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138
Privileges and Procedures Committee (34th Meeting)
27th May 2025
Part A (Non-Exempt)
All members were present, with the exception of Deputies C.S. Alves of St. Helier Central , L.M.C. Doublet of St. Saviour and L.K.F. Stephenson of St. Mary , St. Ouen and St. Peter , from whom apologies had been received.
Connétable K. Shenton-Stone of St. Martin , Chair Connétable M.K. Jackson of St. Brelade
Deputy T.A. Coles of St. Helier South
Deputy S.M. Ahier of St. Helier North
In attendance -
L-M. Hart , Greffier of the States
W. Millow , Deputy Greffier of the States
C. Fearn, Secretariat Officer, Specialist Secretariat
K.M. Larbalestier, Principal Secretariat Officer, Specialist Secretariat
Note: The Minutes of this meeting comprise Part A only.
Draft Elections A1. The Committee, with reference to Minute No. A4 of 17th March 2025, (Senators) welcomed Ms. J. Cartwright, Legislative Drafter to the meeting and considered the (Jersey) Draft Elections (Senators) (Jersey) Amendment Law 202-.
Amendment
Law 202-. The Committee reviewed the provisions of the draft legislation and requested that
its formal acceptance of an amendment to Article 9 of the Draft Elections (Electoral Registers) (Jersey) Amendment Law 202-, which had been lodged au Greffe' by the Comité des Connétable s, be recorded.
The Committee discussed whether any changes to Article 29 of the legislation were required. This Article related to representation at polling stations and, as currently drafted, prevented more than one representative of a candidate (in addition to the candidate) from being in the immediate vicinity of a polling station. A political party representative was treated as being the representative of each of the candidates endorsed by that party. The Committee discussed this provision in the context of both political parties and Senatorial candidates and concluded that no amendments were necessary on the basis that the law allowed for a candidate representative at each polling station. The Greffier of the States suggested that the Jersey Electoral Authority could also produce specific guidance in respect of Senatorial elections to provide further clarity.
With reference to Article 52, which related to the announcement of election results, the Committee agreed to include a requirement for the Judicial Greffer to inform candidates and their representatives (who were present) of the results of the election at 4.00 pm on the day following the poll. Some discussion followed in relation to whether the Judicial Greffier or the Jersey Electoral Authority should inform candidates/their representatives, with no firm conclusions being reached.
139 34th Meeting 27.05.2025
It was noted that Part 3 of the draft legislation concerned, among other things, the Public Elections (Expenditure and Donations) (Jersey) Law 2014, and, in particular election expenses. The Committee discussed the limit that was currently set in respect of election expenses (13 pence for each person entitled to vote in the election) and it was agreed that the Greffier of the States would ascertain the position in other jurisdictions in respect of election expenses.
The Committee noted that a further draft would be presented for its final endorsement in due course along with an accompanying report, which would be prepared by the Greffier. It was noted that whilst it was anticipated that the legislation would be lodged prior to the summer recess, it was expected it would not be debated until after the recess.
The Committee expressed its appreciation for the work undertaken by the Legislative Drafter in connexion with the amendments to the Law.
Draft Elections A2. The Committee, with reference to its Minute No. A10 of 24th February 2025, (Electoral and with Ms. J. Cartwright, Legislative Drafter in attendance, and gave further Registers) consideration to the draft Elections (Electoral Registers) (Jersey) Amendment Law (Jersey) 202-. The draft legislation amended the provisions of the Elections (Jersey) Law Amendment 2002, in relation to electoral registers to facilitate automatic voter registration. Law 202-
/automatic The Committee recalled the background to the changes which facilitated a move voter away from self-declaration to automatic voter registration. Public access to the registration electoral Register would also cease with the Register being made available only to (P.?/2025). electoral administrators and the Judicial Greffe, with a copy being provided to the
Archive on an annual basis. Election candidates would receive a list of properties which fell within their constituency and a supplementary Register would be available up to 7 working days before the election to accommodate Islanders who moved home during that period. Any individual not included on the Register could be added at the polling stating, subject to the provision of certain documents.
However, during the debate a number of issues had been raised by Members, not least the removal of provisions under Article 11 and the new Article 12 of the Law. Consequently, the legislation had been referred back to the Committee for further consideration.
The Committee considered a draft amendment, which sought to address the primary issue raised during the debate by allowing candidates to access the electoral roll after candidate nomination/formal declaration. This also responded to safeguarding/human rights considerations. The point was made that the revisions would not assist first-time candidates with the identification of proposers in their parish. The Greffier of the States suggested that this could be managed by individual parishes, who could verify a list of names ahead of the submission of nomination forms.
The Committee approved the amendment in principle and noted that the Greffier would prepare a report to accompany the legislation to reflect the changes.
Differential A3. The Committee considered a draft comment in response to P.38/2025 – pay for Differential pay for Ministers, Scrutiny Chairs and Committee Chairs, which had Ministers, been lodged au Greffe' by Deputy J. Renouf of St. Brelade .
Scrutiny
Chairs and The Committee approved the comment and requested that it be presented to the
140
34th Meeting 27.05.2025
Committee States. Chairs
(P.38/2025):
comment.