Corporate Services - Approved Panel Minutes - 15 February 2007

Present

Deputy P J D Ryan, Chairman

Senator J Perchard, Vice Chairman (Excluding items 10a; 10d; and 11)

Connétable J L S Gallichan

Connétable D Murphy (Item 3 onwards)

Deputy C Egré (Items 1-3; 9 and 10b only)

In attendance

Mr M Haden, Scrutiny Officer Miss S Power, Scrutiny Officer

Ref Back

Agenda matter

Action

1.

Minutes –

The Panel approved the minutes of the meetings held on the 18th January (parts A and B); 24th January and 25th January 2007.

2.

Matters arising –

1. The Panel discussed the issue of paper management, as requested by the Chairman. Indexed review folders will be prepared by Officers at the start of each review and further papers will be added as the review progresses. It was  agreed  that  each  Panel  member  should  inform Officers  whether  they  required  a  file  to  keep  all  key documents, or whether they were happy to work from a central file held in the Scrutiny Department.

2. The Panel noted that Deputy Egré had offered Deputy R Duhamel,  President  of  the  Chairmen's  Committee,  his support for a potential Scrutiny review into La Collette.

Panel members

3.

Chairmen's Committee –

The  Panel  noted  briefing  notes  from  the  Chairmen's Committee meeting of the 9th February 2007.

4.

International Conventions and Agreements –

The Panel noted a Progress report for the period from the 1st April to the 30th September 2006, and requested for Mr M Entwistle, International Relations Officer, to be contacted to

request for further information on the "International Convention on  the  Establishment  of  an  International  Fund  for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage 1992."

SO

5.

Machinery of Government Review –

The Panel noted the letter  of the 24th January 2007, from Connétable  D  Gray,  Chairman,  Privileges  and  Procedures Committee,  and  agreed  it  wished  to  make  a  collective response  to  this  review.   The  Panel  highlighted  matters  it wished  to  include  in  this  response,  and  requested  for  a response to be drafted to be approved by the Panel before being sent.

SP

6.

Forthcoming legislation –

The Panel noted a paper outlining forthcoming items of draft legislation due to be debated within the next month.

7.

Ministerial decisions –

The Panel noted a paper documenting Ministerial decisions for the period from the 1st January to the 8th February 2007.

8.

Date of next meeting –

The  Panel  requested  for  the  Minister  for  Treasury  and Resources to be invited to a private meeting during its update meeting in the States lunch break on the 27th February 2007, to  discuss  issues  relating  to  the  future  deficit  in  States finances.

The Panel noted that the next six monthly meeting with the Chief Minister had been scheduled to take place on the 15th March 2007, and agreed that the Panel should discuss issues to raise at this meeting during its update meeting on the 27th February 2007.

The Panel noted that Orchid Communications had requested a meeting with each Scrutiny Panel to discuss the production of the Scrutiny Newsletter. The Panel delegated responsibility to the Chairman and the Vice Chairman to meet with Orchid Communications  to  discuss  matters  to  be  included  in  the Newsletter.

MH

PR/JP

9.

States Annual Business Plan –

1. The Panel received a confidential briefing from Mr I Black, Treasurer of the States and Mr C Haws, Head of Financial Planning on the next stage of the Budget and the Annual Business Plan.

2. The Panel discussed the next stage of its review into the States  Annual  Business  Plan.   The Panel  noted  that Deputy  I   Gorst ;   Deputy  A  Maclean  and   Deputy  J  Le Fondré had formed a Panel to review further scope for efficiency savings within States Departments, and would be  presenting  a  report  outlining  their  findings  to  the Council of Ministers. The Panel requested for access to

this paper once it had been produced.

The Panel requested for a paper to be prepared outlining the timescales that were being worked towards with this review, and summarising the main points that had been raised  during  the  briefings  from  the  Treasury  and Resources Department.

MH

MH

10.

a. i.

ii.

b.

i. ii.

iii.

Overseas Aid Review –

In the absence of the Sub Panel Chairman, the Panel received  an  oral  progress  report  from   Connétable Gallichan and Connétable Murphy following the public hearings that had been held for this review during the 5th and 7th February 2007.

The Panel noted the letter that had been sent to the

Chairman  of  the  Jersey  Overseas  Aid  Commission from the Chairman of the Overseas Aid Sub Panel, following the attendance of the Jersey Overseas Aid Commission at the public hearing on the 7th February 2007. The Panel agreed that in future letters of this nature should be sent to the full Corporate Services Panel for approval before being sent in the name of a Sub Panel.

GST Review -

The  Panel  received  an  oral  update  report  from  the

Chairman following the Sub Panel's meeting with the GST  Director  on  the  14th  February.   The  Panel discussed the possibility of presenting an amendment to the GST legislation in the name of the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel, and agreed, before taking this matter further, to request a private meeting with the Minister  for  Treasury  and  Resources  to  discuss  the possible amendment.

c.  Zero/Ten Review –

The  Panel  received  an  oral  update  report  from  the Chairman following a meeting with the Treasury and Resources Minister on the 14th February, and noted that the Panel would be provided with a copy of the draft shareholder legislation within the next few weeks.

The Panel agreed that as the provisions for the Island to move to a zero/ten corporate tax system had now been approved by the States the original zero/ten Sub Panel  should  be  reconstituted.   The  Panel  therefore approved the revised draft terms of reference for the final stage of the review. Responsibility was delegated to the Chairman and the Vice Chairman to consider a title for this review.

The Panel agreed that the constitution of this Sub Panel should be as follows:

Senator J Perchard (Chairman)

Senator B Shenton

Deputy P Ryan

Mr B Curtis (local expert adviser)

MH

PR/JP

The Panel agreed that Sub Panel members should be contacted formally once the name of the review had been confirmed.

d.  Migration Policy –

The  Panel  received  an  oral  update  report  from  the Chairman  following  a  meeting  with  the  Migration Advisory Group on the 9th February 2007. The Panel noted that the Sub Panel was currently in the process of looking for an expert adviser, and that further details would  be  provided  once  any  interested  parties  had responded.

JP/SP

11.

Government Bonds –

The Panel received Mr C Steel from Attac and the Tax Justice Network, to discuss his Scrutiny Proposal into Government Bonds.

The Panel agreed that Mr Steel should be contacted to thank him  for  his  time,  and  to  ask  for  a  paper  demonstrating evidence of the financial and economic benefits to the Island of implementing such a proposal.

MH