Emails from Islanders to All States Members
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WQ.395/2025
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE CHAIR OF THE PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE BY DEPUTY M.R. SCOTT OF ST. BRELADE
QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 20th OCTOBER 2025
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 27th OCTOBER 2025
Question
"Will the Chair advise what proposals, if any, are being considered by the Privileges and Procedures Committee to improve the efficiency and consistency of the way in which emails sent from members of the public to all States Members are dealt with, and has any consideration been given to requiring that the relevant Minister responds in the first instance?"
Answer
PPC as previously constituted considered this matter on 16th June 2025 as the Deputy had previously raised this matter. The Committee wrote to the Chief Minister and to the President of the Scrutiny Liaison Committee to raise the Deputy 's ideas that the relevant Ministers could respond to public correspondence addressed to all elected States Members and that this could be followed up by the relevant Scrutiny Panel. The Committee's own initial view was that amendments to Standing Orders on this matter would not be required, but that guidance could potentially be produced for all Members (dependent upon the response from the Chief Minister and SLC).
The Committee as currently constituted has yet to consider this matter. The Chief Minister has advised that guidance for the Ministerial Office covers this subject and indicates that the relevant Government Member(s) should respond to correspondence addressed to all such Members and (if cross-cutting) only to those parts that relate to their portfolio; this guidance extends to correspondence sent to all Members. The intention of the guidance is to ensure that the relevant Minister responds to correspondence in a timely manner and with limited duplication. Once PPC has received an indication from the SLC of its views, it will return to this matter and decide whether it should undertake any further work.
In connection with this matter, PPC agreed that the option to e-mail all Members should be the last to appear on the dropdown menu on the States Assembly website for the public to contact elected States Members. The idea behind this move was to encourage the public to contact those Members who are most directly linked to their Constituency or Parish or to the subject of their correspondence. Further improvements to the website are being investigated by the States Greffe along similar lines, whereby the Members relevant to a particular topic (the Government and Scrutiny Members) would be made easier to identify. This is also informed by the idea that public correspondence would then get to those Members who are closest to the issue at hand.