Chairmen's Committee - Approved Committee Minutes - 10 June 2014

Present

Deputy T.A. Vallois, President

Deputy S.G. Luce , Vice-President

Senator S.C. Ferguson

Connétable of St. John (representing the Environment Scrutiny Panel) Deputy J.A. Hilton

Apologies

Deputy K.L. Moore , Connétable S. W. Pallett, Deputy J.H. Young

Absent

In attendance

Mrs. K. Tremellen-Frost, Scrutiny Manager Miss L. Stoodley , Scrutiny Administrator Ms. P. Staley, Law Draftsman (item 3 only)

Ref Back

Agenda matter

Action

1. Minutes of previous meetings

The records of the meetings held on the 8th, 9th, 14th and 25th April and 1st, 7th, 15th, 20th and 22nd May 2014 were approved and signed accordingly.

511/1/56

2. Annual Report 2014: timing for completion

The Committee, noting that it was obliged through Standing Orders to present an Annual Report to the States Assembly, agreed that all Panels and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) would aim to have their Report pages completed by 22nd August 2014 for consideration at a meeting to be held the following week.

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3. Standing Orders: amendments following debate on P.33/2014

The  Committee  welcomed  the  Law  Draftsman  to  the  meeting. Following  consideration  of  a  number  of  matters,  the  Committee agreed to the following:-

1. That the Chairmen's Committee should lodge "au Greffe" the amendments to the Scrutiny function whilst the Chief Minister should  lodge  those  applicable  to the  Executive.  The Connétable for St. John requested that his dissent from this decision be recorded;
2. The structure of fixed Panels should be retained in accordance with the views of the majority of Scrutiny Members. It was, however, agreed that an amendment should be lodged  "au Greffe"to transfer Housing from the Health, Social Security and  Housing  Scrutiny  Panel  to the  Environment  Scrutiny Panel;
3. An  amendment  to Standing  Orders  would  be lodged  "au Greffe"  to provide for the possibility for the future Chairmen's Committee  to establish  "Review  Panels"  as  and  when appropriate to undertake specific reviews. The Deputy of St. Martin  requested  that  his  dissent  from  this  decision  be

recorded;

4.  To amend Standing Orders 141 and 143 to reflect the adoption by the States Assembly of the amendment to Scrutiny of the States of Jersey Law 2005, P.33/2014 that an "interface" code between  those  engaged  in  Scrutiny  and  the  Ministers  and Assistant Ministers be agreed.

The Law Draftsman agreed to proceed with Law Drafting and would revert  to  the  Committee  through  the  Scrutiny  Manager.  The  Law Draftsman withdrew from the meeting.

Law Draftsma n/KTF

08.04.14 Item 9

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4. Legacy Report: Chairmen's Committee Heads of Report and timing for approval.

Consideration was given to the draft Heads of Report in relation to the Chairmen's Committee overarching section of the Legacy Report.

The Committee considered the training that had been provided during this term of office. A lot of positive feedback had been given about the questioning training delivered by H.M. Solicitor General and it was, therefore, agreed that the Committee would recommend that more training  would  be  sought  from  the  Law  Officers'  Department,  as opposed to training from external providers and for this to be included in the Legacy Report.

The Committee also decided that future Scrutiny Members should also be apprised of the situation which had occurred in respect of workload towards the end of this term of office. It was suggested that this be included  in  the  introductory  section  of  the  report  to  highlight  the serious  concerns  the  Committee  had  with  the  issue  and  to recommend that action was taken early in the next term of office to avoid this in the future.

On a related matter, it was also agreed that the Panel and the Public Accounts  Committee  would  aim  to  complete  their  Legacy  Report pages  by  22nd  August.  A  final  Committee  meeting  would  be scheduled during the week of 25th August to consider these and the overarching Committee report. The date would be confirmed in due course by the Scrutiny Manager and sent out via a meeting request. That  meeting  would  be  scheduled  to  consider  these  two  matters solely.

08.04.14 Item 4

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5. Codes of Practice

Given the adoption by the States Assembly of the provision of a joint Code of Practice between those undertaking Scrutiny and Ministers and Assistant Ministers, the Committee initially noted that the existing Code fulfilled this requirement.

However,  it  was  acknowledged  that  further  work  on  the  Code  to separate the issues which were "joint" matters between Scrutiny and the Executive and "working" matters for Scrutiny alone was essential. Due to Panel and Public Account Committee workloads, Members voiced concerns on the amount of time they would have available to produce  a  well  thought  out,  well  produced  piece  of  work.  The Committee  also  noted  some  matters  which  would  be  likely  to  be contentious  and  where  negotiation  with  the  Executive  would  be required.

It was further noted that work on the joint Code had been commenced and therefore, it was agreed that it should be referred to in the Legacy Report as work in progress with recommendations of work needing to be undertaken.

The President, Chairmen's Committee undertook to advise the Chief Minister of this decision at the next joint meeting.

6. Panel Activity Reports These were taken as read.

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7. Electronic File Storage: Shared Area

The Committee was apprised by the President of a matter which had been considered by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in respect of  the  development  of  a  shared  area  of  electronic  file  storage  in relation to PAC work, and possibly other Scrutiny Panels, to which States Members would have access.

The Committee noted that the Scrutiny Office had been aware of work on this for a while and that it was in favour of progressing such an initiative.  The  Committee  also  noted  that  the  matter  had  been discussed with the Greffier of the States who had agreed to progress the matter accordingly. In knowledge of this, the Committee agreed that the Greffier should undertake to do this and report back to the Committee on progress made.  

8.  Privileges  and  Procedures  Committee  (PPC):  update  on matters relating to Scrutiny

The Committee noted the update received from PPC. This concerned matters relating to backbenchers' propositions and issues surrounding the Machinery of Government.

9. Future meetings

1. The Committee noted that its next meeting was scheduled for 8th July 2014, but given that the States had agreed to meet on that  date,  a  revised  meeting  date  of  7th  July  had  been convened  from  2pm-4pm  in  Le  Capelain  Room,  States Building.  Apologies  had  already  been  received  from  the Chairman,  Environment  Scrutiny  Panel  and  apologies  were given by the Chairman, Economic Affairs Scrutiny Panel in the event that he may be late or unable to attend due to other commitments;
2. 28th or 29th August 2014: the Committee agreed to meet on one of these dates, to be agreed, specifically to consider the Annual and Legacy Reports;
3. 16th September 2014: this meeting would now be cancelled.