States Meeting Summary: 10-11 September
11th September 2024
Question Time
This week’s States Meeting began with Ministers answering States Members’ questions with notice.
States Members then asked the Minister for Sustainable Economic Development, Deputy Kirsten Morel; Minister for Treasury and Resources, Deputy Elaine Millar; and the Chief Minister, Deputy Lyndon Farnham, questions without notice for 15 minutes each.
Chief Minister, Deputy Lyndon Farnham, proposed a Draft Statistics and Census (Jersey) Amendment Law, as amended by Deputy Sir Philip Bailhache (which was also amended by the Chief Minister). This proposition sought to introduce significant changes to the governance of Statistics Jersey, to bring Jersey’s statistical system in line with international best practice. It will provide for better governance of the Office of the Chief Statistician by:
Increasing the professional independence of the Chief Statistician and those working for them
Giving the Chief Statistician the right to comment on all aspects of statistics
Securing a process to provide for adequate funding.
In addition, the draft Law will:
Establish a Statistics Council to replace the Statistics Users Group
Provide additional protection for Jersey’s most important statistics
Strengthen and formalise Jersey’s existing decentralised statistical system.
Deputy Sir Philip Bailhache’s amendment to the proposition would place a cap on the amount of damages that a court could award if a person is wronged by the Chief Statistician or any of their staff.
The Chief Minister's amendment to the amendment, asked that public authorities cannot be held liable for damages if someone suffers a loss from relying on their information or statistics, unless the data was created in bad faith or damages are needed to address a human rights violation.
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Chief Minister’s proposition in third reading as amended by Deputy Sir Philip Bailhache, in a standing vote.
The Minister for Sustainable Economic Development, Deputy Kirsten Morel, proposed an amendment to the Agriculture (Loans) (Jersey) Amendment Regulations 202- which will reduce the annual interest rate chargeable on agricultural loans from 6.5% to 3%. The Amendment will also reduce the number of members of the Agricultural Loans and Guarantees Advisory Board from ten persons to five.
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister for Sustainable Economic Development’s proposition in third reading, with 43 votes for, 0 votes against, and 1 abstention.
The Minister for Sustainable Economic Development, Deputy Kirsten Morel, proposed amendments to the Telecommunications (Jersey) Law 2002, that will establish a new telecommunications security framework allowing the Government to impose, monitor and enforce controls on the use of certain vendors’ goods, services, and facilities by Jersey’s public communications providers. Additionally, the amendments strengthen the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority's powers to ensure compliance.
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister for Sustainable Economic Development’s proposition in third reading in a standing vote.
The Minister for External Relations, Deputy Ian Gorst, proposed to amend the Patents (Jersey) Law 1957 and Registered Designs (Jersey) Law 1957, to enable Jersey to request the extension to the Island of the UK’s ratification of the Patent Cooperation Treaty and the Geneva Act (1999) of the Hague Agreement on the International Registration of Industrial Designs.
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister for External Relations' proposition in third reading, with 44 votes for, 0 votes against, and 0 abstentions.
Adjournment
The States Assembly then adjourned and will begin the debate on Draft Financial Services (Disclosure and Provision of Information) (Jersey) Amendment Law 202- tomorrow morning at 9:30am.
Wednesday 11 September
Public Business
Today’s States Meeting began with the Minister for External Relations, Deputy Ian Gorst’s, proposed amendments to the Financial Services (Disclosure and Provision of Information) (Jersey) Law 2020, which would allow those required to perform customer due diligence under the Money Laundering (Jersey) Order 2008 to access beneficial owner information held by the Jersey Financial Services Commission.
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister for External Relations' proposition, with 44 votes for, 0 votes against, and 0 abstentions.
Chief Minister, Deputy Lyndon Farnham proposed to re-appoint Mr Robert Tinlin MBE as an independent member of the Board of Governance of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, for a term of five years from the end of his current term of office in March 2025.
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Chief Minister’s proposition with a standing vote.
Minister for Justice and Home Affairs, Deputy Mary Le Hegarat proposed to appoint Chris Stephenson as Chair of the Jersey Police Complaints Authority, and Mr Simon Burgess as a member of the Authority, each for a period of three years commencing immediately.
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister for Justice and Home Affairs’ proposition with a standing vote.
The States Assembly then adjourned and will reconvene at the next States Meeting, beginning at 9:30am on Tuesday 1 October.
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