Members of committee

WQ.275/2020

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SCRUTINY LIAISON COMMITTEE

BY DEPUTY M.R. HIGGINS OF ST. HELIER

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 13th JULY 2020

Question

Will the President advise –

1. how often the Committee meets, whether all meetings are minuted and whether formal votes are ever taken to decide matters before the Committee; and
2. in relation to the Committee's recent amendment to A safer travel period: States Assembly approval' (P.84/2020), who took part in the meeting to approve the amendment, whether there was a vote on lodging the amendment and, if so, what the results of the vote were?

Answer

(a)  The Committee holds regular scheduled meetings on a largely monthly basis, with un-scheduled meetings held (primarily digitally) to deal with matters arising in-between. All such formal meetings are fully minuted.

In 2019 meetings were held on the following dates:

Scheduled 23rd January 28th February 28th March

8th May

20th June

18th July

26th September 6th November 12th December

Un-scheduled 7th January 15th February 6th March

8th March

4th June

14th June

17th June

5th July

10th October 19th November 12th December 20th December

In 2020 meetings have been held on the following dates: Scheduled

23rd January 27th February 18th June

Un-scheduled

16th January 12th March 28th May 4th June 15th June 29th June 2nd July

The following dates have been agreed for scheduled meetings for the remainder of 2020 (10am to 11.45am unless otherwise stated):

• 16th July 2020 (11.15am to 1pm, subject to the States meeting)

• 24th September

• 22nd October

• 19th November

• 3rd December

• (Opening meeting 2021 21st January):

In response to the Stay at Home' instructions issued during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Committee established a daily meeting slot from 19th March for those of its Members who wished to informally catch up on Scrutiny or other matters and to help communication in respect of any necessary co- ordination of Panel and Committee work on emergency legislation and community challenges. A weekly Scrutiny Activity Bulletin was established to convey the Committee's activity in this period along with that of all other Scrutiny Panels.

All approved minutes and the weekly Scrutiny Activity Bulletins are published on the States Assembly website.

In respect of formal votes, the Scrutiny and Public Accounts Committee Proceedings: Code of Practice states:

12.In practice Panels/PAC make most of their decisions by consensus without the need to vote. Where a vote is necessary, each member of the Panel has one vote. The Panel Chairman does not have a deciding vote in the event of a tied vote. It is not possible to proceed with a decision on a tied vote.

All decisions of the Chairmen's Committee/Scrutiny Liaison Committee during this Assembly have been made on a consensus basis.

b) As above, all decisions of the Chairmen's Committee/Scrutiny Liaison Committee during this Assembly have been made on a consensus basis. The minute from the meeting held on 29th June reads:

Scrutiny Liaison Committee

Record of Meeting

Meeting held digitally

Date:  29th June 2020