Clarification to permit change of Vice-President’s proposed

Friday 24 March 2023

Committees should be allowed to change their Vice-President by a simple majority at any time, according to the States body in charge of the rule book.

The States Assembly & Constitution Committee (SACC) added discussion on the blind spot within the rules to its meeting agenda yesterday, after recent events within the Development & Planning Authority.

Its members unanimously agreed, that since individual committees, rather than the States Assembly, can elect Vice-Presidents at the start of a term, they should also be permitted to change that individual mid-way through a term.

Therefore, when changes to the rule book bounding States members are next proposed, clarification will be given that committees have delegated authority to make this internal change if it wishes – within Rule 43. 

The States Assembly will be asked to agree to a rule change enabling that possibly later this year 

Officials will write to deputies in the coming days to explain the proposal. 

Pictured: SACC agreed unanimously that there should be a clarification in the rules. 

Deputy Carl Meerveld, President of SACC, argued that “if a committee has the power to elect a Vice-President, they should have the power to change Vice-President”. 

SACC Vice-President, Deputy Lester Queripel said he was “all in favour of making rules more explicit”. 

Deputy Simon Fairclough agreed, noting “there needs to be some onus and responsibility on committees to sort these things out for themselves”.

And Deputy John Gollop noted that the current rules of procedure are “too limited”.

Committee officials also noted that there are circumstances in which Vice-Presidents need to be elected mid-way through a term, such as when P&R Vice-President Deputy Heidi Soulsby resigned last year.

SACC restricted discussion to the rules generally, rather than passing comment on specific committee disputes. 

The media left the meeting while HM Procurer, Megan Pullum, advised the committee on the legal interpretation of the current rules regarding swapping positions. 

Pictured: There is confusion as to who is the true VP of the DPA. 

The blind spot within the rules was revealed when the Development & Planning Authority agreed by majority to replace it’s Vice-President, Deputy Andrew Taylor, with Deputy John Dyke. 

This move was supported by DPA President Deputy Victoria Oliver and two other Committee members. The president of Policy & Resources, Deputy Peter Ferbrache, has also publicly supported Deputy Oliver, calling on Deputy Taylor to resign from the post.

However, it has been disputed by Deputy Taylor. And the Bailiff, Richard McMahon, has indicated his view that he remains the true Vice-President of the Authority.

The DPA said last week it would hold an extraordinary meeting on March 27 to discuss the issue further.