Reprimands by the Bailiff (FOI)

Produced by the Freedom of Information office
Authored by Government of Jersey on behalf of the States Greffe and published on 12 April 2024.
Prepared internally, no external costs.

​​Request

​A

Please advise how many politicians have been formally reprimanded by the Bailiff since June 2022? 

B

Please provide the names of those politicians who have been reprimanded and the reasons for the reprimand.

Response

The Bailiff has no role or function in the investigation of complaints against States Members by the Commissioner for Standards; nor in the consideration, determination and application of the sanctions applied following any breaches of the Code of Conduct by States Members.

The Bailiff is responsible for maintaining order in the States Chamber in accordance with Part 5 of the Standing Orders of the States of Jersey​. In particular, the Bailiff may take action in the Chamber under Standing Orders 108 to 110: 

108      Presiding officer’s powers in relation to irrelevant or repetitious speeches

109      Presiding officer’s power to direct withdrawal of offensive etc words

109A    Presiding officer’s powers in relation to use of visual aids

110      Presiding officer’s power to require withdrawal from Chamber

However, if the Bailiff acts in relation to any of these Standing Orders, or any other Standing Order within Part 5, it is not defined within Standing Orders as a “reprimand”.

No specific record is kept of instances in which the Bailiff has acted under Standing Orders 108 to 110, although any instances in which Standing Order 110 was invoked would be recorded in the minutes – and there have been no such instances recorded since June 2022.  All business transacted within the Chamber is nevertheless fully transcribed and (with the rare exception of in-camera debates) available on the States Assembly website.

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.​