Redress and Accountability Systems in Jersey

This review will seek to examine the complaints processes across the Government of Jersey, States Assembly, the Courts and the Parish System. The review will also look at the means of redress available to members of the public who have a complaint upheld and also identify the policies which underpin the processes and hold officials and staff to account. It will also seek to identify any future work that is being carried out in order to improve confidence in the systems of governance and address the recommendations of the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry in this regard.

The Review Panel is interested to hear views from anyone with experience of the systems that are currently in place and would like to invite submissions by Friday 30th October 2020 by emailing scrutiny@gov.je or a.harris5@gov.je.

Important Information about the review:

This review is not intended to act as a means for any individual cases or grievances to be resolved. It is, however, interested to gather people's views on the systems in place across the four areas. The Review Panel does understand that in doing so, some people may wish to raise sensitive and difficult issues with it. In the event that a submission raises an issue which could relate to a safeguarding or criminal matter, then the Panel will work with the person submitting it to refer their concerns to an appropriate agency.

Anyone who wishes to discuss their individual circumstances or how to give evidence is invited to get in touch at a.harris5@gov.je.

Sharing your personal information and testimony

The Review Panel takes data protection very seriously, especially given the sensitive nature of the issues raised by the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry and the response to it.

Any submission received by the Panel which includes personal information or testimony will be stored in a digitally secure location on the States Greffe IT system. Only Review Panel members and States Greffe staff will have access to the information. No personal information will be put into the public domain.

The Committee and Panel Officer will discuss with each person submitting personal information or testimony how it may be used by the Review Panel to support its review. This may include whether it is possible to publish a redacted and anonymised version. The wishes of the person submitting the information will be respected.

Should the Panel wish to take oral evidence from witnesses, hearings will be conducted in private and only an anonymised transcript will be produced. The individuals involved will have the opportunity to review the transcript before it is published. If the individuals involved decide that they don't want the transcript to be published, their wishes will be respected.

At the end of the review any personal data collected during the review will be deleted.

If you would like to discuss this in more detail, please contact the Committee and Panel Officer, Andy Harris (a.harris5@gov.je . 441076).

The Panel presented its report on Monday 13th December 2021 and can be read here.

You can also read the digital summary version of the report here

• ​We will be gathering and looking at people's views on the systems in the Government of Jersey, States Assembly, Court System and Parishes that members of the public use when they have a complaint. 

• We aim to find out whether these systems are easy to understand and easy to access for members of the public and see whether what is in place is based on good standards. 

•  We want to look at how the Government of Jersey, States Assembly, Court Systems and Parishes put things right after a member of the public has a complaint upheld.

• We are going to identify the policies that the Government of Jersey, Court System and Parishes use to hold their staff, elected officials and voluntary staff to account for their decisions and actions.

• We are going to look at the ways in which States Members are held to account for their actions when holding public office (this does not include their decisions in the States Assembly)

• We want to work out what the Government of Jersey, States Assembly, Court System and Parishes are doing to improve confidence in the way they are run. We also want to find out what they are doing to address the recommendations made by the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry about improving trust and confidence.

• We will hold a public call for evidence in order to gather views on the systems we will be examining. We will also invite key stakeholders in each area to give their views on what is working well and what could be done better.

• We will produce an evidenced-based report with findings and recommendations.