Political Awareness and Education Sub-Committee Minutes (Part A)

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Privileges and Procedures Committee
Political Awareness and Education Sub-Committee (4th Meeting)

5th March 2026

All members were present, with the exception of Deputy K.M. Wilson of St. Clement , from whom apologies had been received.

Deputy C.S. Alves of St. Helier Central , Chair Deputy I. Gardiner of St. Helier North , Vice Chair Connétable A.N. Jehan of St. John

Connétable K. Shenton-Stone of St. Martin Deputy C.F. Labey of Grouville and St. Martin Deputy R.S. Kovacs of St. Saviour

In attendance -

J. O'Brien , Head of Digital and Public Engagement, States Greffe

E. Patterson, Secretariat Officer, Specialist Secretariat, States Greffe

H. Esnouf, Assistant Secretariat Officer, Specialist Secretariat, States Greffe

Note:  The Minutes of this meeting comprise Part A only.

Minutes.  A1. The Minutes of the meeting held on 15th January 2026, having previously been

circulated, were taken as read and were confirmed.

Role profiles  A2. The Sub-Committee received and considered a document entitled Role Profiles for elected  for States Members', which had been produced by the Machinery of Government Members:  Sub-Committee and heard from Deputy C.S. Alves of St. Helier Central , Chair, in Machinery of  this connexion.

Government

Sub- It  was  recalled  that  the  Corporate  Services  Scrutiny  Panel  had  made Committee.  recommendations concerning role profiles for States Members as part of a 2022

review. Separately,  the  Privileges  and  Procedures  Committee  (PPC)  and  its Machinery of Government Sub-Committee had considered further developing role profiles as a useful induction tool for all States Members after the 2026 election. These profiles were intended to provide clarity on participation within the political system and assist in the development of a greater understanding of the roles and responsibilities of Members.

Deputy Alves advised that the document had been considered by the PPC on 1st December 2025, whereby it had been recommended that the document be circulated to PPC's respective Sub-Committees for comment, prior to publication on the States Assembly website. The PPC had noted that whilst the level of information contained therein provided a good overview of roles for prospective election candidates, new Members might require a greater level of detail to inform decisions.

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It was acknowledged that the PPC was due to review the document for final approval at its meeting of 9th March 2026. Thus, given the length of the document, Deputy Alves suggested that the Sub-Committee provided any suggestions or comments electronically. It was agreed that if no comments were received prior to PPC's meeting, that the document would be taken as approved by the Sub-Committee.

The position was noted.

Democracy  A3. The Sub-Committee, with reference to its Minute No. A2 of 15th January 2026, research: Drs.  noted  correspondence,  dated  12th  February  2026,  addressed  to  Dr.  C.  Pich, C. Pich and  Associate Professor in Marketing, Nottingham University Business School, from G. Armanns- Deputy C.S. Alves of St. Helier Central , Chair. dottir.

It was recalled that Drs. Pich and G. Armannsdottir, Senior Lecturer, Department of Marketing,  Nottingham  Trent  University,  had  apprised  the  Sub-Committee  of research  due  to  take  place  in  connexion  with  political  engagement among young Islanders. Drs. Pich and Armannsdottir had been asked to keep the Sub- Committee apprised of the progression of this project to avoid duplication of effort in the context of work being undertaken by the States Greffe's Digital and Public Engagement Team and to avoid research fatigue among targeted groups.

The contents of the letter outlined the above matters raised by the Sub-Committee and it was noted that a response was yet to be received.

On a related matter, it was advised that Drs. Pich and Armannsdottir were due to host an event, featuring a Panel of experts, in connexion with their ongoing research, at Highlands College on 16th March 2026. Upon receiving an invitation to attend the  event,   Deputy  I.   Gardiner  of  St.  Helier  North  had  questioned  why  a representative from the Sub-Committee had not been invited to sit on the Panel, particularly in light of the Sub-Committee's oversight role in the delivery of political education. Further disquiet was noted regarding a lack of consultation prior to the event's organisation, despite a request to be kept informed on the progression of the project.

It was advised that Deputy R.J. Ward of St. Helier Central , Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning, was due to make a speech at the event, along with Deputy Alves , in her capacity as Assistant Chief Minister. It was also noted that Deputy M.B. Andrews of St. Helier North would attend the event. Deputy Alves undertook to discuss this matter further with Deputy Ward .

The position was noted.

2026 Legacy  A4. The Sub-Committee, with reference to its Minute No. A9 of 15th January 2026, Report.  received and noted a draft Legacy Report, which outlined its workstreams for the

extant political term and heard from Ms. J. O'Brien, Head of Digital and Public Engagement, States Greffe.

It was recalled that concerns had been expressed in connexion with the Chair of the Privileges  and  Procedures  Committee's  (PPC)  view  that  a  single legacy report should be produced by the main Committee with a list of contributions from the various Sub-Committees being included.

However, the decision had subsequently been taken that the Sub-Committees would produce a short legacy report, which would be appended to that of the main Committee. It was acknowledged that PPC would review the Sub-Committee's legacy report and make any amendments as necessary. The draft report included an

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overview of the work undertaken and outlined recommendations for the next Sub- Committee to consider.

The Sub-Committee requested various amendments to the legacy report. It was agreed  that  the  updated  report  would  be  circulated  for  approval  to  the  Sub- Committee via electronic mail.

Coming-of-age  A5. The Sub-Committee, with reference to its Minute No. A4 of 15th January 2026, events.  received an oral update from Connétable A.N. Jehan of St. John , in connexion with

the Coming-of-Age' events which were due to be hosted by parishes to increase political engagement.

It was recalled that the events sought to encourage engagement with the democratic process. The Comité des Connétable s had been due to discuss a schedule of events, which the Sub-Committee would be updated on in due course.

Automatic  A6. The Sub-Committee, with reference to its Minute No. A5 of 15th January 2026, Voter  received an oral report from Ms. J. O'Brien, Head of Digital and Public Engagement, Registration  States Greffe, in connexion with the Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) project. project.

It was recalled that, in adopting P.27/2025 – Draft Elections (Electoral Registers) (Jersey) Amendment Law 202-, the States Assembly had approved changes which enabled a move to AVR, replacing the current paper-based opt in' system with a database created from the People Directory. It was anticipated that this would make it easier for people to exercise their democratic rights and would remove barriers to voting. It was further recalled that an invitation had been extended to Connétable s K. Shenton-Stone of St. Martin and A.N. Jehan of St. John to attend to the AVR Board meeting, which took place on 16th January 2026.

The Sub-Committee was advised that whilst the AVR project was on track, the Privileges  and  Procedures  Committee  had  lodged  an  amendment to  the  Draft Elections  (Electoral  Registers)  Amendment  (Jersey)  Commencement  Act  202- (P.39/2026  referred),  at  the  request  of  the  Parish  Secretaries,  delaying  the commencement date until 24th March 2026. It was noted that whilst the new AVR system was robust, it was vital that the Parishes were also confident in the system. The amendment allowed one additional week for further validation checks to be performed so Parish officials could be satisfied that the correct number of registrable persons had been passed to the Electoral Register System. The Parishes had agreed that should they be content with the functionality of the AVR system ahead of the debate, the amendment could be withdrawn accordingly.

On a related matter, the Sub-Committee expressed concern in connexion with the polling stations arrangements in St. Saviour , as proposed by the Parish Secretary and subsequently endorsed by the Jersey Electoral Authority (JEA). It was noted that such arrangements could be counter-productive to the overarching objective to increase voter turnout in Jersey. Connétable Jehan informed the Sub-Committee that the Chair of the JEA was due to attend a meeting of the Comité des Connétable s on 9th March 2026, and that this matter would be raised for further discussion. Deputy C.S. Alves of St. Helier Central , Chair, further noted that she had written to St. Saviour 's Parish Secretary in connexion with the same.

On a related matter, it was agreed that officers attending meetings of Electoral Administrators should be accompanied by a political representative in future.

Publication of  A7. The Sub-Committee, with reference to its Minute No. A4. of 18th November correspond-  2024, received an oral report from Ms. J. O'Brien, Head of Digital and Public

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ence on the  Engagement, States Greffe, in connexion with the publication of correspondence on States  the States Assembly website.

Assembly

website.  It was advised that the  Privileges  and Procedures Committee  had  endorsed a

recommendation to publish official correspondence between its respective Sub- Committees on the States Assembly website. It was noted that said correspondence would be available on the website from the beginning of the next political term. It was further noted that new topics with associated explanatory materials, intended to enhance accessibility and political literacy, would also be made available on the website in due course.

Matters for  A8. The Sub-Committee noted the following matters for information – information.

- Deputy I. Gardiner of St. Helier North had attended the 1st Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, British Islands and Mediterranean Region, Forum for Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities, hosted by the Scott ish Parliament in February 2026. The Sub-Committee was informed that one of the plenaries had focussed on how to encourage those with disabilities to stand in elections; and

- Ms. J. O'Brien, Head of Digital and Public Engagement, States Greffe, advised that a number of accommodations had been made to ensure the 2026 Election was accessible for candidates and voters alike.