- States Question Time round-up
- Members vote 31-13 for the live screening of sittings
- States approve open air weddings
- Call for work licences review
IT may not break TV viewing records, but Islanders will be able to tune into States sittings in the future after Members agreed to pay for cameras to stream live footage from the Chamber.
Supporters of the move, which would also include keeping footage online for about six months, said it would help people to engage with Island politics by enabling them to see how and why decisions are made and what is said during debates and question time.
For (31): Senators Routier, Ozouf, Gorst, Farnham, Bailhache and Green; Constables Crowcroft, Norman, Mezbourian, Gallichan, Pallett, Le Sueur-Rennard and Le Sueur; Deputies Martin, Southern, Pryke, Tadier, Noel, Vallois, Maçon, Pinel, Bryans, Moore, Mézec, Renouf, Doublet, Russell Labey, Wickenden, Norton, McDonald and McLinton.
Against (13): Senator Cameron; Constables Refault, Paddock, Le Troquer, Le MAistre and Taylor; Deputies Hilton, Le Fondré, Kevin Lewis, Luce, Brée, Johnson and Truscott.
Absent (3): Senator Maclean; Deputies Andrew Lewis and Carolyn Labey.
According to the proposition, which was brought by the Privileges and Procedures Committee, who are responsible for the inner workings of the States, leasing the necessary equipment and paying to host the service would cost less than £30,000 per year.
PPC chairman Constable Len Norman told the House that it would be funded by reprioritising existing funds, and that the States Assembly had already found £500,000 in savings.
Members voted 31-13 in favour of the move, which included allowing official media outlets to use footage – at their own cost – in news reports.
The proposition also included a request to install three digital clocks in the States Chamber to show Members the length of speeches and other interventions made by politicians.
The Assembly approved those plans in a separate vote by 26-16.
‘Streaming meetings online is an effective way of improving transparency of this assembly and engaging with the people we represent,’ Mr Norman told the Assembly yesterday.
Deputy Judy Martin backed the move, adding that aside from the live audio stream of debates that is broadcast online, media coverage of Chamber sittings was ‘appalling’.
During the debate several Members argued that while major cuts needed to be found in the coming years, paying tens of thousands of pounds each year to film sittings was not appropriate.
Deputy John Le Fondré was the first to criticise the move, saying that the States needed to demonstrate that they were ‘serious about the savings that need to be made’.
THE organisers and volunteers behind the NatWest Island Games have been thanked for making the event something that competitors and Islanders ‘would never forget’.
St Brelade Constable Steve Pallett, Assistant Minister at the Education, Sport and Culture Department, spoke before the House broke for the summer recess yesterday to praise the efforts of the people behind the Games.
Mr Pallett thanked Phil Austin, chairman of the Games committee, and his team, as well as the Waitrose Gamesmakers, every Island parish and also NatWest for their support.
Questioned by Members, Mr Pallett assured the Chamber that he would work to develop Island sport and ensure that the legacy of the Games fulfilled its potential in promoting sport in Jersey.
‘These Games demonstrated how important sport is, and I can do no more than to say thank you to every person in Jersey who made it happen,’ he told the House.
His speech also attracted a playful jibe from Senator Sir Philip Bailhache, who, after Mr Pallett had mistakenly flown to Budapest instead of Bucharest, asked whether he had had any difficulty in finding his way to any of the venues.
States Members give all-clear for weddings in the open air
ENGAGED couples will have the option of getting married outside in the future following the States’ approval of plans to allow open-air weddings.
Deputy Louise Doublet’s proposition received unanimous support from the House yesterday, and legislation is now due to be changed and brought back to the Chamber for the States to approve.
In introducing her proposal, the Deputy told the Assembly that it was a reasonable and simple move that would strengthen the institution of marriage and potentially lead to people travelling to Jersey to hold their weddings, bringing money into the economy.
Deputy Doublet – who is due to get married herself – said: ‘I have friends who want to marry outdoors but can’t.
‘Lots ultimately go away to have the outdoor wedding that they want.
- Two States Members were absent from yesterdays sitting.
- Deputies Richard Rondel and Mike Higgins were ill.
- Deputy Bailiff Tim Le Cocq was presiding.
‘It’s quite clear that there is a problem here and a gap in our legislation.’
She added that Jersey was ideally placed for UK couples looking for an outdoor wedding in a beautiful setting, and that wedding guests could extend their stay in the Island before or after a ceremony, meaning that more visitors would be paying into the local economy.
Support for her plans was heard from all quarters of the Chamber.
Deputy Montfort Tadier said that Deputy Doublet had ‘hit the nail on the head’ with her proposal and that attitudes to marriage had changed, with people wanting to tailor their special occasion in different ways.
Deputy Murray Norton expanded on the economic argument for hosting outdoor weddings, saying: ‘About 250,000 couples get married in the UK each year.
‘One third of those – that’s upwards of 80,000 couples – get married abroad as opposed to in the UK.
‘They do so because it is cheaper and there is also the offer of getting married in a location of their choice.
‘There is a huge market there.’
Others supported the plans while urging caution over the law change to make sure that outdoor locations for weddings were appropriate for the occasion and that people could not simply get married anywhere.
During the debate, Deputy Doublet also confirmed that open-air ceremonies should be available for civil partnerships.
The Dean, the Very Rev Bob Key, also supported the plans, telling the House: ‘It is a supreme privilege for any priest to be involved in marrying any couple.
‘In both the open air and indoors, God is just as present in his beautiful creation on the beach or a lovely wooded Jersey valley as he is in a beautiful church.’
STATES Members have approved a move to grant the Health Department access to the Island’s register of names and addresses.
The register was set up in 2012 to provide a list of names and addresses for use by public authorities.
Members approved new regulations enabling the register to be used by the Health Minister for medical purposes – for example sending health screening invitations to Islanders when they reach a certain age.
The move was adopted in the third reading by a standing vote.
Call for work licences review
THE current system of providing licences to businesses who want to employ people who were born outside Jersey ‘is not working and needs to be reviewed with urgency’, according to one politician.
Deputy Andrew Lewis raised the issue with Assistant Chief Minister Paul Routier after concerns were raised about the way in which Jersey’s population is measured.
The Deputy said that the Island did not have enough people with the right skills in order to grow the economy in line with the Medium-Term Financial Plan, and added that the current system of providing licences to companies needed to be reviewed.
‘Neither the hospitality nor the construction sector is happy with the current situation and the allocation of licences is affecting the growth of their business, the growth of the economy and the creation of jobs,’ Deputy Lewis said during Tuesday’s States sitting.
‘The current system is not working and needs to be reviewed with urgency.’
Senator Routier said that the States were ‘challenged’ because they had been criticised about the number of people who were in the Island, but then they were also in a position where they had to refuse licences to businesses who wanted to recruit from outside Jersey.
He said: ‘I agree that it is a real challenge to make decisions we are being asked to make by the business community.
‘It is a challenge and the number is higher than what I would like it to be.’
Senator Routier said that a live register was in the process of being created following on from the manpower survey conducted by the Social Security Department, where businesses are required to report the names of every employee.
He added that the process of developing a live register to monitor the Island’s population had been gradual because the chief statistician was not satisfied with the figures that had been collated by the manpower survey, and thought that the new system would be in effect within the next year.
