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A deputy's appeal against a code of conduct reprimand could be considered by a yet to be appointed official who will in future hear appeals and act as the main standards watchdog when the current post holder is unavailable.
The States Assembly & Constitution Committee will ask the States in April at the earliest to direct the Deputy Commissioner for Standards to hear the outstanding appeal – which would be the first time such a mechanism is used in Guernsey.
Three code of conduct complaints were submitted against Deputy Gavin St Pier after he named a local doctor during a speech relating to the regulation and appraisal of medical professionals in April 2022.
They were made by the doctor – Sandie Bohin – the Medical Specialist Group, and the Guernsey and Alderney branch of the British Medical Association.
He was later found to have breached the code by a panel over a year later and a formal reprimand – one of the punishments for breaches – was recommended.
However, Deputy St Pier appealed the decision based on “procedural irregularities and factual misunderstandings”, but since the States formally overhauled the previous mechanism for hearing and appealing breaches with a new system.
This was separate to another investigation which cleared Deputy St Pier of abusing parliamentary privilege by naming the doctor in the chamber.
Pictured: The two individuals shortlisted for the Deputy Commissioner role.
The States decided in August 2020 to replace the code of conduct panel with a dedicated Commissioner for Standards to investigate alleged breaches of the code by politicians. It was later decided this post should be shared with Jersey, but when final proposals were presented in May 2023 deputies expressed serious concerns that an appeals process had been removed.
The Commissioner, Dr Melissa McCullough was appointed that month, but States members directed SACC to draw up plans for an appeals process. The Committee returned in January 2024 with plans to also appoint a Deputy Commissioner to hear appeals from politicians against the conclusions of the main Commissioner. This was passed by the States.
Two standards watchdogs who work in the House of Lords have agreed to form a shortlist for the role to hear appeals and act in Dr McCullough’s absence: Martin Jelley QPM DL and Akbar Khan.
SACC had considered that the Commissioner could “exceptionally take on the appeal... to bring the matter to a resolution”.
But Dr McCullough herself spoke with the doctor regarding the complaint in July 2023 after she felt she’d been “kept in the dark” throughout the process which has yet to conclude. Due to this, and the fact Dr McCullough wasn’t supposed to consider complaints made before she started in post, she recused herself from the matter.
Other avenues for resolving the complaints were considered, including handing the matter over to SACC members, jurats, or re-convening the original conduct panel, but these were dismissed due to impartiality and impracticality concerns.
The role of Deputy Commissioner is expected to cost up to £3,000 per year.
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