Wednesday 26 January 2022
The Committee for Employment & Social Security has decided to make the draft Prevention of Discrimination (Guernsey) Ordinance available to anyone who wishes to see it, in the interests of transparency.
Although draft legislation is not normally published when it is still in the process of being finalised, and when there is a technical consultation already in place, the move follows several requests and has been decided on after consultation with the Law Officers. It demonstrates the Committee's desire to go above and beyond in its attempts to be open and transparent. The contents of the draft Ordinance should contain no surprises as St. James's Chambers has drafted it to comply with the policy instructions approved by the States of Deliberation, in accordance with usual practice.
The Committee is already part way through a written technical consultation process targeted at selected parties to ascertain whether the provisions of the draft Ordinance are clear and will be well understood and to confirm they agree that the draft is in line with the policy direction set by the States. This consultation is specifically targeted at those who either have employment or discrimination legislative expertise, or who have a special interest in the Ordinance, such as those who represent stakeholders who will have specific responsibilities under the legislation, or represent a ground of protection. The consultation specifically does not relate to the policy detail underpinning the legislation, as this has already been agreed by successive States Assemblies in July 2020 and November 2021.
The draft Ordinance is available at www.gov.gg/discrimination. The Committee is clear that this exercise in openness is NOT an extension of the current focused and limited technical consultation. That exercise will continue within its current parameters and will inform any potential amendments to the final draft. That said, having weighed up the level of interest expressed by other parties together with the burden of widening the scope of consultation at this stage and any potential delay in implementing the policy, the Committee has agreed to consider any technical feedback received from parties outside the targeted consultation by 28 February 2022. Anyone interested in submitting such additional technical feedback is invited to email equality@gov.gg.
