States Members' Remuneration Review Body: appointment of members

STATES OF JERSEY

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STATES MEMBERS' REMUNERATION: REVIEW BODY – APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS

Lodged au Greffe on 1st June 2004

by the Privileges and Procedures Committee

STATES GREFFE

PROPOSITION

THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion

to r e fer to their Act dated 13th May 2003 in which they agreed that an independent States Members'

Remuneration Review Body comprising persons who are not members of the States should be established, and to their Act dated 25th November 2003 in which they approved detailed terms of reference for the Body, and –

(a ) to appoint the following 5 persons as members of the Body for an initial period of 2 years, and to

vary their Act dated 13th May 2003 in which they agreed that the Body should consist of a Chairman and only 3 members –

M r . J ulian Rogers (Chairman);

M r . P hilip Barber (Vice Chairman); M r . M atthew Braid;

M r . B rian Bullock;

M r . R obert Gaiger

( b ) t o agree that the Body should present its recommendations on the appropriate level of

remuneration for elected members for the year 2005 to the Privileges and Procedures Committee no later than 31st October 2004 and to vary the Act dated 25th November 2003 accordingly.

PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE

REPORT

On 13th May 2003 the States adopted a proposition of Senator E.P. Vibert in the following terms – THE STATES, in adopting the proposition, as amended, of Senator Edward Philip Vibert

(a ) a g reed that an independent States Members' Remuneration Review Body, comprising persons who

were not Members of the States, should be established and that –

(i ) t h e Body should consist of a non-voting Chairman and 3  other members with a relevant

mix of skills and experience, all appointed by the States on the recommendation of the Privileges and Procedures Committee;

(i i ) t h e C hairman and members should be remunerated for their services at an hourly rate to

be determined by the States;

(i i i) t h e Body should hold public hearings and receive oral and written submissions from any

persons, including Members of the States, who wished to make a submission to it; and

(i v ) t h e B ody, having made whatever additional enquiries it deemed necessary, would report

annually to the States on the appropriate level of remuneration to be paid to elected Members of the States; and,

( b ) c h arged the Privileges and Procedures Committee to take the appropriate steps, including the

preparation of draft legislation if deemed necessary, to give effect to the proposals.

Members may recall that, following the adoption of an amendment of Senator C.G.P. Lakeman, it was agreed that recommendations of the Body would not be binding on the States.

Detailed terms of reference were approved by the States on 25th November 2003 as follows –

t o m ake  recommendations to the Privileges and Procedures Committee on the appropriate  level of

remuneration to be paid to elected members of the States, following the holding of public hearings and the receipt of oral and written submissions from any persons, including members of the States, having taken account of any other matters that the Body considers to be relevant, and having taken particular account, but not being bound by, the following matters –

(i ) th e principle that the level of remuneration available to elected members should be sufficient to ensure that no person should be precluded from serving as a member of the States by reason of

insufficient income and that all elected members should be able to enjoy a reasonable standard of living, so that the broadest spectrum of persons are able to serve as members of the Assembly;

( ii )  t h e economic situation prevailing in Jersey at the time of determination and the budgetary

restraints on the States of Jersey; and

(i ii ) th e States' inflation target, if any, for the period under review.

As promised in the proposition that was debated in November the Privileges and Procedures Committee advertised for expressions of interest from persons willing to serve on this Body and the Committee is grateful to all those who put their names forward. All of the nominees being proposed are persons who responded to the advertisement and who were subsequently invited to meet members of the Committee informally. A brief CV for each nominee is given in the Appendix. The Committee is aware that some members may be concerned that there are no female nominees but the Committee decided to only make nominations from among those who responded to its advertisement and there were no female applicants.

The Committee believes that the persons being proposed will bring a wide range of relevant skills and experience to this work and has no hesitation in recommending them to the States. As the Committee believes that all 5 members chosen can make an extremely valuable contribution to the work of the Body it has decided to recommend all 5 and not restrict the membership of the Body to 4 persons as agreed last year.

Members will be aware that the Committee deferred lodging this proposition to allow the debate on members' remuneration to take place without the nominees being drawn into political controversy on that occasion. Although the States decided last November that the Body should report its findings by 31st August 2004 it is now being recommended in paragraph (b) of the proposition that this date should be deferred until 31st October 2004 because of the delay.

Financial and manpower implications

There are no additional manpower implications as officers of the States Greffe will be available to assist the Body as required. Members of the Body are entitled to receive up to £20 a day if they wish, in accordance with the decision of the States, and any such cost will be met from the cash limit of the Privileges and Procedures Committee.

APPENDIX

Mr. Julian Rogers (Chairman)

Mr. Rogers is an Oxford graduate, a qualified systems analyst, a qualified lecturer in Further and Higher education, and a (relatively recent) MBA. He has worked in horticulture, manufacturing and aviation in the U.K. before coming to Jersey 25 years ago in connection with the latter. He now runs a small software house which is one of the longest established in the Channel Islands. The software house is fully engaged in the commercial sector and has no involvement with any States Department.

Mr. Philip Barber (Vice Chairman)

Mr.  Barber retired in 2003 after a career with Midland Bank (now HSBC) holding senior managerial positions in Jersey and the U.K. He was Manager of the Bank's St.  Brelade and Hill Street branches. Mr.  Barber was also in involved in remuneration matters for the Bank and attended bi-monthly HAY evaluation meetings in London for a period of 12  years. Mr. Barber has been Treasurer of the Royal Jersey Golf Club, the United Club and the local branch of the RNLI, a position he still holds.

Mr. Matthew Braid

After education in Jersey Mr. Braid gained a Honours degree in Computer Science in 1995 and returned to Jersey to commence his career. He has worked as a Project Manager for Supernet/World Pay, a Technical Director for Coconut, a Principal Consultant for Eccentra Technology Group and a Business Analyst at Mourant.

Mr. Brian Bullock

Mr. Bullock graduated from Kings College London with a degree in Mathematics and Physics, and gained professional educational qualifications the following year at Oxford. Appointments in London and Hertfordshire preceded 4  years in Nassau, Bahamas where he was Deputy Head and Head of Mathematics in the multiracial Queen's College, then 4  years at the newly-formed United World College of Southeast Asia in Singapore.

After a few months back in England he was appointed Deputy Head at the new Le  Rocquier School, before transferring to Hautlieu School as Deputy in 1983. He succeeded Jack Worrall as Head in 1988, a position he held until retirement in 1996. A member of the Lions Club of Jersey for many years, and a Songsmith for many more, he also lists among his many interests travel, instrumental music, sport, D.I.Y. and writing letters to the J.E.P.

Mr. Robert (Bob) Gaiger

Mr. Gaiger retired from the position of Comptroller of Income Tax in 2001, a post he had held for 17 years During this period he worked with States Members on policy matters and was also involved in the setting up and operation of the means-testing scheme for States members' remuneration. He was Chairman of the Chief Officers' Association for a number of years and involved in pay negotiations and in the agreement which led to Chief Officers being granted individual contracts and abandoning joint pay deals.