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ELECTION OF COMMITTEE PRESIDENTS _______________
Lodged au Greffe on 19th November 2002 by the Privileges and Procedures Committee
______________________________
STATES OF JERSEY
STATES GREFFE
150 2002 P.215
Price code: A
PROPOSITION
THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion -
to agree that during the election of the President of the Policy and Resources Committee on 12th December 2002 members of the States shall be permitted to ask questions of each candidate nominated for the position for a period not exceeding fifteen minutes for each candidate once the candidate concerned has, in accordance with the provisions of Standing Order 41(1B), addressed the States for no more than five minutes setting out the manner in which he or she would propose to discharge his responsibilities as President.
PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE
Report
The present procedure for electing Committee Presidents was first used in December 1993 and, as members will be aware, allows each candidate to address the States for up to five minutes before a ballot is taken.
The Privileges and Procedures Committee considers that, although the present method allows members of the States to hear something of the proposed policies of the candidates, it does not allow any opportunity for members to question the candidates. As a result, as Presidents are elected on the first day of the new States, newly-elected members are at a considerable disadvantage when making their choice.
If adopted, this proposition would allow a 15 minute period of questioning of each candidate proposed for the Presidency of the Policy and Resources Committee. It is the Privileges and Procedures Committee's intention that the Bailiff would, in his absolute discretion, call on members indicating a wish to ask a question and that he would also have discretion to interrupt a candidate if an unduly long answer was being given to allow a reasonable number of questions to be asked in the allocated time.
Although the Committee considered allowing a similar period of questioning in respect of each Committee Presidency on December 12th it became clear that the time this would take made that proposal impractical. As a result, on this occasion, it is proposed to restrict this procedure to the election of the Presidency of the Policy and Resources Committee in view of the importance of that rôle, particularly in view of the impending changes to the machinery of government. If the experiment proves successful the Privileges and Procedures Committee proposes to bring forward for approval draft amendments to Standing Orders to allow a similar procedure to be used for the election of any Committee Presidents during the lifetime of the new States.
This proposition has no implications for the financial or manpower resources of the States.