Dundee have to disagree.
If you have read the Clothier report it was an extremely clever piece of work the main idea was to have a council of ministers to get rid of the Silo Committee mentality but here is the important part to also have backbenchers work on scrutiny. The clear idea being a system of checks and balances to stop egotistical, self interested , even corrupt , leadership by the council of ministers.
It is important to have scrutiny checks in place, in businesses and other walks of life, not only in Government. Philip Ozouf is actually on record saying it’s a waste of time. I guess Hitler wasn’t keen on it either.
The excellent work by Sarah Ferguson on the corporate scrutiny panel and Deputy Mike Higgins scrutiny of the airport, which has no doubt lead to staff changes.
The Red hot story at this time is the scrutiny taking place by Deputies Pitman, Wimberely and Le Herrisier who have done a truly excellent job, of objectively asking the right questions and studying the flawed and expensive BDO Alto Jersey Ltd report, and looking at the rolls of those involved.
Should you read the detail surrounding the BDO report and the people involved then a view of incompetence and failure would surface to most. A mention must also go to Rico Sorda for his detailed input.
The outcome ( IMO ) has given other states members and the public information that otherwise would have been enthusiastically buried. One would hope BDO Alto, no longer gets any States lucrative contracts after invoicing the States £16,000 to talk about their completed but biased work at the scrutiny hearings.
There are, as Calimachon says, some good and demanding backbenchers, let they long continue to ask their questions and bring accountability to the house as Lord Clothier and public office requires.
Boatyboy
