In September, Chief Minister Ian Gorst lodged a proposition calling for an elected Speaker to preside over States sittings.
If approved when it is debated next week, the proposition would bring to an end the Bailiff’s dual role as President of the States and the Island’s chief judge.
The changes would come into force
at the first meeting of the new Assembly following the next general election in May.
Several amendments have since been lodged, including a request from Senator Philip Ozouf for a special Scrutiny panel – comprising at least one minister or assistant minister, as well as backbenchers – to be formed to scrutinise required legislative changes if the proposition is passed.
But in a formal response, the Chairmen’s Committee, which oversees the work of Scrutiny panels, said the amendment was ‘unnecessary, problematic and [an] unjustified departure from the existing framework for Scrutiny’.
They added: ‘It is not the case, as inferred in the report to the amendment, that there is inadequate capacity among the existing Scrutiny panels to undertake effective work on this matter.’
