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A weekend of political turmoil, which saw the explosive resignation of an Assistant Chief Minister, combined with a backlog of debates, means the floodgates have opened on several months of ‘public business’ drought.
This week’s States Assembly meeting is due to touch on everything from rented dwellings licensing to trees to trouble in the Council of Ministers.
Here, Express disassembles the order paper for tomorrow's meeting in the States Chamber, and the drama likely to ensue...
Andy Jehan, who is Constable for St John, resigned from his Government role over "severe concerns" about what he described as "indefensible misuse of taxpayers money" within Health over the weekend, raising the inevitable: questions...
Last-minute and urgent questions are therefore likely to pop up on the order paper for the States Assembly over the course of today and tomorrow morning regarding these various grievances and expenditures – even more likely, the Chief Minister could be asked whether she has confidence in Health Minister Karen Wilson...
It is not the Health Minister's turn to be grilled, but it is the Chief Minister's – and we can expect the questioning to fall within the topic of her Assistant Chief Minister's swift departure.
The Social Security and the Treasury Minister will also be facing 15 minutes of open questions, with backbenchers possibly keen to drill them on aspects of the Government Plan – which is due to be debated in full next week.
While she may not be in the hot seat this week, Justice and Home Affairs Minister Helen Miles could feel that her seat is rather lukewarm with a question from Deputy Sam Mézec about the implementation of the 77 recommendations from the Violence Against Women and Girls Taskforce Report.
The Reform Deputy leader will ask whether Deputy Miles accepts all of the recommendations from the report and, if she does, when she intends to publish a timetable for the implementation of those recommendations.
We'll be listening in closely, consider that she previously stated her commitment to "carefully review" the recommendations, but pressure has been building for her to accept them...
The day is finally here. No, not Christmas – but the day when the £30-a-year landlord licensing scheme will come before the States Assembly. And could it be that even rarer day – the one when a licensing scheme is finally approved?
In July, States Members voted to support Environment Minister Jonathan Renouf's plan to licence landlords and give officers the power to enforce minimum standards of rented accommodation that were introduced in 2018.
Countless attempts, most recently in 2021, have failed the achieve that magic number of votes.
But following a trip to Scrutiny, and pushback from landlords, Deputy Renouf's legislation is ready for its big day before the States Assembly with all its bells, whistles and amendments (and the amendments of its amendments). If approved, it is unlikely to be implemented until May at the earliest.
To those who think they may be suffering from a case of déjà vu, not to worry – we have been here before.
Deputy Moz Scott is calling for the return of the island-wide mandate, the re-instatement of the role of Senator, and for the number of Deputies to be reduced in time for the General Election in 2026.
Deputy Scott has argued that the return of Senators would "improve specialised representation of island-wide interests", enable States Members to focus on local community/constituency representation or other common-interest representation", and "better enable States Members to adopt a particular work focus without experiencing concerns that they are not paying sufficient attention to other areas of work performed by States Members".
In only January of this year, States Members voted against a proposition from former Senator Ian Gorst by 24-23 which asked the new States Assembly to bring back the island-wide mandate after more than five hours of debate some months later.
Could another knife-edge vote be on the cards? Or another five-hour debate?
With the decision to regulate or not to regulate trees under the planning law due to come before the States once again, Deputy Jonathan Renouf has written to urge Members to reject an "unnecessary" proposition lodged by former Bailiff, Deputy Sir Philip Bailhache.
The backbencher is seeking to repeal the relevant part of the Planning and Building law to leave landowners free to carry out work on trees without needing planning permission.
Deputy Renouf's proposals, which govern the chopping down and pruning of trees, were met with protest from landowners and tree surgeons when first lodged earlier this year, and have been subsequently altered, with a debate on the issue already delayed multiple times.
He has now withdrawn the proposals, citing a "need to pause" while the island recovers from Storm Ciaran and – if Deputy Bailhache's proposition is defeated – will not bring forward a new set for at least six months.
The Chief Minister and the head of the Scrutiny Liaison Committee have already showed their support for the individual nominated for appointment as the 134k-per-year role of Children's Commissioner, but the question for tomorrow will be: does everyone else support it?
Senior Children's Office in Ireland Ombudsman employee Dr Carmel Corrigan's nomination – which cannot be confirmed without approval of the States Assembly, as set out in legislation – comes after a "comprehensive recruitment process" overseen by the chair of the Jersey Appointments Commission.
You can watch this week's States Assembly meeting online here.
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