ONE of the less accessible sections in the States Strategic Plan for approval next month deals with how to streamline the drafting of legislation.

The response, in classic States style, is to establish a Prioritisation of Legislation Working Group which will meet every three months to consider the full list of regulations that require compiling and which will recommend to the Policy Council the top 10 jobs for the quarter, based on requirements submitted by the departments.

In print, it looks like a sensible and pragmatic solution. In reality, it is none of these.

Firstly, the island’s legislative drafting capability – and making laws is one of the cornerstones of Guernsey’s autonomy – is devoid of any meaningful client-provider relationship. Although government pays substantial – but undisclosed – sums for the service, it does not call the shots.

Because the drafting function, most unusually, comes under the control of the Law Officers, what comes out is largely what St James Chambers wants and when it wants it. That’s why the working party has been formed, to try to get some customer control in there.

It looks doomed to failure. The five-man panel keeps the client in a minority of just two civil servants and the justification for legislative prioritisation – which the taxpayer is funding – will be kept secret.

The second concern, however, is more fundamental. Despite law-making in theory being a function of the democratic political process, the Crown Officers will retain discretion over urgent requests for legislation and when they get actioned.

Who might make such an urgent request is not specified but whether it is justified or not will remain the sole decision of the Law Officers behind closed doors. States members will simply be told when their elaborate charade of a prioritisation process has been overruled – but there is no indication that any explanation will be given.

As this newspaper has argued consistently, there is far too great a concentration of power in the name of the Law Officers and this Billet d’Etat item, far from improving matters, actually reinforces the scale of the problem.

To resolve it, the director of legislative drafting should report directly to the States chief executive who, after all, pays his salary and who needs to be satisfied with the service provided by that department.

That way, no working party is needed because the client, rightly, remains in control.