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Education and Home Affairs - Approved Panel Minutes - 30 October 2006

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Social Affairs Scrutiny Panel

Meeting 25

Date: 30th October 2006 Location: Le Capelain Room, States Building

Present Deputy F.J. Hill, B.E.M., Chairman

Deputy J.A. Martin, Vice Chairman Deputy D.W. Mezbourian

Deputy A.E. Pryke

Deputy S. Pitman

Apologies

Absent

In attendance Mr. C. Ahier , Scrutiny Officer

Mr. W. Millow , Scrutiny Officer

 

Ref Back

Agenda matter

Action

 

1. Minutes of the Previous Meetings

  1. Minutes of the meeting of 2nd October 2006 The Panel approved the minutes as read.
  1. Minutes  of  the  meeting  of  16th  October  2006  (Public Session)

The Panel approved the minutes as read.

  1. Minutes  of  the  meeting  of  16th  October  2006  (Private Session)

The Panel approved the minutes as read.

 

[04/09/06 Item 3a]

[16/10/06 Item 11]

2. Matters Arising

  1. Action Updates

The Panel noted updates on actions requested at its previous meetings and agreed the following further actions:

1. The Panel were informed that the States of Jersey Police had sent the information requested in respect of manpower and cost implications in relation to the presentation of cases in the Magistrate's  Court. The  Panel  agreed  to  send  a  further reminder to the Parish of St. Helier .

11. The Panel requested that a copy of the letter sent to the Minister for Education, Sport & Culture be circulated to all Panel members.

  1. Chairman and Panel Member Actions

The Chairman informed the Panel about the outcomes of the last Chairmen's Committee meeting:

Scrutiny Code of Practice:

CA/WM CA/WM

Legal Advice

The Panel were informed that the Chairman of the Chairmen's Committee  received  a  letter  from  the  Attorney  General regarding a legal opinion and subsequently met with the Bailiff

and Council of .Ministers on the 26th October 2006 in order to discuss  if  the  letter  from  the  Attorney  General  could  be

circulated to all States members. The Bailiff ruled that the letter could not be circulated.

The Panel further considered the issue of whether legal advice given by the Attorney General was the property of the Panel to which it was given or remained the property of the Attorney General  and  was  therefore  subject  to  any  restrictions  he deemed appropriate.

The  Panel  agreed  that  if  the  current  impasse  continued  in respect of legal advice the relevant laws would have to be changed.

Panel Expenditure

A  paper  detailing  each  Panel's  expenditure,  previously considered by the Chairmen's Committee, was distributed to the Panel. The Panel noted the paper and agreed that they were unlikely to incur any further significant expenses, in addition to those already budgeted for, before the end of the year.

Briefing notes

The Panel noted that the Chairmen's Committee briefing notes had been forwarded to them recently. The Panel agreed that CA/WM this had been detrimental to their understanding of the work of

the  Committee  and  further  agreed  to  request  copies  of  the

missing  briefing  notes  and  to  ensure  that  they  received  all

future briefing notes in a timely fashion.

The Panel went on to discuss other issues raised by Panel members:

Dairy review

Deputy Pryke informed the Panel about progress with the Dairy review. It was confirmed that the propositions P.68 and P69. had  been  withdrawn  by  the  Minister  for  Treasury  and Resources  following  correspondence  from  the  Davis  family objecting to the lifting of the covenant at Howard Davis Farm.

Away-Day

The  Panel  were  informed  that,  as  at  that  date,  no  States members of Scrutiny had informed the Department that they would not be attending the Away-Day.

Deputy   Mezbourian  informed  the  Panel  that  the  lunchtime arrangements, although approved by the Greffier of the States, had subsequently been changed by the Chairmen's Committee.

 

Fifth Panel

The Panel discussed the implications for Scrutiny in general and the Social Affairs Panel in particular. As at that date the Panel were unaware of any States member making a formal announcement  of  their  intention  to  stand for  the position  of Chairman.

HM Prison La Moye

The Chairman informed the Panel that Senator Perchard had recently asked a question in the States of the Minister for Home Affairs in respect of the Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). It had been confirmed that the PIP had been considered by the Council  of  Ministers  and  that  they  had  requested  some changes.

 

 

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

The  Panel  discussed  the  forthcoming  Public  Hearings  with Centenier Rigby, the Legal Advisers and the Attorney General. The Panel  agreed  that  these  would  be  the  last  Public  Hearings  in respect of this review and that the final report would subsequently be commenced.

 

 

4. GP Out-of-Hours

The Panel considered the difficulties encountered in agreeing a date for a Public Hearing with both the Minister for Health & Social Services  and  a  representative  from  the  GP  Out-of-Hours  co- operative. The  Panel  agreed  that  the  Chairman  write  to  the Minister for Health & Social Services requesting his presence at

10:30am on Monday 20th November.

CA/WM

 

5. Overdale

The Chairman of the Sub-Panel informed the Panel that all the Public Hearings had been completed and that they were awaiting further information from the Department of Health & Social Services in respect of maintenance figures. The Panel were further informed that there may be a requirement to engage an accountant subject to  the  outcome  of  certain  discussions. The  Sub-Panel's  next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday 31st October.

 

 

6. Forthcoming Propositions

The Panel noted the forthcoming propositions lodged for debate by the States relating to their remit and agreed that they would not scrutinise them.

 

 

7. Questions to Ministers

 

The Panel noted the arrangements for questions without notice to Ministers.

8. Future Meetings

The Panel noted the dates of forthcoming Public Hearings and the Scrutiny Away-Day. The Panel further noted that it would next

meet at 9:30am on Monday 13th November 2006.

Signed Date ..

Chairman, Social Affairs Panel