Scrutiny and the Public Accounts Committee in the new system of government
Dep. Sarah C. Ferguson, in St Brelade.
An effective executive needs effective parliamentary scrutiny, something Jersey's new system of government is now able to provide in abundance - whether Ministers like it or not, says the Member who chairs one of the States' key scrutiny committees.
Deputy Ferguson has been Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee since its formal establishment in December 2005 as part of an overall package of government reform. In 2007, she was also elected as President of the Chairmen's Committee which oversees the scrutiny function and brings together the Chairmen of the five scrutiny panels, the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and two other States Members. She has been a Deputy for her home parish of St Brelade since 2002.
T
he change to ministerial government brought in its wake dramatic changes to the way in which the States
Assembly operates. The Clothier Review of the Machinery of
Government in 2000 recommended that there should be a change from the committee system of government to a ministerial system. Under the committee system, virtually every Member of the States served on a committee and was therefore directly involved in government. Clothier did
Dep. Sarah C. Ferguson.
not consider that this provided the most efficient or effective government recommended a change from committee to executive government. Importantly, the review recognized that an effective democracy requires not just an executive but also the balance of a strong Assembly which holds the executive to account and scrutinizes its actions as well as contributing to the formation of policy.
8 The Parliamentarian 2008/Issue One - Jersey It was proposed that the essential
balance would be provided by a scrutiny function which would be comprised of those Members not in the executive. Scrutiny was not intended to be either adversarial or destructive. Further, the report stated that "those
who are in the executive side of government would find it better to seek the assistance and make use of those Members who are not in the executive rather than be at loggerheads with them" as the changes were designed to place the executive in a minority. It should be noted that this is all effected within the context of a non-party States Assembly. These changes required a sea change in
the thinking of States Members whether in the executive or in scrutiny. Ministers inherited an existing infrastructure whilst scrutiny needed to develop their own systems. There has therefore been a three-
pronged educational programme. First, it has been necessary to ensure the executive understands the function of scrutiny. In the context of this, scrutiny is described as fulfilling the function of a "critical friend". Secondly, it has been necessary to