Appointments
To begin this week’s States Meeting, the States Assembly appointed Deputy Lyndsay Feltham as a member of the Scrutiny Liaison Committee to join the Privileges and Procedures Committee. Deputy Moz Scott was also nominated for the position.
Connétable Richard Honeycombe was appointed by the States Assembly as an elected member of the Public Accounts Committee and Mr Graeme Phipps, Mr Philip Taylor and Mr Matthew Woodhams were appointed as non-elected lay members of the Committee.
Connétable Mark Labey was appointed by the States Assembly as a member of the Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel. Deputy Lyndon Farnham and Deputy Rob Ward were appointed as members of the Jersey Police Authority.
Question Time
Questions with notice
Ministers answered States Members’ questions with notice for up to two hours and 20 minutes. Skip to page 10 of the Order Paper to find out what questions were asked and watch from 21 minutes into this morning’s States Meeting to hear Ministers’ answers.
Questions without notice
States Members asked the Minister for Health and Social Services, Deputy Karen Wilson; the Minister for Home Affairs, Deputy Helen Miles; and the Chief Minister, Deputy Kristina Moore; questions without notice for 15 minutes each. Skip to one hour and 20 minutes into this morning’s States Meeting to watch questions without notice.
Public business
Deputy Geoff Southern’s ninth amendment to the Council of Ministers’ proposed Mini-Budget was withdrawn and the States Assembly voted against reducing the lodging period of his tenth amendment to the Mini-Budget. As a result, Deputy Southern’s amendment to the Minister for Social Security’s draft Regulations fell away.
The States Assembly voted in favour of holding an In-Committee debate on the External Relations Common Policy Report at the end of this week’s public business.
Aligning the minimum wage with the living wage
Deputy Sam Mézec asked the States Assembly to agree, in principle:
- That the minimum wage should align with any statutory definition of the living wage
- With the Minister for Social Security’s instructions to the Employment Forum to consider whether, by October 2022, the minimum wage should rise to £10 per hour
- That the Minister for Social Security should devise a scheme to convert the minimum wage to the living wage, and to bring this to the States Assembly by December 2023
The proposition was proposed as amended by the Council of Ministers.
The States Assembly unanimously voted to APPROVE the proposition, as amended.
Skip to two hours 38 minutes to watch the debate in full.
The cost of living Mini-Budget
On behalf of the Council of Ministers, the Chief Minister proposed the cost of living Mini-Budget. Skip to two hours and 55 minutes into this morning’s meeting to watch the beginning of this debate.
Fourth amendment to the Mini-Budget
Deputy Sam Mézec proposed the fourth amendment to the Mini-Budget, asking States Members to agree in principle that, from 2023, personal income tax should be increased to 25% and the basic rate of marginal relief reduced to 25%. No change was proposed for High Value residents.
The States Assembly voted to REJECT Deputy Mézec’s amendment.
Sixth amendment to the Mini-Budget
Deputy Tom Coles proposed the sixth amendment to the Mini Budget: to introduce a new personal tax allowance so that taxpayers receiving less than 60% of the annual median weekly income for the preceding year no longer pay tax.
The States Assembly voted to REJECT Deputy Coles’ amendment.
Fifth amendment to the Mini-Budget
Deputy Catherine Curtis proposed the fifth amendment to the Mini Budget: to cut Social Security contributions by 2% from 1 October 2022 until 31 March 2023, instead of until 31 December 2022.
The States Assembly voted to REJECT Deputy Curtis’ amendment.
Third amendment to the Mini-Budget
Deputy Lyndsay Feltham proposed the third amendment to the Mini Budget, as amended by the Council of Ministers: to increase access to the Community Cost Bonus to include all households without a combined tax liability of over £2,735 for the previous year.
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE Deputy Feltham’s amendment, as amended by the Council of Ministers.
Second amendment to the Mini-Budget
Deputy Mézec proposed the second amendment to the Mini-Budget: to introduce residential rent controls for two years which would include the suspending rent increases and transferring fixed-term and periodic tenancies to open-ended tenancies.
The debate on Deputy Mézec’s amendment to the Mini-Budget will take place tomorrow, Wednesday 21 September 2022.
Watch the recording of this morning’s States Meeting and this afternoon’s meeting.
States Assembly Press Notice