The responses to some recent political questions around road safety have given an insight into how much time is spent answering them.
In an unusual move, the States has published the time it took civil servants to answer Deputy Le Brun’s questions.
As far as we can tell, this appears to be the first and only time this information has been included in Rule 14 responses.
More than three working days were spent by staff from one States committee answering two sets of questions asked by Deputy Ross Le Brun.
He was elected to the States in the by-election held in April, having made his views on traffic and road safety clear during that campaign and previous attempts to get in.
Since being elected, Deputy Le Brun has used the ‘Rule 14’ mechanism eight times, more than any other deputy.
All but one of Deputy Le Brun’s eight Rule 14 questions have been about traffic, with the other focused on affordable housing.
In answering his two most recent sets of questions, Environment and Infrastructure (E&I) gave details about parking provision on St Peter Port’s piers and pavement surfing.
A total of 27 hours was spent answering these questions.
That time would have been spent by civil servants reviewing the questions, making site visits, and doing research, before answering the questions.
In response to questions about parking spaces, E&I confirmed that measurements from cars built in the 1970s are still used when marking spaces across car parks.
The committee also confirmed that there are no designated parent-and-child spaces at any of the Salerie, North Beach, Crown Pier, or Albert Pier car parks, and that the number of ‘blue badge’ parking spaces on each is also minimal compared to the number of ‘regular spaces’ provided.
Answering these questions took about 19.5 hours.
In response to questions about pavement driving and vulnerable road users, E&I said it is already focused on safety, with priority given to protecting vulnerable road users in locations where they are “most exposed”.
The committee said that “there is no single solution that can be applied universally across the island’s road network,” to address safety concerns because “measures intended to address one issue can, if not properly considered, create adverse consequences elsewhere”.
Answering these questions took up an additional 7.5 hours of staff time, said E&I.
Rule 14 leaderboard
Since Deputy Le Brun was elected at the end of April, he’s submitted the most Rule 14 questions, with Deputy Gavin St Pier close behind at 7.
All but one of Deputy Le Brun’s questions have come since 23 July.
| Deputy | Questions asked |
| Ross Le Brun | 8 |
| Gavin St Pier | 7 |
| Rob Curgenven | 4 |
| Garry Collins | 2 |
| Tom Rylatt | 2 |
| Haley Camp | 1 |
| Liam McKenna | 1 |
| Min Tat (David) Goy | 1 |
Since Rule 14 questions were introduced more than 10 years ago, 459 have been published.
Deputy Le Brun’s appear to be the first where the time taken by civil servants to answer the question was included in the response.
There has only been one Rule 14 question published since Deputy Le Brun’s, and this does not contain information on how long the response took.
