Chairmen's Committee - Approved Committee Minutes - 27 January 2011

Present

Deputy R.G. Le Hérissier, Vice-President Senator S.C. Ferguson

Deputy G. P. Southern

Deputy P.J. Rondel

Deputy M.R. Higgins

Apologies

Senator B. E. Shenton, President

Absent

In attendance

Mrs. K. Tremellen-Frost, Scrutiny Manager

Mr. W. Millow , Scrutiny Officer (item 13 only)

Ms M. Pardoe, Public Accounts Committee Officer (item 13 only)

Ref Back

Agenda matter

Action

1. Minutes

The minutes of 25th November, 10th,13th December 2010 (with a minor amendment) and 6th and 14th January 2011, having been approved, were signed.

2. Panel Reports

The Committee noted the Panel activity reports for the previous month.

25.11.10 item 3

515/21(8)

3. Economic Affairs Scrutiny Sub-Panel: Jersey Post

Due to the change in circumstances regarding Jersey Post, it was noted that two of the three Members of the Sub-Panel had agreed that a report on the matter would have no impact and the review, therefore, should not be continued.

25.11.10 item 4

515/19(8)

4. Economic Affairs Review of Jersey Airport

It was noted that this review would get underway with immediate effect and that a scoping document and Terms of Reference would shortly be forwarded to the Committee.

15.07.10 item 3

513/21(8)

5.  Corporate  Services  Scrutiny  Panel:  States  of  Jersey Development Company (SoJDC)

The  way  in  which  the  SoJDC  was  being  established  was questioned and the Committee considered whether this should be subject of a review.

514/1(1)

6.  Environment  Scrutiny  Panel:  Co-option  of  Members  to reviews

The Committee noted that Connétable Hanning had been co-opted onto  the  Environment  Panel  for  the  Review  into  the  Marine Environment. Also Senator Breckon had been co-opted onto that Panel for the Review into Speed Limits.

514/18(8)

7. Environment Scrutiny Panel: Speed Limits Review (budget)

The  Committee  noted  the  scoping  document  and  Terms  of Reference for a review into Speed Limits together with the initial estimated budget of £6,000

8. Panel/Committee Membership matters

The  Committee  noted  that   Deputy  J.  Le  Fondré  had  been appointed to the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel and the Public Accounts Committee.

9. Executive Departments: internal reviews

The  Committee  noted  that  both  the  Health  and  Housing Departments were undertaking so many reviews that it was difficult to  select  topics  for  scrutiny  reviews.  A  similar  situation  was occurring within the Education Department.

25.11.10 item 8

465/1(156)

10. Raising the profile of scrutiny reports

The Committee recalled that on 25th November 2010, it had been agreed  to  defer  this  matter  to  its  December  2010  meeting, however, that meeting had been cancelled.

The Committee reconsidered all the papers: the original proposal and  options,  communication  between  the  Committee  and  the Privileges  and  Procedures  Committee  (PPC),  a  previous Chairmen's Committee paper with options and views of Panels and individual Members.

The Committee agreed that Panels should have as much flexibility as  possible  to  enable  them  to  select  the  best  way  forward  in consideration  of  the  review  topic  and  political  circumstances surrounding the topic.

It was consequently agreed to contact the PPC  to explain the following:-

The Committee would wish to retain the current options of:-

• Presenting the report as an SR as currently applies;
• Lodging a proposition;
• Making comments;
• Making a statement.

It was also agreed that arrangements should be made to permit the following options:-

• Presenting  the  report  as  an  SR  with  a  verbal statement  and  the  possibility  of  questioning  the review chairman;
• Presenting the report as an SR and requesting a debate  once  the  Ministerial  Response  had  been received (after 6 weeks of presentation of SR);
• Presenting  the  report  as  an  SR  with  a  verbal statement  and  the  possibility  of  questioning  the Chairman  and  a  debate  after  receipt  of  the Ministerial Response.

The Committee also agreed that, in respect of timings for the purpose of debating an SR, 10 minutes should be permitted for the presentation,  10minutes  for  the  Minister  to  respond  with  30 minutes for an open debate. The Committee also agreed that it would like Members to have the opportunity to speak more than once.

Furthermore, the Committee agreed that for a debate on an SR to be successful it was imperative that the Review Chairman was able to present that report and take questions as opposed to the main Scrutiny Panel Chairman who might not have been involved in the review.

Finally the Committee agreed to forward the views of individual Panels and Scrutiny Members to the PPC.

BS KTF

511/1(41)

11. Appointment of Members from Scrutiny/Public Accounts Committee to Executive positions

The Committee considered the impact on scrutiny/PAC that was caused by immediate transfers from Panels to Executive positions. The Committee expressed concern that neither the PAC nor the Environment Scrutiny Panel had been given any notice that the Connétable of St. Peter was to take up a position as an Assistant Minister. Had Deputy Le Fondré, having left a Ministerial post not been willing to serve on PAC it would have left that Committee not properly constituted and unable to undertake any formal work. Also if Members involved in scrutiny reviews transferred with immediate effect, the review lost continuity.

The Committee also expressed its concern in respect of the small number  of  Members  who  served  on  neither  scrutiny  nor  the Executive.  It  was  agreed  that  PPC  be  formally  requested  to consider these matters and identify a means whereby they could be overcome.

BS KTF

25.11.10 item 10

510/3(5)

12. Scrutiny Matters newsletter: responses to questionnaire

The Committee, having considered the price for producing, printing and mailing a 2011 Newsletter, agreed that there should be one more edition for this session. It was agreed that information should be included about the outcome of the questionnaire in the last edition.

25.11.10 item 12

465/1(4)

13. Chairmen's Committee representative on the Privileges and Procedures Committee (PPC)

The  Committee  recalled  that   Deputy  Higgins,  the  current representative  of  the  Chairmen's  Committee  on  PPC,  has expressed the wish to stand down. The Committee also recalled that it has agreed that Deputy Southern should be nominated.

However, following consideration of procedures to do this and to nominate other Members, Deputy Higgins had decided to continue as  the  Committee's  representative  for  the  remainder  of  this session.

KTF

510/3(7)

14. Public Engagement

The Committee welcomed Mr. W. Millow , Scrutiny Officer and Ms.

M. Pardoe, Public Accounts Committee Officer to the meeting for this item.

The Committee was appraised of a body of work undertaken by the officers in respect of public engagement and raising the public profile of scrutiny through its review work.

The Committee noted various proposals for the stages during a review when a more proactive approach could be taken to inform the public about matters which had arisen. The Committee also advised that it would welcome a checklist which advised at which points of a review information should be put into the public domain and the alternative methods for achieving this. The Committee also noted that scrutiny now had a Facebook site and requested a presentation on this be prepared for all Scrutiny Members.

KTF

28.10.10 item 14

510/1(5)

15.  Code  of  Practice  for  Scrutiny  Panels  and  the  Public Accounts Committee

The  Committee  considered  the  paper  prepared  by  the  Review Group into the above Code which had included its findings and in which  a  number  of  recommendations  had  been  made.  The Committee noted that it had initially received this paper in June 2010 but that it had been deferred due to the lodging "au Greffe" of firstly P70/2010: Machinery of Government: Amended Structure and  subsequently  P120/2010:  Ministerial  Government: Establishment  of  Ministerial  Boards  and  Revised  System  of Scrutiny.

Having considered some of the matters which made a review of the Code of Practice difficult, it was agreed that an additional Committee meeting should be arranged with Deputies Vallois and De  Sousa  (remaining  Members  of  the  Review  Group)  in attendance.

16. Date of next meeting

Noting that the date of the next meeting was scheduled for 24th February 2011 which was during half-term week, it was agreed that  Members  availability  would  be  checked  before  proceeding with that date.