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Notes from informal meeting of Corporate Services Panel Date: 21st December 2006
In attendance: Deputy P. Ryan (Chairman), Constable D. Murphy (for a time)
M. Haden, S. Power
Apologies: Senator J. Perchard, Constable J. Gallichan, Deputy C. Egré
- Fiscal Strategy: Information on the timetable for the draft GST legislation should be available on 22nd December.
- Overseas Aid Review: The engagement of Mrs A. Thomson as adviser had been agreed by the Sub Panel following an interview on 18th December. The Chairmen's Committee had agreed an estimate of expenditure in the sum of £10,193. The Scrutiny Office was asked to contact Panel members for their formal endorsement of the expenditure.
3 States Business Plan (SBP): The Executive paper, entitled 2008 Budget Process, was considered alongside the Scrutiny Officer's paper dated 14.12.06. It was noted that the Executive paper supported the objectives in the Scrutiny Officer paper which were to promote early and structured involvement in the business planning process through a specifically appointed Panel.
The Chairman expressed support in principle for the proposal that the Corporate Services Panel should take a lead in scrutinising the SBP by
- establishing a Finance Sub Panel, chaired by the CSP Chairman, and including three members of the Panel together with representation from all other Panels
- commitment of Panel officer time (MH).
The Chairman asked that the views of other Panel members be sought via e-mail as a matter of urgency and that, subject to the endorsement of Panel members, a revised paper be prepared for submission to the next Chairmen's Committee meeting, scheduled for 12th January 2007.
4. Migration Policy: It was noted that Migration legislation inclusive of proposals for a population register, licence allocation policies and policies to manage access to controlled housing were key objectives in the Chief Minister's Business Plan for 2007. The Panel had been informed that relevant papers would be released by the Population Office subject to the preparation of terms of reference for a review. The Chairman undertook to lead the scrutiny of this issue following the departure of Deputy Gallichan.
The Chairman's expressed the view that this topic should be a priority for the Panel in 2007. He believed that it was important that a Scrutiny review should follow up the work of the Shadow Scrutiny Panel which had reported in 2005 and that it would be appropriate to form a Sub Panel incorporating the interests of the Economic Development and Housing.
The Chairman asked for the views of other Panel members to be sought by e-mail and, subject to their approval, for a scoping document and draft terms to be prepared for consideration at the next meeting.
5 Attac Scrutiny proposal: Government Bonds - It was recognised that this proposal was in effect a means of borrowing to fund public expenditure and as such was contrary to the budgetary policies pursued by the States for many years. It was felt that the Panel did not have capacity within its work programme to undertake a full review of this proposal. However, it was suggested that the proposer might be given an opportunity during a Panel meeting to make his case to the Panel.
- States ability to pay rates Members received confidential draft Minutes of the Working Party dealing with this issue, together with a timescale for advising the Minister and the Comité des Connetables and from their to the Council of Ministers and the States.
- Scrutiny review of mobile phone masts - The Chairmen's Committee was opposed to this review on the grounds that that there were insufficient officer resources available to support a full investigation of the issues.