Bailiff’s Consultative Panel

STATES OF JERSEY

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BAILIFF'S CONSULTATIVE PANEL

Lodged au Greffe on 28th February 2006 by the Privileges and Procedures Committee

STATES GREFFE

PROPOSITION

THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion

to r ef er to their Act dated 7th July 1992 in which they agreed to establish a Consultative Panel of elected

members of the States with whom the Bailiff would be able to meet in order to consult on a confidential basis in appropriate cases, and to their Act dated 4th February 2003 in which they agreed to revise the composition of the Panel, and

to a g re e th a t the composition of the Panel should be further revised and henceforth be comprised as

follows –

th e se n i o r S e n a to  r;  

th e C h a ir m a n o f t h e Comité des Connétable s;

th e se n i o r D e p u t y ;  

th e C h i ef M i n is t e r;  

th e C h a ir m a n o f t h e Privileges and Procedures Committee;

th e M i n i st e r f o r T r e asury and Resources; and

th r e e o t h e r m e m  b e rs elected by ballot by the States for a period of 3  years;

e x c ep t th a t i f either the senior Senator or Deputy are already members of the Panel by virtue of

holding another office their place on the Panel shall be filled by the next most senior Senator or Deputy in the roll of elected members who is not already a member of the Panel.

PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE

REPORT

On 7th July 1992 the States, adopting a proposition of Senator R.J. Shenton, "agreed to establish a Consultative Panel of elected members of the States with whom the Bailiff would be able to meet in order to consult on a confidential basis in appropriate cases".

In 1992 the States agreed that the Panel would comprise –

th e se nior Senator;

th e se nior Connétable ;

th e se nior Deputy ;

th e P resident of the Policy and Resources Committee; th e P resident of the Finance and Economics Committee; th e P resident of the Establishment Committee; and

th r e e members appointed by the States.

In February 2003, following the establishment of the Privileges and Procedures Committee and the various Committee amalgamations made in the transition to the ministerial system, the States agreed to amend the composition of the Panel as follows –

th e se nior Senator;

th e se nior Connétable ;

th e se nior Deputy ;

th e P resident of the Policy and Resources Committee;

th e P resident of the Privileges and Procedures Committee; th e P resident of the Finance and Economics Committee; and th r e e members appointed by the States by ballot.

Although the Panel does not meet frequently the PPC and the Bailiff consider that it remains a useful body as it enables the Bailiff to discuss various matters on a confidential basis with elected members. For example, matters discussed by the Panel in the recent past have included the plans for Liberation Day 2006, the arrangements for the departure of His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor and the arrival of his successor, and the appropriate way to mark the departure from the States of retiring members in December 2005.

Following the introduction of the ministerial system there is a need to amend the composition of the Panel. PPC considers that no substantive change in membership is required and, as can be seen, the proposition simply replaces the President of the Policy and Resources Committee with the Chief Minister and the President of the Finance and Economics Committee with the Minister for Treasury and Resources. The previous reference to the Senior Connétable ' has been replaced with a reference to the Chairman of the Comité des Connétable s as, although the senior Connétable in the roll of members was traditionally Chairman of the Comité, that is not currently the position and may not be the case in the future. In addition the Committee is suggesting that, if either the senior Senator or Deputy are already members of the Panel by virtue of holding another office their place should be taken by the next most senior Senator or Deputy who is not already a member. The Committee considered whether or not to propose any restriction on which members should be eligible to stand for the 3  places appointed by ballot (for example, whether Ministers should be ineligible) but concluded that the choice should be left entirely to States members.

If this proposition is adopted the States will be asked to proceed immediately to the appointment of the 3 members appointed by ballot. Nominations will be invited by the presiding officer and, if more than 3  members are nominated, a ballot will be held to determine which 3  members are appointed.

There are obviously no financial or manpower implications arising out of this proposition.