Chairmen's Committee - Approved Committee Minutes - 24 April 2012

Present

Deputy T.A. Vallois, President Deputy S.G. Luce , Vice-President Senator S.C. Ferguson,

Deputy J.M. Maçon

Deputy J.H. Young

Deputy K.L. Moore

Apologies

Absent

In attendance

Mrs. K. Tremellen-Frost, Scrutiny Manager

Ref Back

Agenda matter

Action

1.  Minutes of previous meetings

The minutes of the meetings of 13th, 14th and 21st March 2012 and 2nd,  10th  and  11th  April  2012  having  been  approved  were accordingly signed. The Part B minutes of 13th March, having also been approved, were signed.

2.  Panel Activity Reports These were noted.

21.03.12 Item 2

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3.  Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP)

The  Committee  considered  its  previously  agreed  process  of Scrutiny of the MTFP and considered the possibility of main Panels determining  different  outcomes  than  those  of  the  Corporate Services  Scrutiny  Sub-Panel.  Consideration  was  given  to  the possible consequences of this, however, it was determined that there may need to be an acceptance of different outcomes.

The Committee noted that the President was scheduled to meet the Chief Minister the next day with the Assistant Minister, Treasury and Resources and the Treasurer of the States in attendance and it was agreed that Senator Ferguson and the Scrutiny Officer should attend  for  the  MTFP  item.  The  intention  was  that  Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel would draw up draft Terms of Reference for the Panels which would provide standardisation across Scrutiny but which would not restrict Panels from exploring other areas.

It was also noted that the meeting with the Chief Minister, Assistant Minister  of  Treasury  and  Resources  and  the  Treasurer  of  the States would consider not just the process but the timing of the debate. Given the importance of the MTFP, it was intended that a request would be made by the President to delay the debate on the MTFP, perhaps to coincide with the budget debate, in order to allow scrutiny more time to undertake thorough work on the subject and not be restricted to the summer recess which would make it problematic.

TV

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4.  Strategic Plan 2012 -2014: Amendment by the Health, Social Security and Housing Scrutiny Panel

The Committee noted that the Health, Social Security and Housing Scrutiny Panel had, on 16th April 2012, lodged an amendment to the draft Strategic Plan "Draft Strategic Plan 2012 (P.28/2012): Amendment". The Committee noted that the amendment had been accepted by the Council of Ministers on 25th April 2012'

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5.  Strategic Plan 2012-2014: status

Consideration was given to the status of the Strategic Plan in that it was a high-level vision of the way forward but with no real specific focus of how it could be achieved and it was not measurable. The Committee  expressed  concern  in  respect  of  this  high  level approach as it raised the question of whether funds had then to be found to implement the Strategic Plan or whether the Strategic Plan would have to be amended to fit within the budget.

It  was  agreed  that  the  Medium  Term  Financial  Plan  was  very important in terms of implementation of the Strategic Plan and that this should be robustly scrutinised.

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6. Public Accounts Committee [PAC] work programme

The Committee noted the planned work programme of the Public Accounts Committee for the year. It also noted that the PAC would be following up recommendations which had been made in the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General which was a major part of its remit.

Consideration was given to a review of the Bus Contracts and again  it  was  noted  that  the  PAC  were  following  up recommendations which the Comptroller and Auditor General had made  on  this.  It  was  agreed  that  the  Chairman,  PAC  would communicate with the Chairman, Environment Scrutiny Panel at an appropriate time.

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7. Housing Transformation Programme

The  Committee  considered  correspondence  received  from  a Scrutiny  Member  suggesting  the  importance  of  Scrutiny  of  the Housing  Transformation  Programme  which  overlapped  possibly three Panels namely: Corporate Services, Health, Social Security and Housing and Environment. The Committee was advised that the Environment Panel was not convinced that this Programme crossed over into its remit as suggested. The Chairman, Heath, Social Security and Housing Panel apprised the Committee of its vast work programme due to the planned release of two major White Papers later in the year. It was already considering forming Sub-Panels to be able to undertake the work.

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8. Camera Surveillance: Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel – scoping document

The Committee noted a scoping document on the above planned review by the Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel. The Committee was advised that it was planned to start the review in the Autumn 2012 and that the reason for preparing and approving the scoping document now was to permit it to undertake some work

in identifying an adviser so that (s)he would be available and ready to  start  when  the  Panel  was  ready  to  start  its  review.  The Committee approved the scoping document and requested it be advised when the review was to start.

9. Work progress report: quarterly

The  Committee,  with  an  aim  to  fulfil  its  terms  of  reference  of oversight of Panel work considered an overview report of work undertaken by Panels in the first quarter. It was noted that all Ministers  would  soon  have  attended  a  quarterly  hearing  with relevant Panels and that each Panel had a review underway. The Committee agreed that at this stage the work being covered was appropriate across various Departments.

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10. Introduction  of  Tasers  Review:  Education  and  Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel: concerns about radio advert

Some  concern  was  expressed  about  an  advert  on  the  Taser Review  which  had  been  broadcast  by  Radio  103FM  as  it  has appeared to have been "sensationalised" and was provocative. It was  recognised,  however,  that  Radio  103FM  reached  out  to  a different audience than other media outlets.

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11. Webcasting

The Committee recalled its previous decision at the meeting of all Scrutiny  Members  that  the  President  should  meet  the  relevant media representatives to ascertain whether they would take clips from visual webcasting material of Scrutiny Hearings and if so what quality they would require.

The President advised the Committee that the meeting with the media had been disappointing as their opinion had been that it would be of extremely limited use to them.

The Committee considered the possibility of audio-streaming as not just was this a more financially viable option but it would cater for a section of society which had difficulty with the written word. It was noted that work was already been undertaken on this.

The Committee noted, however, that audio-streaming would not overcome the issue of some members of the public wishing to film. Following a discussion about a range of possibilities to deal with this matter and whether or not to invite a member of the public to a Committee  meeting  to  put  forward  the  point  of  view  from  his perspective,  it  was  agreed  to  ask  for  advice  from  the  Data Protection  Commissioner  and  H.M  Attorney  General  about  any perceived risks in permitting members of the public to take visual footage  and  whether  a  protocol  and/or  signing  onto  the  Data Protection Register would be sufficient to permit members of the public to take visual footage under the same conditions as the media.

KTF

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12. Training: questioning skills

The  Committee  noted  that  the  feedback  received  on  the questioning  training  had  been  very  positive  and  the  general reaction  of  Scrutiny  Members  was  that  the  training  had  been extremely beneficial and good value for money. It was agreed that

a means should be found to provide the training for those Members who had wished to attend but had been unable to do so. It was also agreed  that  refresher  training  should  be  arranged  for October/November of this year.

In respect of the hearing preparation template which was signed up to by many Members on the training days, it was agreed that this was useful for guidance only but should not restrict the Panels in any way.

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13. Legislative Scrutiny

The successful outcome of discussions between the President and Chief Minister and subsequently between the Scrutiny Manager, Acting  Chief  Executive  and  Law  Draftsman  was  noted.  The legislation programme had now been sent to Scrutiny and was being circulated to Panels.

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14. Hearings: process

The  Committee  noted  that  the  revised  process  for  Scrutiny Hearings was being implemented in the main by all Panels and the Public Accounts Committee

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15. Visits to other jurisdictions

The Committee noted reports from the Public Accounts Committee on  two  visits  to  London,  one  as  part  of  the  Commonwealth Parliamentary Association [CPA] Westminster workshop for Public Accounts  Committees  and  the  second  on  a  private  visit  to Westminster  to  observe  the  United  Kingdom  Public  Accounts Committee. It was noted that the first of these had been attended by   Deputy  S.  Pitman  as  representative  of  the  Public  Accounts Committee, however Deputy Pitman had then not attended the second visit. Deputy Pitman had been offered the opportunity of contributing to the report on the CPA visit, however, nothing had been received and the report had been compiled by the officer who had attended with Deputy Pitman.

A visit to Westminster by the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel and the benefits of the visit were also noted.

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16. Newsletter: Scrutiny Matters – reminder of dates

The  Committee  noted  that  the  first  of  two  Scrutiny  Matters newsletters was being distributed during the week.

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17. Financial Report – first quarter

The Committee received the first quarter financial report and noted the estimated and actual expenditure to date. The Committee was advised that "other" included such matters as training, visits, name blocks and such like. The Committee noted the likely year end underspend.

KTF

18. Future meetings

The Committee noted that the date of the next meeting was 22nd May 2012