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Chairmen's Committee - Approved Committee Minutes - 11 February 2014

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Chairmen's Committee

Record of Meeting

Date: 11th February 2014

 

Present

Deputy T.A. Vallois, President

Deputy S.G. Luce , Vice-President

Senator S.C. Ferguson

Connétable S. W. Pallett

Deputy J.A. Hilton, Acting Chairman, HSSH Deputy J.H. Young

Apologies

Deputy K.L. Moore

Absent

 

In attendance

Mrs. K. Tremellen-Frost, Scrutiny Manager

 

Ref Back

Agenda matter

Action

 

1. Minutes of previous meetings

The records of the meetings held on 14th and 30th January 2014 were approved and signed accordingly.

 

14.01.14 Item 13

516/1(1)

2. Chairmanship, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel

The newly elected Chairman of the Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel, Connétable S.W. Pallett, was congratulated on his success and welcomed onto the Committee.

 

14.01.14 Item 2

510/1(74)

3.  Remit  of  Scrutiny  Panels;  transfer  of  Housing  to  Environment Scrutiny Panel

The Committee noted that this was currently being incorporated with other proposed amendments through the Machinery of Government Review and it requested that this be actioned separately to ensure that it was in place by the 2014 elections.

KTF

14.01.14 Item 3

510/3(5)

3. Newsletter

The  Committee  considered  comparative  printing  costs  and  compared quotes in comparison with the Winter edition 2013. It agreed that it wished to use the services of the same providers for the Summer 2014 edition as it had for the Winter 2013 edition.

The Committee also considered information from Jersey Post in respect of a service for surveys and was apprised of the possible cost implications. The Committee agreed to invite representatives of Jersey Post to its next scheduled meeting to learn more about what it had to offer.

KTF

18.12.12 Item 14

513/36

4. Medium Term Financial Plan

The Committee considered a matter raised by the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel in respect of possible end of term scrutiny of the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP).

It was agreed that, whilst there was a body of work to be done at a high

 

 

overarching level, this was best undertaken by the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel. It was consequently agreed, therefore, that all Panels would not undertake reviews into this topic.

 

14.01.14 Item 12

5. Annual Report 2013 draft

The Committee considered a draft and unformatted version of the Annual Report  2013.  Noting  that  this  contained  information  only  up  to  31st December 2013, it approved the draft subject to a minor amendment to the end of year financial report, formatting and the inclusion of images.

KTF

14.01.14 Item 5

510/1(5)

6. Codes of Practice – approval by States Assembly

The Committee recalled that at its last meeting it had agreed to ask all Scrutiny  Members for their views in respect of the Codes of Practice governing Scrutiny being adopted by the States or not.

It was noted that a majority was of the opinion that the Code should be approved  by  the  States.  Of  the  few  who  believed  that  it  should  be determined between the Chairmen's Committee and the Chief Minister only, it was also stated that this should only be after sufficient consultation with all Scrutiny Members.

 

14.01.14 Item 5

510/1(5)

7. Codes of Practice – headings for joint Code

The Committee recalled that it had been agreed that there should be three separate Codes of Practice as follows:-

  1. A Ministerial Code of Practice;
  2. A Scrutiny Code of Practice;
  3. A  joint  Code  governing  the  working  arrangements  between Scrutiny and the Executive

In respect of c) above, the Committee receive a discussion paper outlining some  areas  of  possible  contention  and  some  suggested  overarching headings.

The  Committee  focussed  on  the  likely  areas  of  contention  and  gave consideration to the topic areas Scrutiny was currently obliged to reject, legal advice matters and access to officials. It was agreed to invite H.M. Attorney General to the next meeting in respect of legal advice.

KTF

 

8. Panel Activity Reports These were taken as read.

 

12.11.13 Item 4

465/1(182)

9. Machinery of Government [MoGR]

The Committee received a briefing from the Chairmen who were also Members  of  the  Privileges  and  Procedures  Committee,  on  a  recent meeting  of  that  Committee.  There  had  been  a  general  malaise  with proceeding with the recommendations from the MoGR Steering Group. The Committee was also apprised of PPC's wish to consider further the new model of government being operated by Cornwall Council.

 

 

10. May meeting date

The Committee noted that the scheduled May meeting date fell between two Bank Holidays and consequently moved its meeting to 20th May 2014.

 

 

11. Future meetings

 

 

The Committee noted that its next scheduled meeting was 11th March 2014, 9.30am-11.30am, Le Capelain Room, States Building.