States of Jersey Police Force Law 2012: Amendments: Law Drafting Instructions

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A decision made on 2 January 2020

Ministerial decision reference: MD-HA-2019-0125
Decision summary title Law drafting instruction: States of Jersey Police Force Law 2012
Decision summary author	Policy Principal (Criminal Justice)	Is the decision summary public or exempt?		Public
Report title Law drafting instruction: States of Jersey Police Force Law 2012
Report author or name of person giving report	Policy Principal (Criminal Justice)	Is the report public or exempt?		Exempt Article 35 of FOI Law
Decision and reason for the decision The Minister requested that legislative drafting commence on amendments to the States of Jersey Police Force Law 2012. The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) undertook a review into the Governance of the States of Jersey Police and issued a report dated 22 March 2018. The C&AG decided that it was an opportune time to take stock of the arrangements established in Jersey as a result of the 2012 Law since: There has been sufficient experience of the new arrangements in practice; and There was the opportunity to draw on the insights of both the former Chief of Police and the former Chairman of the Authority as well as those of their successors. The review: Considered the overall arrangements for the governance of the States of Jersey Police; and Focussed on two specific areas: One relating to a human resource issue; and One relating the development of the Medium-Term Financial Plan. In undertaking this review, the C&AG considered comparable jurisdictions, notably England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, relative to the Jersey position and drew on practice elsewhere that may be a ‘model’ to follow in the Jersey context. The Minister for Home Affairs (‘’the Minister’’) in a response the Public Accounts Committee April 2018, accepted some recommendations as practice improvements and agreed to progress others politically. The Minister agreed to implement the recommendations in full on the 1st February 2019. Several of the recommendations related to amending the States of Jersey Police Force Law 2012. In April 2019, an implementation group (‘’the group’’) was established to take forward the recommendations, finalise outstanding policy issues raised by the report and make recommendations to the Minister prior to drafting legislative instructions. The group consisted of the Senior Justice and Home Affairs Officer, Police Authority representative, States of Jersey Police representative and a Strategic Policy, Performance and Population representative. The Law drafting instructions are a culmination of this work and give effect to the C&AG recommendations as endorsed by the Minister.
Resource implications: Meeting the C&AG’s recommendations will include providing greater resources for the Jersey Police Authority, the extent of which will be determined as the Law is developed and considered by the Assembly alongside the draft Law.
Action required The Law Drafter is requested to arrange for the preparation of the necessary legislation to give effect to the Law drafting instruction set out in the Report.
Signature			Position Connétable Len Norman Minister for Home Affairs
Date signed			Effective date of the decision