THE REGULATION OF PARLIAMENTARY ETHICS
THE REGULATION OF PARLIAMENTARY ETHICS A case study from Jersey
Mark Egan is the
Greffier of the States of Jersey. Mark Egan has been Greffier of the States of Jersey since December 2015. He was previously a clerk in the UK Parliament’s House of Commons.
At its last sitting before the summer break, Jersey’s States Assembly brought into force the Commissioner for Standards (Jersey) Law 2017, bringing to an end four years of debate about the regulation of parliamentary ethics in the Island. The original proposal to introduce a Commissioner for Standards was put forward by the Assembly’s Privileges and Procedures Committee (PPC) in 2013, following a review of the operation of the Code of Conduct for Elected Members. The Committee recognised the drawbacks of the existing system for investigating complaints about Members’ conduct. In particular, the Committee lacked the resources necessary to undertake effective investigations and there was a risk that the public would not regard such investigations as fair and impartial. The Assembly approved in principle the creation of a Commissioner for Standards post by 44 votes to 1 and asked the PPC to draw up the necessary legislation. Draft legislation was debated in December 2015. A number of questions were raised and the vote on the draft law was deferred. One question concerned the level at which the Commissioner should be remunerated. The Committee undertook research into the daily rate offered to office holders with similar working arrangements as was envisaged for the Commissioner. It concluded that a day rate of
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up to £400 was comparable and that was subsequently accepted by the Assembly. The second issue concerned the scope of the Commissioner’s remit. Some Members argued that the Commissioner should be responsible for investigating complaints about ministerial conduct, as well as those related to the Code of Conduct for Elected Members. There were also questions about whether the
Commissioner should investigate complaints about the conduct of scrutiny panels (the Jersey equivalent of departmental Select Committees). The Committee took the view that the Commissioner should investigate complaints that the Code of Conduct for Ministers and Assistant Ministers had been breached. However, it recognised that where the Commissioner found