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Public Accounts Committee
Record of Meeting
Date: 11th June 2012 Meeting No: 6
Present | Deputy T. Vallois, Chairman Senator S. C. Ferguson, Deputy R. Rondel Mr A. Fearn Mr S. Haigh Mr C. Evans |
Apologies | Deputy S. Pitman |
In attendance | Mr. C. Swinson O.B.E. – Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) Mr M. Robbins, Scrutiny Officer |
Ref Back | Agenda matter | Action |
| 1. Records of Meetings th May 2012. The Committee approved the record of its meetings of 14 | MR |
| 2. Conflict of Interest No conflict of interest was declared relating to any matter on the agenda. |
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Item 3 14.05.12 512/1(40) | 3. Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005 The Committee was advised that no further information was available from the Treasury Department. The States Treasurer had advised that there were no written instructions or notes to the Lawdraftsmans Office as everything had been done verbally at meetings. This had been possible because the changes were amendments to the Law and not a project in itself. The States Treasurer had made an assurance that the Committee would receive a draft of the changes at the earliest possible opportunity. The Committee discussed the possibility that the changes may contain amendments to the rules governing the Strategic Reserve. The Comptroller and Auditor General was to advise the Committee on the rules relating to the fund. The lack of information supplied by the Treasury Department made it impossible for the Committee to examine the amendments to the extent that it considered that it had not been consulted on this issue. When the changes were available, the connection with the recommendations by the Comptroller and Auditor General were to be examined. In the mean time, the Committee was unable to forward this matter. |
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| 4. Suspension of States Employees. |
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Item 4 14.05.12. | Following the circulation of the documentation relating to suspensions, it was considered that the Human Resources Department needed a fundamental overhaul to provide a suitable function capable of dealing with these issues. The Committee noted that this would more appropriately fall to the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel to examine, however that Panel had a full work schedule until the end of the year. There was concern that there appeared to be three areas that politicians were consistently failing to deal with;
The Committee noted that these were difficult issues to deal with and questioned the leadership available to deal with them. Particular concern was muted in relation to the lack of power the Chief Minister had to deal with the Ministers, meaning that the difficult matters had to be dealt with by consensus. Successful determination of the problem of suspensions lay in the resolution of the problems which led to the suspensions. Delays due to criminal investigations and Health and Social Services issues were always going to raise difficult problems. |
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Item 5 14.05.12 512/1(1) | 5. Recruitment of non-elected members The Chairman had met with the appointed Commissioner from the Appointments Commission and arrangements had been made for the interviews of persons who had responded to the advertisement for non- elected members. The Committee noted that Mr A. Fearn was not putting his name forward to remain on the Committee. This was due amongst other factors to a developing conflict in his business. He had held discussions with the Chairman in relation to the effectiveness of the Committee and the level of personal exposure of private members. Mr C. Evans also informed the Committee that he was not putting his name forward due to the pressure of work outside the Committee. There was a general discussion on the effectiveness of the Committee and it was agreed that it was essential that the Committee obtained results. On behalf of the Committee, the Chairman offered thanks to both members for the time and effort they had invested in the Committee and that their efforts had added value to the reports which were about to be published. | MR |
Item 6 14.05.12 512/14 | 6. Review into the Bus Contract. The comments relating to the Bus Contracts had been drafted, however the matter had taken "a back seat" due to the drafting of the more important Compromise Agreements report. This would be followed up as soon as time allowed. The Chairman had attended a meeting of the Environment Scrutiny Panel and the Chairman of that Panel was aware that there were issues | TV/MR |
| to examine. |
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Item 7 14.05.12 512/15 | 7. Compromise Agreements: Review of the C&AG Reports The draft of the report had been circulated prior to the meeting and was approved subject to proof reading and formatting. The Committee confirmed that the manner in which the private material supplied to the Committee by the Minister for Treasury and Resources had been dealt with was appropriate and further, it approved that the Committee was not putting private issues into the public domain. The report showed that the previous Chief Minister did nothing despite his knowledge of the problems between the Minister for Treasury and Resources and the former Chief Executive Officer. It further highlighted that there was a problem, which has been revealed in other reports such as P.A.C. 4/2010, relating to the machinery of government, particularly the lines of responsibility at the highest levels of the States. The key findings and recommendations were to be drafted by the Chairman and officer. | TV / MR |
| 8. Machinery of Government Review In the light of the findings contained within the Compromise Agreement report, relating to the lines of responsibility at Chief Minister and Chief Executive Officer level, the Committee required that a submission was sent to the Privileges and Procedures Committee, Machinery of Government Sub-Committee. This was to be drafted and circulated amongst the members prior to submission. | MR |
| 9. P61/2012 Vote of Censure. The Committee noted P61/2012, a vote of censure against the Minister for Treasury and Resources which was to be lodged au Greffe on 12th June 2012 by Senator Ferguson. |
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| 10.Work Programme The Committee noted that it was due to publish its reports on the Compromise Agreements and Bus Contracts in the near future. It considered the next pieces of work and agreed that Lime Grove was to be started as soon as possible and it was to be carried out through the summer recess. It also recognised that it the States of Jersey report and Accounts for 2011 was due to be published and would require some work by the Committee. There was concern that there would not be sufficient resources to deal with both the topics in a timely manner. Options on how this could be achieved were to be considered for discussion at the next meeting. |
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| 11. Future Meetings The Committee agreed that the next meeting was to be at 12.30 pm on Monday 9th July 2012 in the Blampied Room of the States Buildings. | MR |