Under the new system of Ministerial government there is a 30 minute session at the start of every sitting where members have the opportunity to ask questions, without notice, to ministers. The session is split into two periods, with one Minister in each half taking questions. The Chief Minister has to take questions during the second period at every other meeting. We will write up the questions asked in each half along with the full audio from each session so that you can hear the Ministers response. The sittings take place every two weeks. You will also be able to read the written and pre-submitted oral questions on the Hansard section of the States Assembly website. QUESTION TIME – SOCIAL SECURITY In the first half of the Question Time sitting, members had the opportunity to ask the Minister for Social Security, Senator Paul Routier questions without notice. Some of the subjects included maternity and paternity legislation, the low income support system and the strategic plan. Click on the audio link above to listen to the questions as well as Senator Routier’s response. You will need the free Real Player to listen to any audio clip on this site. Deputy Deidre Mezbourian “Will the Minister please advise the house whether he intends to bring maternity legislation to the house. If he does when will that be and what priority does he give to it?” Deputy Shona Pitman “Given that the Minister has stated in the past that the employment relations law [...] constructed to ensure the protection of both employer and employee alike. Would the Minister clarify for the house why an employee successfully winning an unfair dismissal case will not be entitled to reinstatement and what plans does he have to mitigate the situation?” Deputy Geoff Southern “I hope the Minister has been studying his draft strategic plan because I have a number of questions on that. “Under commitment 3.6 of the draft strategic plan the Minister success indicator is the reduction in the number of children and pensioners living in relative low income households. “Will the Minister inform members which of the actions outlined under the heading ‘what we shall do’ actually addresses this target and furthermore what specific targets will the Minister set and be judged on for reducing both child and pensioner poverty from their current abysmal levels of 33% according to the income distribution survey of 2002.” Deputy Andrew Lewis “When the Minister alluded to Maternity rights, will this also include Paternity rights and if so what help if any will be given to small businesses in order to cope with the possible impact of such legislation?” Deputy Sarah Ferguson “When the Minister brings in or is considering the maternity policy, will he give consideration to some form of protection for employers where prospective employees apply for positions knowing they are already pregnant. “This is in fact quite a real problem in the UK where you employ somebody one week and then about three weeks later they announce that they need their maternity leave and so forth. “What consideration will the Minister be giving to this sort of problem, particularly with the number of small businesses we have?” Deputy Paul le Claire “Could the Minister give us some outline as to what safety net will be put in place with the low income support system in relation to discretion? “By way of an example, over the last three weeks I’ve been trying to address an issue where a constituent’s daughter has been submitted to hospital care and that recipient who is currently in receipt of welfare has had the welfare reduced because of the fact that she is now within the hospitals accommodation. “The fact that expenses do continue once somebody is in care is a factor that I think needs to be born in mind and whereas the department who I have been to see on two occasions as well with this matter are unable due to the law as it is written, not able to exercise discretion and the parish are not able to exercise discretion in this instance because of policy, what element of discretion will be written into the low income support system whereby in the future, if a system like this is shown to be failing a resident of St. Helier that the officer at Social Security will be able to take into account an element of discretion.” Deputy Roy Le Herrisier “As we all struggle with the generalities of the Strategic Plan, I wonder if the Minister could tell us with reference for example to 3.6 an integrated system of benefits to help people achieve financial independence. “He promises to reduce the proportion of working age residents needing income support, he promises to increase the proposition of working age residents with long term health inter-paid employment. Can he give us the percentage in both cases and can he give us the mechanisms by which they will be achieved?” Deputy Judy Martin “Would the Minister describe how the introduction of the low income support system will protect the families against the introduction of GST?” Deputy Shona Pitman “The Minister has stated that the re-instatement of a job after proven unfair dismissal is workable. In the instance of the specialist worker of which there are significant numbers in the island, what kind of equality would the Minister suggest this offers to a wronged employee suddenly being unable to pay a mortgage and facing no other option than to sell up?” QUESTION TIME – CHIEF MINISTER In the second half of the Question Time sitting, members had the opportunity to ask the Assistant Chief Minister, Senator Terry le Sueur, standing in for Senator Frank Walker, questions without notice. Some of the subjects included la Collette, taxation, various issues around the Council of Ministers and more from the strategic plan. Click on the audio link above to listen to the questions as well as Senator le Sueur’s response. You will need the free Real Player to listen to any audio clip on this site. Deputy Roy le Herrisier “[…] plan which we are now told is deliberate. Would the Acting Chief Minister confirm that policies will only be taken forward that emanate from this plan once they have been subject to debate and approval from this house?” Deputy Andrew Lewis “Can the Minister advise the house if it is still intended to transfer the responsibility of the population office from the Economic Development Department to the Chief Ministers office and if so when will this occur and will the Chief Ministers Office be more sympathetic to the needs of local businesses as against the Economic Development Departments seemingly greater interest in attracting new non-local businesses?” Deputy Geoff Southern “Is the Acting Chief Minister aware of the Guernsey government’s decision to abandon the look-through provision in its proposed taxation reforms and replace it with taxation of dividends only with some measures to ensure compulsory distribution? “Does he consider that such a move shows some misgivings at least over the compliance of look-through with the EU code of conduct on businesses taxation?” Deputy Judy Martin “In the summary of the council minutes from the 9th March it has now been decided by the Ministers that member and members of the public can have a recording of the Ministerial votes. “As I did give notice I would like to know how many Ministers were at the vote on the sighting of the composting at La Collette, which way each Minister voted and which way the Chief Minister used his casting vote. I hope the Minister can inform us of that as I did give him notice 20 minutes ago.” Deputy Paul le Claire “May I follow on from that question? In that case, what the assistant Minister is telling us is that there were 8 Ministers present for the vote and four votes were cast for Warwick Farm and four votes were cast for La Collette and there is no casting vote unless there suddenly has appeared a new Minister, unless the Chief Minister is not being included as one of these eight Ministers. “If that is the case then I would like to ask is that correct? Where is the weighted decision that it not be put at Warwick farm if there were four for and four against?” Senator James Perchard “The public employee’s contributory retirement schemes latest actuarial valuation as of the 31st December 2004 has now been completed. I understand the report of the scheme has been released to the committee of management. “Could the Acting Chief Minister advise the assembly as to when the report will be available to States Members? “On page 11 of the strategic plan, it reads in the last paragraph ‘the deficiency in the teacher’s pension scheme will be corrected’, what measures does the assistant Chief Minister propose to use to correct this deficiency?” Deputy Celia Scott-Warren “I’d like to ask the Deputy and Chief Minister if he could tell the members where the provision exists for the Chief Minister to have two votes when there is a tie on voting in any decision.” Deputy Roy le Herrisier “Following on the status of the strategic plan would the Acting Chief Minister in terms of 291 for example where it says in 2006 adopt sustainable travel and transport plan and by the end of 2007 have in place funding for implementation. “Would he categorically state whether that means the States will adopt the plan or whether the plan will be adopted by circumventing this assembly?” Deputy Geoff Southern “What justification does the Acting Chief Minister have for the £32 million raid on the dwelling houses loan fund to fund expenditure elsewhere in the strategic plan and on what will this sum be spent?” Deputy Paul le Claire “Given the recent announcements by the Chief Minister and Treasury Minister in Guernsey that the local companies will not pay any tax on their profits in Guernsey, how will that affect the Jersey businesses from an international or competitive prospective and what will stop them from going across to Guernsey, registering their businesses there and operating there businesses here and paying no tax here?” Deputy Judy Martin “To go back to La Collette composting site, sorry to keep on about this. Given that we now know that two Ministers, know the Transport Minister and I think another Minister has been asked to bring back this decision to the States, it’s not necessary under the politics, would the Chief Minister designate confirm that it is always possible for any member of the States to bring a private proposition to the sighting of the composting. “My further question is, being that now the Ministers have made a decision, albeit split on the vote in the house, would they have to stand by collective responsibility or would all the Ministers have a separate vote so at least we would have a four for and four against?” Deputy Rob Duhammel “Why was a vote taken and indeed recorded in the various media if indeed it was a decision of the Minister, it certainly hasn’t been reported as such. I and I think a number of other members are a little confused” Deputy Geoff Southern “Under A1 of the minutes of the Council of Minutes from the 21st February it was agreed that members should be properly informed about decisions before those decisions where reported in the media. And yet only last night I read that the problem with legal advice had been solved in the newspaper.” “Is the Acting Chief Minister satisfied that the correct procedures are in place for informing members who aren’t on the executive of decisions or are we as many suspect to be treated as an irrelevance? | 
