Aldwell – whoever leaked ESC emails breached code
WHOEVER leaked confidential emails about the Education spat between president Andrea Dudley-Owen and member Andy Cameron is breaching the States members’ Code of Conduct, Education member Sue Aldwell has posted.
Deputy Cameron has been excluded from some matters in committee meetings in recent weeks after he disagreed with the education model the committee is trying to introduce.
Deputy Dudley-Owen has now attempted to reassure deputies that the correct procedure, involving Rule 49 of the States Rules of Procedure had been followed.
Her letter to colleagues, which was marked as confidential, was sent to all deputies and subsequently leaked to the Guernsey Press, along with Deputy Cameron’s response. He stated he was open to discussions with Education.
Both politicians have largely declined to comment publicly on the dispute, although other deputies have voiced their extreme disquiet about the use of Rule 49.
Education member Sue Aldwell, pictured, took to the Guernsey Press Facebook page to comment on the matter, stating that deputies signed up to a code of conduct, which states that documentation, conversations or information in committees is confidential.
‘We cannot discuss with another deputy, member of the public or media,’ she wrote.
‘So every time you see something leaked to the media, someone has breached that code of conduct, they have not acted in an honourable way and they will have lost the trust of other committee members.’
She added that committee boardrooms should be a ‘safe space’ where confidential information can be shared, without fear of it being shared outside.
‘This has absolutely nothing to do with different opinions, but all to do with confidentiality,’ she wrote.
As with most media organisations, the Guernsey Press does not publish its sources for confidential leaked information.
