Economic Affairs - Approved Panel Minutes - 5 March 2008

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Agenda matter

Action

1.

Minutes

The Minutes of the meeting held on 13th February 2008 were approved.

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2.

Item 14 03.10.07

Jersey Harbours – Southampton Boat Show (Matters Arising)

The Panel recalled that at its meeting of 3rd October 2007 it had discussed  the  expenditure  of  £38,000.00  by  the  Economic Development Department on hospitality at the Southampton Boat Show with a view of attracting high net worth' individuals to Jersey.

It  further  recalled  that  it  had  agreed  that  it  would  request performance  indicators  relating  to  this  event  approximately  six months after the fact, in order that the benefits could be assessed.

Accordingly,  the  Panel  directed  officers  to  establish  the performance criteria arranged prior to the expenditure as above, and the benefit that the Department could attribute to having made that expenditure.

EKW

3.

Item 4 13.02.08

Employment and Training Opportunities in Jersey

The Panel noted documents received detailing the operation of the Economic  and  Social  Research  Council's  Centre  on  Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE), which was jointly staffed by Oxford and Warwick Universities.

The  Panel  noted  that  this  organisation  might  provide  an appropriate advisor for its review into Employment and Training Opportunities in Jersey'.

Officers  were  directed  to  gather  all  available  information

concerning this organisation, and to liaise with the Chairman in respect of making contact. The Panel delegated authority to the Chairman to engage an advisor in this regard.

GS/NJF

4.

Item 3 13.02.08

Draft Price and Charge Indicators (Jersey) Law 200-

The Panel noted draft comments on the draft Price and Charge Indicators (Jersey) Regulations 200- (P.14/2008 Re-Issue), lodged au  Greffe'  by  the  Economic  Development  Minister,  and  an Amendment  thereon  (P.14/2008  Amd  1)  lodged  au  Greffe'  by Senator L. Norman, due to be debated at the next States session on 11th March 2008.

The  Panel  considered  and  amended  the  draft  comments.  The Panel approved comments detailing the following points-

First Amendment to the draft Price and Charge Indicators (Jersey)

NJF

GS NJF

This amendment would fix the cost of GST per item at a whole number rather than allow 3% to be calculated on total expenditure. Therefore the purchase of numerous low-value items would incur a charge that would have little relation to the GST rate. The Panel would not support this amendment.

Draft   Price  and  Charge  Indicators  (Jersey)  Regulations  200-

These Regulations would introduce exclusive pricing for pre-priced imported goods, which would be detrimental to clarity and confusing for consumers. The Panel would not support these Regulations.

Officers were directed to make the necessary amendments to the comments and to present then to the States as soon as possible.

The Panel agreed that it would be appropriate to lodge au Greffe' an amending Regulation to the Goods and Services Tax (Jersey) Regulations 2007 to introduce a requirement that all businesses registered  for  GST  be  required  to  indicate  on  any  receipt  the amount of GST that had been incurred as a result of a transaction. This was currently being developed by the Chairman in conjunction with the Law Draftsman's Department.

The Panel recognised that this Regulation would have to be lodged au Greffe' in the near future, and in order to avoid unnecessary delay agreed to delegate to the Chairman authority to lodge this amending Regulation, subject to transmission at that time to the Panel for information.

Officers were directed to take the appropriate action in this regard.

5.

Economic Development Work Programme 2008 – briefing

The  Panel  recalled  that  the  Chairman  and   Deputy  Martin  had

attended  a  briefing  held  at  9.00am  on  4th  March  2008  at  the Radisson  Hotel  in  respect  of  the  Economic  Development Department's plans for 2008.

The Panel was informed by the Chairman that the briefing had not been  particularly  informative,  and  that  it  would  have  been preferable had information been provided solely in a written format. He considered that the event was in essence an opportunity for self-aggrandisement by the Economic Development Minister. He also commented that the event had been managed in such a way that there had been little or no opportunity to question the Minister about the Department's future plans.

The Chairman was of the opinion, having noted that training and apprenticeships were addressed at the briefing, that the tendency for  the  Economic  Development  Department  to  begin  work  on subjects that the Panel had recently chosen to review was more than  coincidence,  and  indicated  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the Economic Development Minister to influence the outcome of the Panel's reviews.

The Panel noted in general terms that it considered the Enterprise and  Business  Development  section  to  be  using  funds  in  an inefficient manner, as it was paying for systems rather than directly funding  businesses.  In  reference  to  the  Small  Business  Loans Guarantee Fund, the Panel was of the opinion that it was not the place of the States to be guaranteeing loans.

6.

Item 16 05.09.08

Scrutiny Newsletter

The  Panel  considered  its  submission  for  the  third  Scrutiny Newsletter to be published on 19th May 2008.

It directed officers to draft a submission including-

1. The success of the Jersey Telecom Privatisation review, with specific reference to the fact that in a pre-Scrutiny system the sale proposition would in all likelihood have been approved with a minimum of consideration, based on  the  positive  assertions  by  the  Treasury  and Resources Minister and the Treasurer of the States.

2. A member profile' of Connétable Jackson .
3. Other work carried out by the Panel with reference to the Economic  Development  Department  Business  Plan, which the Panel considered needed to be explained to the public in greater detail.

Officers  were  directed  to  prepare  a  draft  submission  for consideration by the Panel at its next meeting.

NJF

7.

Item 5 13.02.08

The Role and Funding of Jersey Finance Limited

The Panel noted the forthcoming public hearings with Mr. G. Cook, Chief Executive, JFL and Mr C. Clarke, Accountant, to be held on

5th March 2008 at 11:30 am and 1:30 pm respectively (subsequent to this meeting).

The  Panel  considered  the  areas  of  questioning  for  the aforementioned public hearings.

8.

Item 6 13.02.08

MJ

1. Intellectual Property legislation
2. Companies (Jersey) Law 1991 Amendments
3. Security Interests (Jersey) Law 200-
4. Limited Partnerships (Amendment) (Jersey) Law 200-
5. Incorporated Partnerships (Jersey) Law 200-
6. Trusts (Amendment No 5) (Jersey) Law 200-
7. Review of Limited Liability Partnerships (Jersey) Law 1997 (viii)  Planned EDD Root and Branch' review of pensions

(ix)  Jersey Harbours – management and operation

Officers were directed to take the appropriate action.

Connétable Jackson commented that he would not be able to take part in respect of item (ix) - Jersey Harbours, as he was conflicted by operating a marine leisure business.

He agreed, however, to produce a dossier of evidence for the Panel should it engage in a review of the subject, and agreed to be called as a witness in this regard. He agreed that it would be acceptable also if he were to produce a pre-review submission for the Panel.

The Panel declined to produce a time plan of its 2008 reviews, in order to maintain flexibility.

9.

Future meetings

The Panel noted that the next meeting was to be held on 26th March 2008 at 9.30am in the Blampied Room, States Building.