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Letter - Economic and International Affairs Panel to Minister for International Development re JOA Appointments - 28 June 2023

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States Greffe

Deputy Carolyn Labey

Minister for International Development

BY EMAIL 28th June 2023

Dear Minister,

Jersey Overseas Aid Commission: Reappointment of Commissioner

Following  on  from  P.26/2023   Jersey  Overseas  Aid  Commission:  Re-Appointment  of Commissioner, the Panel would be grateful if you could provide clarification on the following points.  

Paragraph 7.4 of Schedule 1 of Jersey Overseas Aid Commission (Jersey) Law 2005 states that

If the office of a Non-States Commissioner becomes vacant because the term of the office has expired, the States shall, on therecommendationof the Chairman, appoint as a Non- States Commissioner a person who has nominated himself or herself for appointment to the office.

This requires the States Assembly to approve a re-appointment and that there is no statutory limitation on the total length of term of office. The Panel understands that you were due to consider a formal limitation: however, this was not reflected within the proposition.

  1. Could you clarify what is governance best practice and if this will be considered in due course.
  2. The Panel notes that Jersey Overseas Aid Commissioner Douglas Melville has committed to resign in January 2024 after 9 years of service. What measures are being taken to ensure 3 year appointments are not being rolled over successively ad infinitum without considering alternative appointments?
  3. What actions will you be undertaking to advertise the position prior to new recruitment in January 2024?
  4. Can you confirm what measures you are undertaking to ensure that the Commissioners are a diverse and balanced group of people in terms of gender, age, experience and skills (to date, the appointments have been 4/6 in favour of male).
  5. The last major update to the Jersey Overseas Aid Commission (Jersey) Law2005 was to establish the Minister for International Development in 2018. Has any need for further changes to the 2005 law been identified?

We would be grateful if you could respond to this no later by Wednesday 5th July 2023 in line with the 5 working days approved for responses between Scrutiny Panels and Ministers.

If you have any questions regarding this or our work in general, please do not hesitate to contact me. Please note that unless otherwise stated, all letters will be uploaded to the Scrutiny website as a matter of course.

Yours sincerely,

Deputy Moz Scott

Chair

Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel