On its Twitter account the Chamber said that the letter was sexist and called on the government not to ‘assume men are in charge’.
It tweeted: ‘Incensed on International Women’s Day to have received a letter from the States addressed to “Dear Sirs”.
‘Our Chief Exec is female & has been in post for 2 years. Our Executive is all female. 1.)Do your research, 2.) Don’t assume men are in charge!’
The Scrutiny Office, which sent the letter, issued an ‘unreserved apology’, as well as a corrected version.
Head of Scrutiny Tim Oldham, who wrote the apology, said that ‘Dear Sirs’ is not a standard opening by the office and should not have been used.
‘I would like to offer an unreserved apology for the title that was used to address you in the letter sent to you on Deputy [John] Le Fondré’s behalf,’ it says.
‘I understand and completely accept all of the points you have raised since receiving the letter. It’s not how we normally address people in our correspondence and it shouldn’t have happened. I’ll ensure it doesn’t again.
‘I should also explain that the letter was drafted by a member of my team. While Deputy Le Fondré was informed of the content of the letter the salutations were added afterwards. He therefore did not see the version distributed.
‘We have also apologised to Deputy Le Fondré for this mistake.’
