Education and Home Affairs - Approved Panel Minutes - 13 November 2006

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Agenda matter Action

1. Minutes of the Previous Meetings

The Panel approved the minutes of its meeting on 30th October 2006 with one amendment:

Under item 2b) Briefing notes the word not' was inserted after briefing notes had' and before been forwarded to them recently.'

2. Matters Arising

1. Action Updates

The Panel noted updates on actions requested at its previous meetings.

2. Chairman and Panel Member Actions

The Chairman informed the Panel about an article in the local press concerning the possible postponement of the Department of Education, Sport & Culture's Early Years Strategy. The Panel went on to discuss possible alternative issues to review in the event that their planned review of Early Years Education and Care  was  postponed. It  was  agreed  that  the  Panel  would consider a review of the introduction of student loans.

The  Panel  went  on  to  discuss  the  forthcoming  fifth  Scrutiny Panel and its composition. The Panel considered the advice given by the Greffier of the States concerning the number of Panel members required to sit on the existing Social Affairs Panel once the fifth Panel has been created. The Panel noted that based on standing orders the Chairman was not under any obligation to replace Panel members who left.

The  Panel  discussed  the Crime  (Disorderly  Conduct  and Harassment)  (Jersey)  Law  200-  and  agreed  that,  whilst supporting the proposed Law in principle, it would be helpful if

they could give it further consideration before discussing it in greater detail at their next Panel meeting. The Panel noted that the draft Law was due to be lodged for debate shortly and as such any comments they wished to make would need to be submitted as a matter of urgency. The Panel agreed to inform the  Department  of  Home  Affairs  that  they  were  minded  to consider the draft Law at their next meeting and to ask if this would allow sufficient time for any resulting comments from the Panel to be lodged before the draft Law is debated. The Panel further agreed that should there not be enough time to defer consideration until their next meeting that a telephone meeting be  organised  in  order  for  the  Panel  to  formulate  their comments. Deputy Pryke requested that a hard copy of the draft Law be sent to her.

Dairy Review

Deputy Pryke informed the Panel that the second Promar report available the previous week and that there would be meetings with stakeholders this week. The Chairman went on to inform the Panel that the Sub-Panel would be holding Public Hearings separate  from  the  Executive  and  had  reserved  the  right  to produce  a  separate  report  if  the  Sub-Panel  deemed  it necessary. It  was  further  noted  that  the  Sub-Panel  were exploring the possibility of using mobile recording equipment in order to conduct Public Hearings at locations around the Island.

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3. Rôle of the Centenier in the Magistrate's Court

The Chairman informed the Panel that he would be meeting with Deputy Mezbourian and the Scrutiny Officer to discuss the heads of report.

The Panel went on to discuss the recent Public Hearing with the Attorney General and noted the contrasting experiences they had had  with  the  various  witnesses  who  had  appeared  at  Public Hearings during this review. It was agreed that the Panel would explore the possibility of undergoing intensive questioning training and  undertake  a  visit  to  Westminster  in  order  to  observe Parliamentary Select Committees in action.

The Panel also discussed the transcript of the Public Hearing with Centenier Rigby and noted that a lot of the sentences had been incomplete. The Panel agreed to check whether or not there had been a problem with the recording equipment.

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4. GP Out-of-Hours

The  Lead  Member   Deputy  Pryke  informed  the  Panel  that,  as agreed at the Panel's previous meeting, the Minister for Health & Social Services and representatives of the GP Out-of-Hours Co-op

had been invited to appear at a Public Hearing on Monday 20th November. The  Minister  for  Health  and  Social  Services,  his

Department and the representatives of the GP Out-of-Hours Co-op had failed to respond to the previous invitation to appear at a Public

Hearing on Monday 13th November. However, upon receipt of the

subsequent  invitation  it  became  apparent  that  the  invitation  to appear on the 13th November had been accepted by the delegation

from Health without informing the Scrutiny Office.

5. Overdale

The Chairman informed the Panel that the heads of report were being formulated with a view to starting the final report in short order. Also the Panel were informed that the accountancy firm Alex Picot and Co. Ltd had been asked to provide a professional opinion on an aspect of the review.

6. Forthcoming Propositions

The Panel noted the forthcoming propositions lodged for debate by the  States  relating  to  their  remit  and,  having  noted  that  the propositions in question would no longer come within their remit at the date of debate, agreed that they would not scrutinise them.

7. Future Meetings

The Panel noted that it would next meet at 9:30am on Monday 27th November 2006.

The Panel also discussed meeting dates for 2007. It was agreed that  Monday  January  8th  be  provisionally  booked  as  the  first

meeting of 2007 and subsequent meetings be held on a two weekly basis as in 2006. This decision was made subject to approval by the new Panel, as constituted, at the meeting on 11th December

2006.