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Safer Travel Guidelines Review Panel
Records of Meetings
Year: 2021
The following records of meetings have been approved by the Panel. Signed
Chair
Deputy Rob Ward
Date: 14th April 2021
Present | Deputy Rob Ward , Chair Deputy Inna Gardiner Deputy Mike Higgins Deputy Kevin Pamplin |
Apologies | Connétable Sadie Le Sueur -Rennard |
In attendance | Anna Thorne , Committee and Panel Officer Peter Lamy , Research & Project Officer |
Agenda matter | Action |
1. Public Hearing with the Minister for Health and Social Services The Panel discussed the upcoming Public Hearing with the Minister for Health and Social Services (the Minister) scheduled for Friday 23rd April 2021 at 11:30am. The Panel considered question areas and agreed that a letter would be sent to the Minister to pose data related queries, in order to make better use of time in the Public Hearing. The Panel agreed that a response to the letter would be requested for Monday 19th April 2021. The Panel agreed that is was preferential to hold the Public Hearing in person, if it was possible to do so in a safe manner. It was agreed that if this was not possible due to COVID-19 a purely electronic method would be used. The Panel requested that Officers make the necessary arrangements. | AT AT |
2. Reconnection road map – 19th March 2021 travel announcement The Panel discussed the announcement made on 19th March 2021 in relation to the steps agreed upon to ease restrictions on travel to and from Jersey. The Panel recalled that there had been an update to the Safer Travel Policy in September 2020 which changed Red Amber Green (RAG) rating categorisation regions in the United Kingdom from upper tier local authority (counties, metropolitan districts, inner and outer London and unitary authorities) to Lower Tier Local Authority or Council Areas. The Panel expressed the opinion that the former was preferential as it better took into account the movement of potentially COVID positive individuals. The Panel also recalled that the Safer Travel Policy had been updated in October 2020 to change classification of Green areas from those regions with up to 25 positive COVID cases per 100,000 over a 14-day average, to those with 50 cases per 100,000. The Panel noted that subsequent information had suggested that this change had been made against strong advice by medical members of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Cell (STAC). The Panel agreed that to provide an option for a safer opening of the Island's borders it would lodge a proposition requesting that the States Assembly clarify if it was of the opinion that the Government of Jersey should lower the Green rating threshold to those regions below 25 positive cases per 100,000 and that the regions should be | AT |
based upon larger areas such as the upper tier local authority (counties, metropolitan districts, inner and outer London and unitary authorities). |
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Date: 21st April 2021
Present | Deputy Rob Ward , Chair Deputy Inna Gardiner Deputy Mike Higgins |
Apologies | Deputy Kevin Pamplin Connétable Sadie Le Sueur -Rennard |
In attendance | Deputy Carina Alves , member of Health and Social Security Panel Anna Thorne , Committee and Panel Officer Peter Lamy , Research & Project Officer |
Agenda matter | Action |
1. Public Hearing with the Minister for Health and Social Services The Panel welcomed Deputy Carina Alves as a representative of the Health and Social Security Panel, which had received an invitation to attend an upcoming Public Hearing with the Minister for Health and Social Services (the Minister) scheduled for Friday 23rd April 2021 at 11:30am. The Panel received a draft question plan for the Public hearing and agreed that a meeting would be scheduled for 9:00am on Friday 23rd April 2021 to finalise questions following the debate on the Panel's proposition P.34/2021 Adjustment of Green Travel and Regional Categorisation ahead of the reintroduction of the Safer | AT AT |
Travel Policy. The Panel agreed that it was possible that the sitting of the States Assembly, which had commenced on Tuesday 20th April 2021, would continue into the Friday of that week. The Panel therefore requested officers to make arrangements for an alternative date to be used for the Public Hearing if the sitting should overrun the originally scheduled event. |
Date: 7th May 2021
Present | Deputy Rob Ward , Chair Deputy Inna Gardiner |
Apologies | Deputy Mike Higgins |
In attendance | Deputy Richard Renouf , Health and Social Services Minister Alex Khaldi, Interim Director of Public Health Policy James Lynch, Policy Principal Community and Constitutional Affairs Marguerite Clarke, Principal Officer, Public Health Intelligence Anna Thorne , Committee and Panel Officer |
Agenda matter | Action |
1. Private briefing on Safer Travel Policy update and announcement The Panel received the Minister for Health and Social Services and Officers for a private progress briefing in relation to changes to the Safer Travel Guidelines. This meeting was received in private in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 (as amended) under Absolutely Exempt Information Article 26 and Qualified Exempt Information Article 35. |
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Date: 21st May 2021
Present | Deputy Rob Ward , Chair Deputy Inna Gardiner Deputy Mike Higgins |
Apologies |
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In attendance | Senator John Le Fondré, Chief Minister Tom Walker , Director General, Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance Alex Khaldi, Interim Director of Public Health Policy Ivan Muscat, Deputy Medical Officer of Health Rachel Williams, Director, Testing and Tracing Anna Thorne , Committee and Panel Officer Peter Lamy , Research and Project Officer |
Agenda matter | Action |
1. Public Hearing with Chief Minister The Panel received the Chief Minister and officers for a public hearing. The hearing was recorded and transcribed. |
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Date: 25th June 2021
Present | Deputy Rob Ward , Chair Deputy Mike Higgins |
Apologies | Deputy Inna Gardiner |
In attendance | Anna Thorne , Committee and Panel Officer Peter Lamy , Research & Project Officer |
Agenda matter | Action |
1. Safer Travel Guidelines The Panel discussed ongoing developments of the Safer Travel Guidelines and wider COVID-19 situation. The Panel agreed that a letter would be sent to the Chief Minister asking a number of questions on the following matters: • At what point would the proportion of vaccinated Islanders be considered sufficient to establish community immunity • What impact full vaccination would offer in the reconnection strategy and longer-term strategy • What actions were being carried out to enable immunisation of those under the age of 18 • Whether the Government of Jersey were investigating the vaccination of 12- to 18-year-olds • What was being done to ensure the testing procedure was robust, as it appeared that a number of positive cases were being picked up after 5 days, potentially due to lack of detection from day 0 tests • When the next updates to the Safer Travel Policy were scheduled to be announced The Panel agreed that the letter should be sent jointly with the Health and Social Security and Children, Education and Home Affairs Panels and requested that officers liaised to that effect. |
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Date: 13th July 2021
Present | Deputy Rob Ward , Chair Deputy Mike Higgins Deputy Inna Gardiner |
Apologies |
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In attendance | Senator Kristina Moore , Chair, Scrutiny Liaison Committee Deputy Mary Le Hegarat , Chair, Health and Social Security Panel Deputy David Johnson , Member, Scrutiny Liaison Committee Connétable Michael Jackson , Member, Scrutiny Liaison Committee Deputy Kevin Pamplin, Member, Health and Social Security Panel Deputy Richard Renouf , Minister for Health and Social Services Tom Walker , Director General, Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance Julian Blazeby, Director General, Justice and Home Affairs Ruth Johnson , Head of Policy, Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance Andrew Harris , Principal Committee and Panel Officer Anna Thorne , Committee and Panel Officer Katherine de Carteret, Committee and Panel Officer Ben Walker , Research and Project Officer |
Agenda matter | Action |
1. Briefing on Covid-19 Public Health Update The Panel, together with members of the Scrutiny Liaison Committee and the Health and Social Services Panel, were invited to an urgently scheduled private briefing by Government Officers following a steep rise in the transmission of COVID-19 in Jersey. This meeting was received in private in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 (as amended) under Qualified Exempt Information Article 35. The Panel and members of the Scrutiny Liaison Committee reconvened following the departure of Government Officers. Concerns were expressed about: • The high levels of transmission, particularly in schools. • The impact of higher transmission on hospital services. • The impact of higher transmission on staff numbers at the hospital. • The impact on the lower age groups who had not yet been fully vaccinated. • The transparency of decision-making. • The clarity of the messages. The Panel requested that officers request an urgent Public Hearing led by the Safer Travel Guidelines Panel but to be attended by members of the Scrutiny Liaison | AT |
Committee and Health and Social Services Panel to reflect the importance of the topic and its relevance to a number of Scrutiny Panels. |
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Date: 15th July 2021
Present | Deputy Rob Ward , Chair Deputy Inna Gardiner Deputy Mike Higgins Senator Kristina Moore , President, Scrutiny Liaison Committee Deputy David Johnson , Chair, Economic and International Affairs Panel Deputy Carina Alves , Member, Health and Social Security Panel (Item 1 only) Connétable Mike Jackson , Chair, Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Panel (Item 2 only) |
Apologies |
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In attendance | Andrew Harris , Principal Committee and Panel Officer (Item 1 only) Anna Thorne , Committee and Panel Officer Katherine De Carteret , Committee and Panel Officer (Item 1 only) Peter Lamy , Research and Project Officer Ella Nicholls, Communications Officer (Items 2 and 3) Item 2 only Senator John Le Fondré, Chief Minister Deputy Richard Renouf , Minister for Health and Social Services Deputy Scott Wickenden, Minister for Children and Education Paul Martin, Interim Chief Executive Caroline Landon, Director General, Health and Community Services Tom Walker , Director General, Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance Julian Blazeby, Director General, Justice and Home Affairs Mark Rogers, Director General, Children, Young People, Education and Skills Sophie Le Sueur , Group Director, Customer Service Rob Sainsbury, Group Managing Director, Health and Community Services Laura Perez, Acting Director of Communications Caroline Maffia, Head of Contact Tracing Alex Khaldi, Interim Director of Public Health Policy Ivan Muscat, Deputy Medical Officer of Health Rachel Williams, Director, Testing and Tracing James Lynch, Policy Principal, Community and Constitutional Affairs Peter Bradley, Director of Public Health, Health and Community Services |
Agenda matter | Action |
1. Prehearing meeting The Panel welcomed members of the Scrutiny Liaison Committee and the Health and Social Security Panel to discuss an urgent public hearing being held with the Chief Minister that day, 15 July 2021. The Panel discussed and agreed question areas. |
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2. Public Hearing with Chief Minister The Panel received the Chief Minister and officers for a public hearing. The Panel was joined by members of the Scrutiny Liaison Committee. The hearing was recorded and transcribed. |
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3. Post hearing meeting The Panel welcomed members of the Scrutiny Liaison Committee to discuss the Public Hearing held with the Chief Minister on 15 July 2021. The Panel agreed that highlighted points of the public hearing would be communicated via social media, these concerned: • vaccination certificates, • strategy for schools, • communication strategy, • hospital contingency, • acceptable levels of positive cases • burden of disease | EN |