ALLOWING the Attorney General to sit on a proposed new group responsible for alcohol policy would blur the lines between legal oversight and political decision-making, a scrutiny panel has warned.
The Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel has lodged an amendment to the Draft Alcohol Licensing (Jersey) Law that would remove the Attorney General as a named member of the body tasked with shaping the Island’s alcohol policy framework.
While the panel said it supports the wider aim of modernising Jersey’s alcohol licensing regime, it argued that including the Island’s chief legal adviser in the policy group would undermine the very reforms the law is meant to deliver.
The draft law proposes a significant shift in responsibility for alcohol policy away from the Attorney General and the Licensing Assembly and towards ministers and the States Assembly.
However, the panel warned that keeping the Attorney General on the new Alcohol Policy Group risks weakening that change.
In its report, the panel states that such an arrangement “would blur the distinction between independent legal oversight and political decision making”.
Under the minister’s revised proposals, the group would be chaired by the Economic Development Minister and include the Home Affairs Minister, the Health Minister, the St Helier Constable, another Constable nominated by the Constable’s Committee, and the Attorney General.
The panel argues that if responsibility for alcohol policy is genuinely moving away from the Attorney General, it makes little sense for that office to remain embedded in the new structure.
It said that the “intended shift of responsibility” for alcohol policy “is not fully realised if the Attorney General remains a member of that group”.
“This risks diluting and potentially undermines the objective of creating a distinct policy‐making body separate from the previous arrangements,” the report warns.
Instead, the panel says membership should be restricted to ministers and constables, insisting that policy direction must be set by elected representatives who are “democratically accountable for their decisions”.
During a scrutiny hearing, the Jersey Hospitality Association said legal advice was important but did not require the Attorney General to sit on the group itself.
The panel stressed that the Attorney General could still be consulted when necessary, but without holding formal membership.
It concluded that removing the role would “strengthen the governance framework” around alcohol policy and ensure responsibility sits firmly with elected politicians.
States Members are due to debate the proposition and its amendments later this month.
