Deputy Kirsten Morel has been a vocal critic of the policy development boards, which are composed of backbenchers who provide advice to ministers, and expressed concerns about the make-up of the boards.
Last year, Senator Kristina Moore wrote an open letter to Senator John Le Fondré about the boards in her capacity as president of the Chairmen’s Committee.
She said that they could drain the resources of Scrutiny panels, which are also made up of backbenchers, and that conflicts of interest could be created if Members both advise ministers and sit on Scrutiny panels.
Deputy Morel continued this theme, saying that this inherent conflict with Scrutiny can only be solved by getting a greater number of lay people into the boards’ membership.
‘The concept of policy development boards is really good but, at the same time, by focussing them on States Members, it means that they clash with Scrutiny,’ he said.
‘As a result of that, the boards’ membership is limited because lots of people are not able to take part, as they are on conflicting Scrutiny panels. All we see is the same faces on these policy development boards.
‘In my view, rather than the boards being composed of States Members, I think they would work better if they had people coming in from outside the States, experts and lay members of the public. I think that might give them the invigoration they need.
‘Otherwise, we are seeing the same old faces on different boards, and we begin to wonder if it is almost a political party in itself.’
The Chief Minister has set up several PDBs since being elected last year, most recently one to look at housing policy.
Senator Le Fondré dismissed these concerns, saying that policy development boards are intended to advise ministers at the early stages of policy development, whereas Scrutiny ‘usually examines policy once it is in the latter stages of being finalised’.
‘When I stood as Chief Minister, I said I wanted to include more States Members, and lay members where appropriate, in the early stages of government policy-making,’ he said.
‘I set up policy development boards to consider matters of major public interest or concern, so that States Members could be more involved in the process of developing policy, and could provide advice to ministers.
‘I am a strong supporter of the Scrutiny process and would not want to damage it in any way. If conflicts of interest are properly managed, each Scrutiny Panel should be well-placed to scrutinise policies developed by boards.
‘When I established the boards, I made it clear that lay members would be included, to broaden membership and the range of views.
‘So far, seven lay members are working on boards developing policy in areas such as migration, housing, early years development, the digital industry, and changes across our public services.’
