Growth bids submitted by PPC re constituency offices

WQ.408/2023

WRITTEN QUESTION TO

THE CHAIR OF THE PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES COMMI8TTEE

BY DEPUTY M.R. SCOTT OF ST. BRELADE

QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 23rd OCTOBER 2023 ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 30th OCTOBER 2023

Question

"Further to the Minutes of the Privileges and Procedures Committee meeting dated 17th July 2023, will the Chair provide the following in relation to the Constituency Office Support Team –

1. a breakdown of the growth bid of £344,000 sought for 2024, and for subsequent periods, for the Team, including the number of additional staff to be recruited;
2. the 3 constituencies chosen to receive the benefit of the Team from 2024 onwards, as part of a pilot scheme, along with the names and political party, or political affiliations, of the States Members elected in each of those 3 constituencies;
3. the names and political party, or political affiliations, of the States Members of the PPC Constituency Office Sub-Committee who approved the report to which Minute No. A.15 refers; and
4. any benchmarking or key performance indicators regarding the output of the States Members of the 3 constituencies involved in the 2024 pilot scheme used either to support the growth bid or to be used to assess the benefit and improvement in productivity resulting from the additional support to be provided?"

Answer

PPC has recognised that, for elected Members to be able to undertake their parliamentary and political work in a professional manner, they need to be appropriately equipped and supported. Although the States Greffe Members' Resources Team was established to support members (acting in an independent capacity) in relation to their work in and around the States Assembly, there is currently no dedicated resources for members to carry out their constituency work.

Providing adequate resources to members was one of the recommended benchmarks of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association for democratic legislatures:

"The legislature shall provide all legislators with adequate and appropriate resources to enable them to fulfil their constituency responsibilities".

When PPC last reviewed the benchmarks in 2022, the Assembly was found to only partially comply with the recommendation. This coupled with the Chief Minister's stated aim of opening constituency offices was why PPC established a Sub-Committee which was tasked with identifying the resources required to support States Members in their constituency work. The Sub-Committee comprised at least one member from each constituency to ensure adequate representation.

The Sub-Committee undertook its work during the first half of 2023 and provided a report for PPC to consider. At its meeting in July 2023, to which the Deputy refers, PPC considered the Sub-Committee's report, and its recommendations, ahead of developing a bid for the Government Plan. One of the recommendations made was that dedicated constituency support should be offered in three constituencies (St Helier North, St Helier Central and St Mary, St Ouen and St Peter) in the first instance in order to test how this could work in practice, with the service being extended to other constituencies when resources allow.

1. The breakdown of the growth bid of £344,000 sought for 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027 is as follows: 2024  2025  2026  2027

Constituency Staff  £294,000  £294,000  £294,000  £294,000

Constituency Funds  £50,000£50,000£50,000£50,000

Total  £344,000  £344,000  £344,000  £344,000

The bid provides for 4 (3 Research and Project Officers and 1 Principal role) constituency staff members and a constituency fund. The fund will be available to support States Members with some of their constituency work expenses, to include constituency surgeries advertising, venue hire, printed materials etc The fund would be controlled by the States Greffe and accessible by all members in the same way as the existing provision for IT grants.

2. The three constituencies chosen for the pilot are - St Helier North, St Helier Central and St Mary, St Ouen and St Peter. Members elected in each constituency are as follows:

Constituency  Members elected  Political Party/Affiliation St Helier North Deputy Steve Ahier  None

Deputy Max Andrews  None

Deputy Inna Gardiner  None

Deputy Mary Le Hegarat  None

St Helier Central   Deputy Carina Alves  Reform Jersey

Deputy Catherine Curtis Reform Jersey

Deputy Lyndsay Feltham  Reform Jersey Deputy Geoff Southern Reform Jersey

Deputy Robert Ward  Reform Jersey

St Mary, St Ouen and St Peter   Deputy Lyndon Farnham  None

Deputy Ian Gorst  None

Deputy Kristina Moore Better Way

Deputy Lucy Stephenson  Better Way

Connétable of St Helier Connétable Simon Crowcroft  None Connétable of St Mary Connétable David Johnson  None Connétable of St Ouen Connétable Richard Honeycombe  None Connétable of St Peter   Connétable Richard Vibert  None

3. The Constituency Office Sub-Committee comprised:

Deputy Carina Alves (Chair)  Reform Jersey Connétable Karen Stone (Vice Chair)

Deputy Lucy Stephenson  Better Way Deputy Kirsten Morel

Deputy Montfort Tadier  Reform Jersey Deputy Moz Scott

Deputy Barbara Ward  

Deputy Tom Coles  Reform Jersey Deputy Robert Ward  Reform Jersey Deputy Inna Gardiner

Deputy Philip Ozouf

The Sub-Committee approved the paper on the development of constituency offices on 27th June 2023. The minutes of the meeting (which was held electronically) note that Deputy Moz Scott dissented from the approval due to a number of concerns about the vision for constituency support and the equity between the constituencies, particularly the three that were due to be piloted.

4. There are no set key performance indicators regarding the output of the States Members of the three constituencies involved in the 2024 pilot scheme. It is anticipated that the trial in the three constituencies will operate for a minimum period of six months (i.e. April 2024 – October 2024), with the States Greffe reporting back to PPC during Q4 2024. But if there is a need to respond sooner to develop the service, PPC will react accordingly.

PPC is mindful that the service needs to be consistent across members and constituencies which the States Greffe, in delivering this service, will take into consideration. By focussing on three constituencies in the first instance allows for a managed introduction to the service, particularly as the Sub-Committee found that not all constituencies want such a service at present (such as Grouville and St Martin).

Once the pilot has come to an end, PPC will review the feedback from members and the States Greffe and consider the impact the constituency service is having on members and the general public. Further thought will then be given to how the service might operate from 2025 onwards, and the associated resources required. The Committee believes that this is a sensible and financially prudent approach to take when developing a new service.