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STATES OF JERSEY
CODE OF PRACTICE FOR SCRUTINY PANELS AND THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE: AMENDMENTS
Lodged au Greffe on 29th March 2011 by the Chairmen's Committee
STATES GREFFE
2011 Price code: A P.49
PROPOSITION
THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion
to refer to their Act dated 12th March 2008 in which they approved the Code of Practice for Scrutiny Panels and the Public Accounts Committee and to approve the following amendments to that Code in relation to the number of Members who can serve on Scrutiny Sub-Panels and to the role of rapporteur –
- in paragraph 4.21 after the words "Sub-Panel Chairman to report to the full Panel on a regular basis." insert the words –
"The minimum number of Members on a Sub-Panel is three, a Chairman and two others.";
- in paragraph 4.25, after the words "Rapporteurs will progress their investigations on their own initiative and direction" insert the words –
"through fact-finding visits, calls for public submissions but not hearings".
CHAIRMEN'S COMMITTEE
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REPORT
In undertaking its rôle of overview of the scrutiny function and scrutiny work, the Chairmen's Committee has become concerned that the current situation whereby a Sub-Panel can consist of a minimum of 2 Members (a Chairman and one other Member) is not good practice.
With a quorum being one half of its Members rounded up to the next whole number, it means that, in the event that one Member is unavailable for whatever reason, a meeting/hearing could proceed with just one Scrutiny Member. The Committee believes that this could challenge the credibility of the review and that there should be a minimum number of 3 Members on a Sub-Panel, making the quorum for meetings and hearings two.
The Committee also considers that, under current arrangements, a rapporteur could also be the only Member at a meeting/hearing and in order to bring this in line with the proposal for Sub-Panels, has agreed to make the rôle of the rapporteur clearer.
Financial and manpower implications
There are no financial or manpower implications for the States arising from this proposition.
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P.49/2011