Where are the scientists’ meeting minutes?

Tuesday 04 August 2020

The government has been accused of “ignoring the will” of the States Assembly after failing to publish minutes of its scientific advisory team’s covid meetings online by the agreed deadline.

Politicians voted in favour of making the scientific advice underpinning key decisions – like the move between levels of lockdown – more transparent last month.

The proposal, brought by backbencher Deputy Kevin Pamplin, stated that details of meetings of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Cell (STAC), along with the evidence behind decisions and other data, should be published on a dedicated page on gov.je by 2 August.

The proposal also said that all ‘test, track and trace’ data should be published by the same date.

But, with the deadline passing at the weekend, no pages or data have appeared.

Deputy Pamplin has since expressed concerns that his proposition has simply been "ignored", and says he is taking the matter up with the States Greffe.

Pictured: Dr Ivan Muscat is a member of the Government’s covid advisory team, whose meeting minutes Deputy Pamplin called to be published online.

Deputy Pamplin said he was disappointed, but not surprised by the inaction. 

“Of course, I appreciate that everyone is very busy, but I gave ministers two weeks to put the bare bones in place,” he said. “All they had to do is get in touch to give me a heads up, but no one did. Sadly, I’m not surprised but anyone who knows me knows that I’m not going to stop fighting.

“When I joined the States, I thought some Members who spoke passionately about how ministers were attacking democracy by undermining the Assembly were a bit far-fetched. But now I can see it clearly. 

“At the heart of it, there is a disconnect between the will of the Government and the will of the Assembly. And alongside that, we have a serious breakdown in communication."

Pictured: Deputy Pamplin believes that the executive is undermining the legislature in Jersey.

He continued: “Over the weekend, I emailed the Chief Minister, other Ministers and some Director Generals and the only response I had was from Senator Farnham, who said that he would look into it, but I haven’t heard back from him.

“If someone would have said there was a glitch or given me a new deadline, of course, I would have accepted that but to get nothing is very disappointing.

“If the States had been sitting, I could have stood up and asked a question but, instead, I will be contacting the Greffe to ask what happens when a successful proposition seems to have been ignored.”