Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie (FOI)

Produced by the Freedom of Information office
Authored by Government of Jersey on behalf of the States Greffe and published on 16 January 2020.
Prepared internally, no external costs.

Request

With regard to the 'Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie' of which Deputy Montfort Tadier is the President, I would like to know the following:

How much does this Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie cost the Taxpayer annually, when costs are broken down for travelling, meals and alcohol consumption?

What is the purpose of having Deputy Montfort Tadier as President of this Club?

Finally what other annual costs are incurred by this Club for visits to Jersey from France?

Response

Expenditure is incurred by the Jersey Branch of the Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie (APF) through sending delegations to APF conferences and through the annual subscriptions that are due to the APF. In addition, expenditure was incurred in 2018 through catering for the presentation of an APF award to an Islander in recognition of their work to support the speaking of French and the objectives of the APF.

The expenditure incurred in 2017, 2018 and 2019 on these items was as follows:

 

​	​2017	2018​	2019​
​Travel	£3,192.89	​£1,029.26	​£2,585.57
​Accommodation	​£3,090,69	​£592.43	​£4,786,61
​Subscriptions	​£6,184.81	​£6,401.89	​£6,201.37
​Award Presentation	​-	​£481.73	​-
​Total	​£12,468.39	​£8,505.31	​£13,573.55

 

For the expenditure on sending delegations to APF conferences (ie travel and accommodation), it is not feasible to break these figures down further to show expenditure on meals. However, the catering at these conferences is generally provided by the host jurisdiction at no cost to the Jersey Branch. Any costs of meals incurred by the Jersey Branch therefore arise from subsistence claims (whilst delegations are travelling to and from the conferences) and do not include any expenditure on alcohol.

No costs were incurred by the Jersey Branch in these years on visits to Jersey from France.

The management of the affairs of the Jersey Branch is the responsibility of the Executive Committee, of which the President is the Chair. Membership of the Executive Committee is governed by the Branch Rules that were approved by the States Assembly on 23 February 2010. According to Item 8 of those Branch Rules, “the President [of the Executive Committee] shall be elected at the General Meeting, and shall hold office until his / her successor is appointed.” The President is therefore elected by the members of the Jersey Branch; all States Members are eligible for membership of the Branch and can attend General Meetings.

The last General Meeting was held on 26 June 2018. At that General Meeting, two nominations were made for the position of President, of which one was Deputy Tadier. Each candidate made a speech and a secret ballot was then held to determine the Presidency. Deputy Tadier received 21 votes from the States Members who were present; and the other candidate, Senator John Le Fondré, received 16 votes. Deputy Tadier was duly elected as President of the Executive Committee.

This response has been issued on behalf of the States Greffe. The States Greffe is responsible for the information held by (and on behalf of) both itself and the States Assembly. Neither the States Assembly nor the States Greffe form part of the Government of Jersey and the Government was not involved either in the examination and retrieval of any information required for this response, nor in the drafting of the response itself