The head of the Privileges and Procedures Committee has branded the e-petition system in Jersey 'very disrespectful' to the people who take the time to sign them.

The group of politicians will be reviewing the way the process works.

Currently, petitions with more than 5,000 signatures will go to an informal States debate, with no guarantee of a vote.

Those garnering more than a thousand signatures will be given a response by a Minister.

St Martin's Constable Karen Shenton-Stone says, despite thousands of islanders wanting change, they can often be disappointed a formal decision is not made.

"It seems very disrespectful to the thousands of people who have made the effort to sign a petition for there to be no discussion of the issue by the Assembly, but I am not certain the current “in Committee” format quite meets the public’s expectations and my Committee will look at what other ways we can ensure their voices are adequately heard."

Jersey's States Chambers

Constable Shenton-Stone says any of the 49 politicians in the States could lodge a proposition mirroring a petition, as they do not need to wait until it reaches the 5,000 signature mark.

However, if no proposal is lodged the petition will only be informally debated ‘in-committee’ - where speakers can voice their opinion for as long as they want and there is no vote at the end of the session.

"If you've got 5,000 people who are all interested in something and have bothered to sign something you do feel that they probably want more than an in-committee debate.

"We'll have a discussion and see what we can do to improve on this.

"One of the ideas was to actually ask when a petition starts whether they could get a politician on board with it, who actually would be willing to put the proposition in so it could be voted on."

Jersey's States Assembly

Recently, a petition on pensions not being taxed has exceeded 5,000 signatures, meaning it will go to the States for politicians to speak on the concerns.

Five petitions have been debated in the past, with two awaiting debate and two that have not been.

Examples of these include:

• Write off income tax liability for the prior year if moved to current year basis - 5,774 signatures - debated 21 October 2020;
• Higher sentences for paedophiles - 5,100 signatures - debated 17 July 2012;
• Making Green Street a one-way road - 11 signatures - debated 4 June 2019;
• Make it law to stop 'Hit and Run' for cats - 5,385 - debated 3 June 2019;
• Rental price caps law to limit rental prices to reasonable rents - 5,298 signatures - debated 12 March 2019.

St Martin's Constable would like to see paper petitions introduced to parish and public halls so people not online have their voices heard too.

"[Petitions] are something we have to improve on, and if any members of the public have an idea we'd be very willing to hear from them."