Review panel needs 'radical reform', report finds

The Jersey Law Commission focused on 13 key aims in its report

A Jersey States complaints panel needs "radical reform to ensure it is fit for purpose" if it is to stay in place, a commission has said.

The Jersey Law Commission (JLC) published its report on whether the States of Jersey Complaints Panel should be replaced with a Jersey Public Services Ombudsperson (JPSO).

The replacement was originally proposed in October 2022 by the then chief minister Kristina Moore, but the debate did not go ahead.

Current Chief Minister Deputy Lyndon Farnham said work was underway to improve complaints handling.

The JLC deals with any complaint about a decision or administration process by any minister or department of the States.

In its report, the JLC focused on 13 key aims including how the complaints panel presented its cases at public hearings open to the media, and published information including complainants' names on the States Assembly website.

Comparatively, it said an ombudsperson would work within a private investigation process which prevented publishing the complainants' names and kept them anonymous.

It said there was "no fundamental or largescale problem in relation to service delivery and decision-making" in Jersey’s public services but there were "fundamental problems" inside the services themselves.

This included evidence the JLC said pointed "to individual and system-wide failure and wrong-doing", such as in 2017 when the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry identified individual and systemic failings relating to children’s services.

The JLC said a JPSO could hold jurisdiction over more than just the current ministers of departments, including public bodies such as parishes and head teachers and specified bodies including Andium Homes and Jersey Post.

However, bringing in a JPSO could cost approximately £150,000 per year, the report said, compared to unpaid voluntary panel members who are not States employees or members.

'Accessible to everybody'

The JLC said Chief Minister Deputy Lyndon Farnham’s council was reviewing the proposal with a view to keeping the complaints panel.

Topic commissioner Prof Andrew Le Sueur said the decision was "of course ultimately for ministers and the States Assembly".

He said: "If that decision turns out to be to retain the complaints panel, that shouldn’t mean ‘business as usual'.

"It’s vital that the shortcomings of the current system are addressed to ensure that the panel has the powers and processes it needs to resolve the grievances people bring to it and that it is accessible to everybody in Jersey."

The JLC said the council would need to follow a "good quality law reform process with a high level of external input" to retain and reform the panel if it stayed in place.

Prof Claire de Than, JLC chair, said if JPSO plans were scrapped, "what the JLC can bring to the table is expert analysis shining a spotlight on the legal issues that need to be addressed".

In a statement, Mr Farnham said: “Work is underway to improve complaints handling.

"Once this work is concluded, we will take a view on whether an ombudsperson is the right choice for Jersey.

"In the meantime we will study the new report from the Law Commission."

Mr Farnham said it was for the States Assembly to make the final decision whether to create an ombudsperson.

"If the Government believes we should change the current position, we will present the case for it to the assembly," he added.