But ESS has said no, and that it will still be closing on Monday 30 September as planned.

Pictured: Deputies Michelle Le Clerc and Emily Yerby of ESS. 

The Guernsey Branch of the Institute of Directors, Guernsey International Business Association, Guernsey Chamber of Commerce, the Confederation of Guernsey Industry and the Chartered Institute of Personal Development had asked for an extension to the consultation period, but Deputy Michelle Le Clerc, President of ESS has said no, because it's already been open for longer than usual for a public consultation and that is plenty of time to get responses in. 

“The Committee will not be extending the consultation period which is due to close on 30 September. The consultation was launched on 9 July and will run for 12 weeks in total. The Committee feels that this is an adequate period of time for people to review the draft proposals and provide their feedback. The longer than usual length of the consultation period took account of the fact that part of this period ran over the school summer holidays."

Deputy Le Clerc said ESS wants to get the discrimination legislation passed by this States, before there 2020 election, meaning they can't hang around any longer.

“We’re committed to bringing the final policy proposals for the new legislation to the States for debate by April 2020 and the Committee still has lots of work to do. After the consultation closes, all of the feedback received will be analysed during Octoberand considered by the Committee. We’ll then need to decide whether to change aspects of the proposals in response to the feedback received before preparing a Policy Letter for consideration by the States. The Committee needs sufficient time to do this work thoroughly.”

More information on the draft proposals and a consultation questionnaire can be found online at gov.gg/discriminationconsultation.