Passports (False Statements and Forgery) (Jersey) Law 201- (P.14/2014): Amendment

Information about the publication of Ministerial Decisions

A formal published “Ministerial Decision” is required as a record of the decision of a Minister (or an Assistant Minister where they have delegated authority) as they exercise their responsibilities and powers.

Ministers are elected by the States Assembly and have legal responsibilities and powers as “corporation sole” under the States of Jersey Law 2005 by virtue of their office and in their areas of responsibility, including entering into agreements, and under any legislation conferring on them powers.

An accurate record of “Ministerial Decisions” is vital to effective governance, including:

demonstrating that good governance, and clear lines of accountability and authority, are in place around decisions-making – including the reasons and basis on which a decision is made, and the action required to implement a decision
providing a record of decisions and actions that will be available for examination by States Members, and Panels and Committees of the States Assembly; the public, organisations, and the media; and as a historical record and point of reference for the conduct of public affairs

Ministers are individually accountable to the States Assembly, including for the actions of the departments and agencies which discharge their responsibilities.

The Freedom of Information Law (Jersey) Law 2011 is used as a guide when determining what information is be published. While there is a presumption toward publication to support of transparency and accountability, detailed information may not be published if, for example, it would constitute a breach of data protection, or disclosure would prejudice commercial interest.

A decision made 7 April 2014:

Decision Reference: MD-HA-2014-0022
Decision Summary Title :	Amendment to Draft Passports (False Statements and Forgery) (Jersey) Law 201-		Date of Decision Summary:	4 April 2014
Decision Summary Author:	Executive Officer Home Affairs		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	n/a
Written Report Title :	Draft Passports (False Statements and Forgery) (Jersey) Law 201- Amendment		Date of Written Report:	3 April 2014
Written Report Author:	Executive Officer Home Affairs		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Amendment to Draft Passports (False Statements and Forgery) (Jersey) Law 201-.
Decision(s): The Minister decided to lodge an amendment to P.14/2014, the Draft Passports (False Statements and Forgery) (Jersey) Law 201-.
Reason(s) for Decision: Some amendments are required to the Draft Passports (False Statements and Forgery) (Jersey) Law 201- as set out in the accompanying report.
Resource Implications: Nil.
Action required: The Executive Officer, Home Affairs, to request the Greffier of the States to lodge the Amendment for debate on 29 April 2014.
Signature:		Position: Minister for Home Affairs
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Passports (False Statements and Forgery) (Jersey) Law 201- (P.14/2014): Amendment

REPORT

Draft Passports (False Statements and Forgery) (Jersey) Law 201- (P.14/2014)

Amendment

After lodging P.14/2014 the Minister for Home Affairs attended a public scrutiny hearing with the Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel. In preparation for that hearing, and in discussion with the Panel during that hearing, some issues came to light with the draft Passports (False Statements and Forgery) (Jersey) Law 201- (‘the draft Law’). This Amendment addresses those issues.

In the Interpretation Article of the draft Law, ‘police officer’ is defined as a member of the States of Jersey Police Force. It is intended that any police officer, whether Honorary or States of Jersey Police should have powers under the Law and, therefore, the specific definition has been removed because ‘police officer’ is defined in the Schedule to the Interpretation (Jersey) Law 1954 as meaning a member of the Honorary Police or a member of the States of Jersey Police Force.

It was the intention of the Minister that the draft Law should not only apply to the person who is applying for the passport but also to any person who makes a false or misleading statement in relation to an application, for example a countersignatory. However, this was not conveyed to the Law Draftsman’s Office and the draft Law was prepared in line with the instructions received. Currently, therefore, the draft Law would only apply to the applicant for the passport, whether they are applying for the passport for their own use, or for use by another person, for example a parent applying on behalf of their child.

In order to extend the scope of the offence Article 2(1) of the draft Law is substituted by this Amendment to remove reference to ‘a person’ applying for a passport and using the more generic phrase ‘where an application is made’

Article 2(2) of the draft Law refers to ‘the person’, which is taken to mean the applicant for the passport. This amendment changes that to ‘any person’ so that the countersignatory would also be covered.

The Amendment also removes the words ‘or recklessly’ from paragraphs 2(2)(a) and 2(2)(c) of the draft Law. The rationale for this is to protect somebody who is asked to be a countersignatory for a passport application and although they have known the person for the requisite amount of time in order to act as the countersignatory, they don’t know the person particularly well but have taken what the applicant has said at face value. Therefore, they would only commit an offence if they actually knew that the application was false, or contained a false or misleading statement.

Financial and manpower statement

There are no additional manpower or financial implications associated with this amendment.