International bright young things

Friday 29 May 2015

Here’s a fact about States Members that no-one can deny – they’re getting younger.

Stats compiled for the States Assembly’s annual report show that the average age of a Jersey politician has dropped to 52 – a year younger than it was after the last election in 2011.

The figures also show that politicians spent 264 hours and 11 minutes in action in the Chamber last year – the equivalent of a grand total of 33 eight-hour days.

The vast majority of that time (190 hours) was spent on debates about policies and laws, but the time also included 37 hours on questions, and 20 hours electing new ministers and Scrutiny chairmen.

They also managed to spend around five hours debating what they were going to debate.

The figures show that the average length of service in the States was six years – but one Member towers above the others in terms of experience: St Clement Constable Len Norman, who has been in the States for 31 and a half years.

When the Constable was first elected, Margaret Thatcher had just been re-elected to her second term as UK Prime Minister, the Police were top of the UK charts with “Every Breath You Take” and the 13^th James Bond film Octopussy had just been released.