Inside the States

Yesterday States members made some serious decisions about funding for vulnerable children, improving health and safety at work and reviewing the roles of prominent unelected members. But they also dished rumours and pointed fingers, it’s just another day in politics.

There were some quite controversial subjects touched on in the first portion of the day. There were a number of questions about Brig Y Don. There was a disagreement between the Health and Social Services Department and the Trustees of the home about admissions – apparently Brig Y Don wants to maintain the home for younger children, where Health wants a wider age range of children to be admitted.

It’s taken seven years and still the Trustees of Brig Y Don haven’t reached a service level agreement with the department. It was asked whether Health and Social Services wanted to take over the running of Brig Y Don. Deputy Pryke said they very much wanted to make the most of the facility, but that it was owned by the Trustees at the moment.

Bus passes for seniors and phone taps

The Transport and Technical Services minister Constable Mike Jackson said he may have to consider whether to continue free bus travel for people between 60 and 65. And he suggested they may start charging pensioners for travel during peak times, to reduce overcrowding on buses. He said they’d seen a nearly fifteen per cent rise in the number of people paying concessionary fares on buses.

And Deputy Bob Hill raised the question of whether a health and safety audit had been done or a human rights assessment – given that the public gallery in the States building doesn’t have a toilet and isn’t accessible for people in wheelchairs.

Senator Stuart Syvret

The chairman of Privileges and Procedures, Constable Juliette Gallichan, said that the building was just too old to install a lift. There was a question about wire-tapping members’ phones. Senator Stuart Syvret said he believed his phone had been tapped – but he was cut short by the Attorney General.

He said the Senator’s arrest was part of an ongoing investigation and it was completely inappropriate to ask direct questions about it in the States. Question time did go on rather longer than its usual allotted time. Members no doubt preparing themselves for the new two-hour limit to be introduced soon agreed to suspend standing orders and go long so all the questions could be asked.

Vulnerable children

Members agreed to discuss Deputy Paul Le Claire’s proposition to send some vulnerable children to the UK for urgent help. They moved it up the agenda because of its importance. Their story has been in the news. These children are said to be so damaged by years of abuse that they need specialist care.

Deputy Le Claire’s proposition brought attention to their case and asked the Treasury Minister to come forward with money immediately. But as the next item to be debated was that funding – the first proposition was considered unnecessary, and was lost. Then they debated Senator Philip Ozouf’s proposition to put one point three million pounds towards both renovating Brig Y Don and paying for the care of Family X in the UK.

Despite the fact that they agreed it was urgent, the issue was debated for about an hour. It passed by a large margin, with a vote of 45 in favour, 2 against, and 3 abstaining. Senator Ozouf said that what they were debating was a special payment, not the Williamson plan in full, and that would still come before the States to decide.

Philip Ozouf

Other business

States members moved on to new Health and Safety regulations, meaning that employers have to make sure their employees can see and understand their health and safety policies. Then they agreed to change the rules of jury duty to make a person who had served a community service order would not be eligible to serve on a jury.

They debated the terms of reference for a review into the roles of the Bailiff, Attorney General and Solicitor General. They decided a senior official from the UK – such as a retired judge – would conduct the review with a team of four local people.

Housing quals

The States will continue the debate to lower Housing Qualification limits to eleven years. They started that yesterday, with the Housing Minister saying it would not have a negative effect on the housing market in the island, and it wouldn't mean an influx of new residents.

The States will also be discussing a committee of inquiry into what’s happened in the case of Reg’s Skips. This was debated a few weeks ago – what to do with the couple who had paid thousands of pounds in court costs over a Voisinage dispute. And this is interesting – they’ll be discussing a code of conduct for States members, since there have been a number of questions about conduct raised lately.

Sleeping politician

This issue was raised on the floor of the States and caused quite a ruckus. A member suggested that last week one politician spent the night sleeping in one of the interview rooms downstairs after having one drink too many, and was woken by the cleaner in the early hours.

The rumour mill has been working overtime but so far nobody has stepped forward to accept responsibility. But that hasn’t stopped a few members from sounding off about it on the floor of the House. This may be debated today as members get into the issue of politicians behaving badly. But will the guilty party come forward - or is it all just rumours? It's a bit of a mystery at this point.