Deputy Kevin Pamplin, who sits on the Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel, said a number of States Members had to sit on multiple panels to carry out the work while scrutiny officers were having to split their time across several bodies.
In the Government Plan, the States Greffe has applied for an increased budget to help the system and Deputy Pamplin is hoping that the request is approved.
He said: ‘It has been a busy time for Scrutiny with the Government Plan. The system has improved, but it is still an area that is under-resourced.
‘I know the Greffe has put in for money in the Government Plan, and we need more staff in the department.
‘Someone came up to me the other day and asked where my office was and how they could get hold of my PA. We don’t have any of these things.’
Deputy Pamplin said a lot of backbenchers’ time was being used for Scrutiny meetings, which he said had become more frequent in recent weeks in the build-up to the Government Plan debate in November.
And Deputy Pamplin believes it is more important than ever that the government policies are properly scrutinised.
He added: ‘There are a lot of new faces on Scrutiny. It has never been more important to hold the government to account, and we have had all the important Government Plan stuff.
‘I think the process for that has been good. We would have liked more information and sooner and some of it has been rushed. But this is the first time we have put a plan forward and I think we need to learn from the process.’
