MINISTERS will have to publish details of their external meetings and trips regularly, if the States backs a proposal by the former Chief Minister.
Deputy Kristina Moore, who was ousted from the top job in January this year, has lodged a proposition requesting the Chief Minister updates the Codes of Conduct and Practice for ministers and assistant ministers before the end of December.
The proposed changes are due to be debated in mid-November.
The additions would require details of all external ministerial meetings to be published monthly in arrears and details of all ministerial “off-Island travel”, including the costs incurred, would have to be revealed within 30 days of their return to Jersey on the government website.
Announcing her proposal on social media, Deputy Moore said: “Efforts to improve transparency and accountability continue.”
In the report accompanying her proposition, she explained that “openness” constituted an “important part of building trust in government” and referred to low voter turnout and civic engagement in the 2022 election.
“Efforts should be made to turn this around and transparency can assist in raising levels of public trust and engagement,” she said.
Deputy Moore added: “There is a level of public interest in the activities and engagements of elected representatives, and the publication of ministerial diaries would provide helpful insight in this area.
“The public should be able to see when and with whom meetings take place – this would allow a greater visibility of how ministers spend their time, while also negating any perceived element of secrecy.
“Members of the media and the public often question the amount spent by ministers on travel and it makes sense to share this information on a regular basis to again be more transparent.”
She said her proposition aims to correct an omission of the need for publishing ministerial diaries in the current code which does, however, have a brief section outlining that travel and expenses should be published “as soon as it is practicable”.
Deputy Moore referred to ministerial codes from the UK, the European Commission, and the Isle of Man, which detail similar rules.
The cost of ministerial travel – and the government’s at-times unwillingness to publish details about it – has often led to scrutiny from the press, the public and from fellow politicians.
Deputy Moore herself came under fire for a decision to travel with two officials in business class to Rwanda for the “Women Deliver” conference at a total cost of £13,815 to the taxpayer.
That revelation came only in response to a written States question from Deputy Sam Mézec, when he was a backbencher.
More recently, a JEP freedom-of-information request found that the now Housing Minister Sam Mézec, Home Affairs Minister Mary Le Hegarat and a senior officer from the States Greffe flew to one of the remotest islands in the world – St Helena – for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s British Islands and Mediterranean Region conference, using £10,917.12 to do so.
Long-awaited reports detailing ministerial travel and spending for the 12 months to the end of June 2023 are yet to be released around 18 months after their expected publication.
Ministers provided the JEP with a statement in August 2023 which said the ministerial travel report would be published in September – 2023.
That report is due to include details of every trip ministers and assistant ministers had taken in their first year in office.
That government is now no longer in office.
