greffe and Parishes regarding the practicalities of the new system for the June 2022 election.
Political Awareness Education Sub-Committee – the Committee noted that there were no new updates.
States Members' Pensions Sub-Committee – the Committee noted that there were no new updates.
Diversity Forum Sub-Committee – the Sub-Committee last met on 12th October 2021 and discussed a range of matters including culture in the States Assembly and diversity of recruitment to States appointed boards and arm's length organisations.
Democratic Accountability and Governance Sub-Committee – the Sub-Committee last met on 30th September 2021 and had discussed the main findings of its review. It was anticipated that a findings report would be submitted to the Committee in November 2021.