Attendance levels of States Members

WQ.428/2024

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE CHAIR OF THE PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES

COMMITTEE

BY DEPUTY M.R. SCOTT OF ST. BRELADE

QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 25th NOVEMBER 2024 ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 2nd DECEMBER 2024

Question

"In relation to the Privileges and Procedure Committee's Comments to P.75/2023, specifically the request that the States Greffe record and publish attendance levels at all training sessions for States Members, will the Chair –

1. state what response, if any, she received to her request;
2. advise where this information is published or, if it is not yet published, where and when it will be published; and
3. indicate the attendance levels at any training sessions delivered during the current term of office relating to ethical conduct, data protection, and cybersecurity?"

Answer

I apologise to the Deputy , and to the Assembly as a whole, that the undertaking provided in the Comments to P.75/2023; as the States Greffe (on behalf of the Committee) has not to date published attendance levels at the training sessions offered to elected States Members in the way that was promised. In order to start to address that failure, I have taken the opportunity when responding to this Written Question to include information on attendance levels since October 2023.

To answer the Deputy 's specific questions –

1. The States Greffe does not object to recording and publishing attendance levels and is prepared to undertake both, following the political direction and oversight provided by the Committee on this matter.
2. As I have stated in the introduction to this response, the information has not to date been published. The Greffier of the States has advised me that, in future, this information will be included in the States Assembly Annual Report when it is put before the Committee for approval and eventual publication on the States Assembly website.
3. The Deputy will see from the table below that training sessions have been offered on Data Protection and on Cyber-Security and the attendance levels are indicated. A further session on Cyber-Security has been arranged for 3rd December 2024, attendance levels for which will be provided in due course. There has been no specific training offered since October 2023 on Ethical Conduct. I have asked the States Greffe to make arrangements for training on this matter to be provided in 2025.

The table below indicates the training organised by the States Greffe since 10th October 2023 for elected States Members. The number of Members who attended each is session is indicated; where this was not recorded, an asterisk (*) is shown. The table does not provide information on any training organised for elected States Members by bodies external to the States Greffe.

In addition to the sessions listed below, elected States Members have also had access during the last year to a custom-designed programme entitled Negotiating for Better Success in Politics', which was delivered through 10 2-hour tuition sessions (each available to Members at two different times and backed up with catch-up sessions). 25 Members completed all or part of the course.

Where sessions are marked (1) or (2) these are duplicates of the same session which was provided at multiple times