What does that mean? Well, it means our States committees are very important bodies indeed. I would estimate they are where 80% of local politics happen.
Two things flow from that. Firstly that it is important for every States member to scrutinise what’s happening on those committees they don’t serve on, and hold them vigorously to account.
It’s not good enough to just focus on their own committees’ work and leave the scrutinising to the Scrutiny Management Committee. Particularly when eight months into this political term, SMC is yet to hold a single public hearing to question the work of a principal committee.
It also means that committee members should absolutely prioritise the work of their own committees. No one is expecting 100% attendance. These meetings take place every week of the year and our deputies are entitled to holidays, and important family events, just like every other member of the community.
But in normal circumstances, anything below an 80% attendance record should raise eyebrows. Which is why I was slightly taken aback by the latest stats provided to this newspaper.
Let me make it clear. I am absolutely NOT leaping to conclusions over the commitment of any particular deputy. Often there is a back story we know nothing about.
In the last States one of my committee members on ESS had to miss quite a few meetings for overwhelmingly justified reasons. Any good private sector employer would have cut them the same slack.
Likewise I remember my late wife being given very unpleasant grief by some when her committee attendance fell off during the period when her daughter – my step-daughter – was dying of a brain tumour. Of course they weren’t to know – but that’s the point.
But extenuating circumstances aside, the presumption should be that deputies will attend the vast majority of committee meetings. Certainly it is not fair on the electorate for them to prioritise other work.
I am not saying deputies shouldn’t have other work. They always have. Eric Walters delivered heating oil and Mike Torode ran an airline. But I never remember them skimping their attendance at either States meetings or committee meetings.
Have life, and politics, become more complex, and time consuming, since that golden age? Maybe. But we would still be losing out on a lot of talent if we insisted that States members could have no other interests.
I would estimate that a deputy with no major presidency, and just one committee membership, needs to spend about 30 hours a week on politics to do the job justice.
For a president of a big committee that rises to about 50 hours. But if they are not interested in golf, or watching TV, and want to work 70-hour weeks, why shouldn’t they have other interests?
Finally, a health warning. Don’t judge your deputy purely by their attendance record. I have known some who have sat pretty uselessly through every meeting going, contributing nothing. And others who only attended 75% of the time but whose input was massive.
That said, if you sit on a States committee the default position should be to attend a large majority of the meetings – or make way for someone who will.