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Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel
Record of Meeting
Date: 7th December 2015
Present | Deputy L. M. C. Doublet , Chairman Deputy J. M. Maçon, Vice-Chairman Deputy S. Y. Mezec |
Apologies |
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Absent |
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In attendance | Mr M. Robbins, Scrutiny Officer. |
Ref Back | Agenda matter | Action |
| 1. Records of Meetings The minutes of the meetings held on the 9th November 2015 were approved for signing. |
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Item 2 09.11.15 | 2. Conflicts of Interest There were no conflicts of interest declared. |
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| 3. Meeting Dates for 2016 Dates for the Panel meetings during 2016 were agreed. | MR |
516/1/1(4) | 4. Confucius Classrooms The Panel noted a submission from a member of the Public relating to funding for the teaching of Chinese language in Hautlieu School. The Panel agreed that this could be dealt with by a question to the Minister at the next quarterly public hearing. It raised further questions about how global and local politics were taught in schools. The Panel intended to examine this matter to establish if further work was needed. |
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Item 7 07.07.15 516/1/1(4) | 5. Student Loans The Panel noted communication from the Jersey Student Loans Group' relating to the results of a workshop that took place in July 2015. The member of the public was to be informed of the Panel's interest and requested to advise the Panel of any progress the group had made. The Panel also noted that the matter of student financing involved tax disregards which were wholly insufficient for the purpose. Deputy J. M. Maçon provided the Panel with an overview of a presentation he had attended from Careers Jersey which provided the Panel with information of costs to the Island of differing schemes that had been examined to fund higher education. The Panel agreed that a question would be drafted for the Minister at the next quarterly public hearing. The Panel would then be in a position to decide if further work was required on the subject. | MR MR |
Item 2 19.06.15 516/1/1(6) | 6. Quarterly Public Hearing with Minister for Home Affairs. The Panel discussed the prepared questions intended for the Minister for Home Affairs at the hearing which was to be held on 9th December 2015. It concluded its preparations for the meeting, having agreed on who should deal with what subjects and the order for them to be dealt with. | Panel |
516/1/1(4) | 7. Alternative Education The Panel noted that on 22nd October 2015, the Chairman had raised a question in the States relating to options of alternative education for children with mental health problems. It was noted that the answer provided by the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture stated that the matter was currently under review. It had been established that there was a need for the development of additional provision. A pilot scheme had been run with the aim of introducing the new provision in September 2016. The Panel requested that a question be drafted for the quarterly public hearing with the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture for the autumn of 2016. | MR |
Item 2 19.05.14 (Previous Panel) 516/27 | 8. Camera Surveillance in Jersey. The Panel noted communication from Deputy M. Tadier which requested the Panel ask a question in the States of the Minister for Home Affairs relating to the recommendation contained within the Scrutiny report SR1/2-14, Camera Surveillance in Jersey'. The Panel noted that there were proposals to enhance the CCTV systems in St Helier to provide greater coverage. It was agreed that the Panel would review the recommendations and establish what had and had not been implemented. | MR |
Item 3 16.03.15 516/1(1) | 9. Constitution The Panel agreed that it wished to provide a formal invitation to Deputy T. Vallois to join the Panel. | MR |
Item 5 12.10.15 516/42 | 10. Special Education Needs The Panel undertook a review of the Special Education Needs Review and agreed that the advisors from Real Group were invaluable to the process. The public engagement was thorough but there may be areas that need further work, such as social media. It was also agreed that the front line staff needed to be spoken to more. The Panel noted the Code of Practice relating to this area. A letter of thanks was to be sent to Deputy J.A. Martin who had been co- opted onto the Panel for the review and had provided significant experience and guidance for the project. The Panel recognised that it had cut the time for report writing to an unrealistically short time and that was to be avoided in the future. The Panel considered that the report was very concise which was ideal. |
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Item 7 09.11.15 | 11. Prison Board of Visitors |
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516/43 | The Panel undertook a review of the Prison Board of Visitors Review and agreed that the new format of the report was an improvement on the appearance of previous Scrutiny reports. It noted the unexpected delay contained within the review but considered that was justified in order to have been able to hold a public hearing with the Chief Minister. It was agreed that the media showed more interest than was expected with the Lead Member being interviewed by TV, radio and newspapers. The Panel considered that it dealt with a Minister who had been reluctant to state the Ministerial position, in an appropriate manner, particularly as the subject matter was considered to be a delicate matter of modern standards versus traditional practices. The work of the Panel had led to the more palatable, non-political recommendation to move towards the requirements of the United Nations Optional Protocol. A letter was to be sent to the Jurats thanking them for their work on the Prison Board of Visitors. The Panel also approved of the process of using a Lead Member' for the review and was to consider that in the future. | MR |
516/1/1(3) | 12. Prison-Me-No-Way The Panel had requested a visit to Prison-Me-No-Way. Some available dates were considered and it was agreed that Monday 22nd February would be available. Arrangements were to be made. | MR |
| 13. Future Meetings The next meeting was scheduled for 10.00am on Thursday 14th January 2016 in the Blampied Room. It was also noted that there was to be a working meeting in relation to the School Starting Age Review at 0930am on Monday 14th December 2015, when the Panel was to meet the advisor. | MR MR |