Press Release. Independent Jersey Care Inquiry returning to Jersey.

From The Independent Jersey Care Inquiry Panel (IJCI)

"On 3rd July 2017, we delivered our report into the care of children by the States of Jersey from 1945. We identified 10 failings underlying the findings that we made. These failings allowed abusive regimes and practices to persist and flourish in the care system in Jersey for many decades causing severe and enduring harm to many hundreds of children. In our report we made eight areas of recommendation which the States of Jersey accepted and committed resources to improve the safety, quality and effectiveness of the care of children in Jersey.

Since then Jersey has embarked on a major programme of improvement in its public sector structures, processes and practice and has made significant investment in services for families, children and young people. We have been invited to review the island’s progress in implementing our 2017 recommendations. We have started this work and will be back in Jersey between 13 -20 May this year. We will provide a report in the summer of 2019 giving our view on whether services for children in Jersey are safer than now than two years ago and what needs to be done in future to keep the island’s children safe.

Today we are launching our website www.ijcipanel.org which sets out what we are doing and how we are doing it and explains how people in Jersey can contribute to this review. We want to hear from people working with children, people receiving services and members of the public in Jersey. People can ask to meet privately with us, can take part (anonymously) in a survey or sit in on our public discussions with professionals, politicians and voluntary organisations. We can be contacted by email at info@ijcipanel.org or by post at IJCI Panel, MB 013, Suite 1 Castlecroft Business Centre, Tom Johnston Road, Dundee DD4 8XD, UK.

We look forward to engaging again with people in Jersey and finding out what has changed and is changing to keep children in the island safe and support those for whom the state is or has been their “corporate parent”.

Frances Oldham QC, Prof Sandy Cameron, Alyson Leslie"

Deputy Montfort Tadier Suspension.

Deputy Montfort Tadier

Deputy Montfort Tadier was suspended (Fri 29th March 2009) from his duty as Assistant Minister for culture. The decision to immediately suspend the Deputy was made by Chief Minister John Le Fondre following an email exchange between a few States Members (including the Chief Minister) where there was a discussion about the prescribing of medicinal cannabis (or not) for patients with chronic pain.

Deputy Tadier, it would appear, was calling for the dismissal of a pain consultant who, it seems, has refused to prescribe the pain reliving drug despite the the Island's parliament voting overwhelmingly to allow cannabis to be prescribed. The pain consultant was copied into the e-mail. The e-mail itself (from Deputy Tadier) was a reply to an ongoing thread and was not a stand-alone e-mail calling for the pain consultants dismissal. (As some media outlets would have you believe)

So firstly this is not some surreptitious Machiavellian conspiracy to get rid of a States employee on Deputy Tadier's behalf, it was an open, honest and transparent call for the employee to go. The employee could have responded to the e-mail fighting his corner. We've not seen evidence that this has happened. 

For those who keep an eye on Jersey politics; the calling of the pain consultants dismissal/removal is nothing new. Deputy Tadier has made his position clear in a number of States debates including HERE.

The old media (formerly known as "mainstream" media) has been doing what it always does and "reported" (or not) on this story but to the best of our knowledge "questioned" nothing. That's where the "New" Media (formerly known as "Social" Media) continues to carry the slack and actually question the government line rather than just report (repeat) it.

We ask: Has the Chief Minister overplayed the severity of the incident by suggesting there could be a claim for constructive dismissal?

As far as we understand it; JACS states that constructive dismissal occurs when an employee considers it necessary to leave their job against their will because of the employers conduct.

We ask: Surely Deputy Tadier isn't the employer? The employer is the States Employment Board? Could a case of constructive dismissal really have any merit?

Since the "offending e-mail" had nothing to do with the Ministry Deputy Tadier has responsibility for (culture), nor did it relate to a member of his department, then one must assume he was acting as an independent States Member.

We ask: Is the Chief Minister over-looking these facts in order to justify the severity of his (what looks to be) over the top, (and possibly wrong) sanction? How can an independent Member of the States be bound by the Ministerial Code of Conduct?

We hope to follow up on this developing story very soon and also hope to have as many answers as questions.