States Members’ remuneration - register
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STATES OF JERSEY
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STATES MEMBERS' REMUNERATION: REGISTER
Lodged au Greffe on 14th December 2004 by the Privileges and Procedures Committee
STATES GREFFE
PROPOSITION
THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion
to a g ree that a Register of States Members' Remuneration should be established with immediate effect,
showing the name of each elected States member and the total amount of remuneration and expenses, if any, received by each member, and that the Register should be updated by the Treasurer of the States as changes occur and made available for public inspection by the Greffier of the States.
PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE
REPORT
When the States agreed to abolish the means-tested system of remuneration for States members on 25th November 2003, the requirement for a public Register showing which members received remuneration was also abolished. At the time the Privileges and Procedures Committee took the view that, as remuneration was to be available to all members, a Register was no longer necessary or appropriate.
The Committee has received representations in relation to this matter and is aware of public criticism that no information is available on this issue. At present the only information that can be obtained is the total cost of members' remuneration as set out in the States Annual Accounts.
The Committee has now reviewed its previous decision and agreed that, as set out in this proposition, the States should be invited to agree that a Register be re-introduced. The Committee considered whether to recommend that the Register should, as happened with the previous list, simply show whether or not a member received remuneration or expenses without specifying the amount. The Committee has decided that this would be unfair as some members who receive remuneration may claim less the total available and the Privileges and Procedures Committee believes that this should be reflected in the Register. The proposal is therefore that the Register would show complete details of the amounts received by each member.
The Committee sought advice on the matter of privacy and confidentiality and has received confirmation that there are no legal reasons which would prevent the publication of these details.
The Committee wishes to stress that it is only making this recommendation in the interests of transparency and freedom of information and the Committee remains fully supportive of the principle that all members should be entitled to be properly remunerated for the work that they undertake.
Financial and manpower implications
The information required for the Register is already available to the Treasurer of the States and there are only minimal resource implications for it to be transmitted to the Greffier of the States so that he can make it publicly available.