ESC lodges code of conduct complaint against member

ESC has made a complaint to the code of conduct panel against Deputy Andy Cameron because it believes that he breached the rules when he shared the notes of a teacher engagement session with 14 other deputies.

Initially the committee had asked Deputy Cameron to self-refer, but he declined.

ESC president Andrea Dudley-Owen issued a short statement about the matter.

‘The committee notes Deputy Cameron’s recent statement but has no desire to discuss this through the media,’ she said.

‘We are focusing on the upcoming debate on the future of secondary and post-16 education and the rest of our mandate, which Deputy Cameron continues to play an active role in.’

The rule in question, which Deputy Cameron is alleged to have broken, states that confidential information which States members receive in the course of their duties ‘may only be used in connection with those duties’.

Confidential information is classed in the rules as department and committee minutes and other papers circulated.

‘The content of such minutes and other papers is not to be disclosed to any third party other than by resolution of the department or committee concerned.’

Deputy Cameron has set out his account of what happened through an open letter.

His assertion is that the document he shared did not meet the criteria of committee correspondence, nor was it confidential to the committee.

He pointed out that the notes from the Les Varendes teacher engagement session had already been circulated to teachers.

After Deputy Cameron shared the notes with 14 like-minded deputies, they were later sent on to the Guernsey Press and published.

The notes showed teachers at Les Varendes had serious reservations and uncertainties about the model proposed by ESC.

Deputy Cameron is leading an amendment to next week’s debate, calling for three 11-16 high schools to be sited at Les Varendes, Les Beaucamps and St Sampson’s, along with a co-located sixth form centre at Les Varendes.