Employment Forum: Reappointment of Member

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A decision made on 7 June 2021

Decision Reference: MD-S-2021-0047
Decision Summary Title :	Employment Forum– reappointment of member		Date of Decision Summary:	28 May 2021
Decision Summary Author:	Senior Policy Officer		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	Employment Forum – reappointment of member		Date of Written Report:	28 May 20121
Written Report Author:	Senior Policy Officer		Written Report: Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Employment Forum – Reappointment of member
Decision(s): The Minister decided to reappoint Mr Graeme Stokes as an employer member of the Employment Forum for a further three-year term.
Reason(s) for Decision: Schedule 2 to the Employment (Jersey) Law 2003 requires that members of the Employment Forum must be appointed by the Minister for Social Security. Mr Graeme Stokes has served for three-year period on the Employment Forum as an employer member and has requested a further term. The Minister has agreed to reappoint Mr Stokes as an employer member for a further three-year term.
Resource Implications: There are no financial or manpower implications.
Action required: Senior Policy Officer to advise Mr Stokes that he has been re-appointed. The Employment (Jersey) Law does not require that the States Assembly is notified.
Signature:		Position: Social Security Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Employment Forum: Reappointment of Member

Employment Forum – RE-APPOINT MEMBER

Background

The Employment (Jersey) Law 2003 (the ‘Employment Law’) provides that the Employment Forum (the ‘Forum’) consists of eight members and a Chairman who must be appointed by the Minister for Social Security (the ‘Minister’). Members must be appointed having regard to the desirability of securing an appropriate balance between members with experience as employers, members with experience as employees and members with other relevant experience.

It is vital to provide a balance between introducing new perspectives and skills to the Forum, as well as providing continuity amongst the membership with the retention of knowledge and experience. Forum members are usually appointed for an initial three-year term and may request to be re-appointed. The Forum does not fall within the direct remit of the Jersey Appointments Commission (the ‘Commission’). However, the Forum operates in accordance with the Commission’s guidance [1] which states that “members of independent bodies should not normally be appointed for terms in excess of nine years”.

The current members and their terms of office are as follows:

	Term of office end date
Independent
Carla Benest (Chair)	30 April 2023
Claire Kingham	17 October 2023


Employer
Donna Abel	30 April 2023
Graeme Stokes	30 April 2021


Employee
Douglas Gray	30 November 2022
Mark Richardson	30 April 2023

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Minister re-appoints Mr Graeme Stokes as a member of the Employment Forum for a further 3-year term of office.

Mr Stokes is the Health and Safety Manager for the Jersey Royal Company, having day-to-day responsibility for 500 staff, including many on the minimum wage. His employee relations responsibilities include health and welfare issues, disciplinary and grievance matters and training and development. Mr Stokes also has an interest in domestic Jersey legislation in terms of its practical application to the workplace.

As a member of the Forum since May 2018, Mr Stokes has contributed to recommendations in respect of the minimum wage and statutory annual leave entitlement and work-day rest breaks.

A separate recruitment exercise will shortly be undertaken to identify candidates for the remaining three posts available on the Forum, upon the recent expiry of the terms of previous members.

[1]www.gov.je/Government/Departments/ChiefMinisters/ChiefMinistersSections/JerseyAppointmentsCommission/Pages/GuidelinesRecruitmentSeniorEmployeesAppointeesIndependents.aspx