Efforts to delay debate on legislation aimed at improving the quality of housing for renters shone a light on the way the States works – with some deputies decrying the little time they have to digest hundreds of pages of text before making decisions.
But, the 300 page document was only delivered to States members on Monday with the debate starting on Thursday.
“I’m one of those people who can’t read an almost 300 page document on a screen. I need paper in front of me. And I’m not the only person who needs paper in front of them,” said Deputy Lester Queripel.
“There are many like me. So I ask committees and departments, once again, I’ve done this so many times in the past, it’s tedious, to bear that in mind, in this extremely unrealistic States drive to become paperless. It is unrealistic, and it mustn’t be allowed to continue, because if that isn’t accepted by those who champion all things digital, then this sort of situation is going to happen time and time and time again, and that can all be avoided by providing paper copies of documents this size a lot earlier than 36 hours prior to a debate.”
Deputy Queripel said he had some sympathy with the Sursis, which was lodged by Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller in a bid to allow deputies more time to understand the proposed legislation, as he felt this topic was of such importance it needed to be properly considered.
“…I hadn’t had time to read the policy letter,” he admitted.
“I got home on Monday evening at nine o’clock, and I found this almost 300 page document in my letter box. The rest of my evening was going to be spent responding to emails, and my diary for Tuesday was already full, so I thought the best thing to do would be to listen to debate very carefully.
“In her opening speech, Deputy Kazantseva-Miller made some extremely poignant points, as did Deputy Haskins and others when they spoke in favour of the Sursis Motivé but likewise, members who have spoken against the Sursis also made some extremely poignant points, particularly on the issue of delay, and there’s a time when when delay can be detrimental to the community, and there’s a time when it can be beneficial to have a rethink.
“So that was my dilemma in this case, for a while. Do I support the Sursis Motivé or reject it because I didn’t feel fully informed? How can you be when you get a 300 page document in your letter box, 36 hours before a debate?”
Ultimately the Sursis Motivé failed when 19 deputies voted in favour and 19 voted against.
States rules means a tied vote fails.
Deputy Steve Falla was among those who voted against it.
“The vast majority of Guernsey landlords are honourable people who will have nothing to fear from the legislation. And I question why they need, ‘a longer lead in time to get ready’.
“Get ready for what?,” he asked. “For providing basic standards that any decent person would expect to exist already? This sursis feels like a delaying tactic of some kind, and I can’t support it.”
Deputy Tina Bury also voted against the Sursis and voted in favour of the new housing legislation, citing her own experience as a renter in the private sector.
“Is it any wonder people think we never get anything done?,” she asked “I mean, it’s ridiculous. Yes, I accept that the timescale for us as a group has felt quite short, and this lends itself to one of my other theories actually about the States, is that I think that the really knotty subjects actually have to go through the same assembly twice, because the first time everyone’s probably just getting their heads around it. And unfortunately, I think that this set of proposals is potentially falling foul of that, that a lot of people in this room haven’t been through the process, but we do have processes, and we cannot afford for every single complicated subject to go through every assembly several times. It’s really not realistic, and that’s why we don’t get anything done.”
Having worked on domestic abuse issues throughout this term of government as part of the Committee for Home Affairs, Deputy Sue Aldwell also encouraged the States not to delay matters further.
She said some of the most vulnerable people in society were waiting for decisions like this to be made to improve their lives.
“I have been made very aware of the overcrowding in shared accommodation for families, families living in one room in quite poor quality accommodation, good landlords will have nothing to fear from this legislation. Unscrupulous ones certainly will,” she said.
“They will be held to account, a knock-on effect with poor quality accommodation, not only causing tensions in family situations, which can lead to a rise in domestic abuse affecting the whole family.
“If we want our children to thrive in education, they need to have decent accommodation to live in with their families. After being made aware of these very real problems which affect our young people, I do not feel I can support the Sursis.”