States Meeting Summary 20-22 September

20th September 2022

Appointments

To begin this week's States Meeting, the States Assembly appointed Deputy Lyndsay Feltham as a member of the Scrutiny Liaison Committee to join the Privileges and Procedures Committee. Deputy Moz Scott was also nominated for the position.

Connétable Richard Honeycombe was appointed by the States Assembly as an elected member of the Public Accounts Committee and Mr Graeme Phipps, Mr Philip Taylor and Mr Matthew Woodhams were appointed as non-elected lay members of the Committee.

Connétable Mark Labey was appointed by the States Assembly as a member of the Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel. Deputy Lyndon Farnham and Deputy Rob Ward were appointed as members of the Jersey Police Authority.

Question Time

Questions with notice

Ministers answered States Members' questions with notice for up to two hours and 20 minutes. Skip to page 10 of the Order Paper to find out what questions were asked and watch from 21 minutes into this morning's States Meeting to hear Ministers' answers.

Questions without notice

States Members asked the Minister for Health and Social Services, Deputy Karen Wilson; the Minister for Home Affairs, Deputy Helen Miles; and the Chief Minister, Deputy Kristina Moore; questions without notice for 15 minutes each. Skip to one hour and 20 minutes into this morning's States Meeting to watch questions without notice.

Public business

Deputy Geoff Southern's ninth amendment to the Council of Ministers' proposed Mini-Budget was withdrawn and the States Assembly voted against reducing the lodging period of his tenth amendment to the Mini-Budget. As a result, Deputy Southern's amendment to the Minister for Social Security's draft Regulations fell away.

The States Assembly voted in favour of holding an In-Committee debate on the External Relations Common Policy Report at the end of this week's public business.

Aligning the minimum wage with the living wage

Deputy Sam Mézec asked the States Assembly to agree, in principle:

That the minimum wage should align with any statutory definition of the living wage
With the Minister for Social Security's instructions to the Employment Forum to consider whether, by October 2022, the minimum wage should rise to £10 per hour
That the Minister for Social Security should devise a scheme to convert the minimum wage to the living wage, and to bring this to the States Assembly by December 2023

The proposition was proposed as amended by the Council of Ministers.

The States Assembly unanimously voted to APPROVE the proposition, as amended.

Skip to two hours 38 minutes to watch the debate in full.

The cost of living Mini-Budget

On behalf of the Council of Ministers, the Chief Minister proposed the cost of living Mini-Budget. Skip to two hours and 55 minutes into this morning's meeting to watch the beginning of this debate.

Fourth amendment to the Mini-Budget

Deputy Sam Mézec proposed the fourth amendment to the Mini-Budget, asking States Members to agree in principle that, from 2023, personal income tax should be increased to 25% and the basic rate of marginal relief reduced to 25%. No change was proposed for High Value residents.

The States Assembly voted to REJECT Deputy Mézec's amendment.

Sixth amendment to the Mini-Budget

Deputy Tom Coles proposed the sixth amendment to the Mini Budget: to introduce a new personal tax allowance so that taxpayers receiving less than 60% of the annual median weekly income for the preceding year no longer pay tax.

The States Assembly voted to REJECT Deputy Coles' amendment.

Fifth amendment to the Mini-Budget

Deputy Catherine Curtis proposed the fifth amendment to the Mini Budget: to cut Social Security contributions by 2% from 1 October 2022 until 31 March 2023, instead of until 31 December 2022.

The States Assembly voted to REJECT Deputy Curtis' amendment.

Third amendment to the Mini-Budget

Deputy Lyndsay Feltham proposed the third amendment to the Mini Budget, as amended by the Council of Ministers: to increase access to the Community Cost Bonus to include all households without a combined tax liability of over £2,735 for the previous year.

The States Assembly voted to APPROVE Deputy Feltham's amendment, as amended by the Council of Ministers.

Second amendment to the Mini-Budget

Deputy Mézec proposed the second amendment to the Mini-Budget: to introduce residential rent controls for two years which would include the suspending rent increases and transferring fixed-term and periodic tenancies to open-ended tenancies.

The debate on Deputy Mézec's amendment to the Mini-Budget will take place tomorrow, Wednesday 21 September 2022.

Watch the recording of this morning's States Meeting and this afternoon's meeting.

Tributes

To begin today's States Meeting, the Bailiff paid tribute to former States Members Iris Le Feuvre MBE and Sarah Ferguson, who recently passed away.

Swearing in of the Deputy Greffier

William Millow, previously Assistant Greffier, was sworn in as Deputy Greffier of the States.

Public business continued

Second amendment to the Mini-Budget

The States Assembly debated Deputy Mézec's second amendment to the Mini-Budget. The amendment requested the introduction of residential rent controls for two years which would include the suspending rent increases and transferring fixed-term and periodic tenancies to open-ended tenancies.

The States Assembly voted to REJECT Deputy Mézec's amendment to the Mini-Budget.

The Mini-Budget, as amended

The States Assembly unanimously voted to APPROVE the Council of Ministers' proposed Mini-Budget, as amended.

Laws and Regulations following the adoption of the Mini-Budget

12% increase to income tax thresholds and allowances

The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister for Treasury and Resources' draft Law to increase tax thresholds and allowances by 12% from January 2023.

Temporary 2% cut to Social Security contributions

The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister for Social Security's draft Regulations to temporarily reduce Social Security contributions by 2% from 1 October to 31 December 2022.

Temporarily doubling the Community Cost Bonus

The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister for Social Security's draft Regulations to double the value of the Community Cost Bonus from £258.25 to £516.50 for 2022.

The Regulations were approved as amended by Deputy Lyndsay Feltham's amended amendment, meaning that access to the Bonus will increase to include all households without a combined tax liability of over £2,735 for the previous year.

Temporarily increasing cold weather payments

The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister for Social Security's draft Regulations to temporarily increase cold weather payments to £70 a month from 1 October 2022 to 30 April 2023.

Appointment of a Non-Executive Director of the States of Jersey Company

The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the appointment of Belinda Crosby as an additional Non-Executive Director of The States of Jersey Development Company Limited for three years.

Composition of Rent Control Tribunal

The States Assembly voted to REJECT Deputy Geoff Southern's proposition, as amended by the Council of Ministers, requesting that the Minister for Housing and Communities appoints a Rent Control Tribunal constituting of:

A Chair
One landlord
One tenant
One member from the charitable sector with an understanding of homelessness and consumer issues
Any additional members necessary maintain a balanced and expert Tribunal

As it was withdrawn by the proposer, the Pension Plus Scheme was not debated.

On Thursday morning, the States Assembly met to complete the final item for public business: an In-Committee debate on the External Relations Common Population Policy Report.

The next meeting of the States Assembly will take place on Tuesday 4 October 2022.

Watch back the recording of this week's States Meetings.

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