Catherine Curtis (born 1964) is a Jersey politician who currently serves as Deputy for St Helier Central since 2022. She was elected for the first time in the 2022 Jersey General Election as a member of Reform Jersey. [1]
Deputy Catherine Curtis | |
|---|---|
| Deputy of St Helier Central | |
| Assumed office 27 June 2022 | |
| Chief Minister | Kristina Moore (2022-2024) Lyndon Farnham (2024-) |
| Personal details | |
| Party | Reform Jersey |
| Residence(s) | St Helier,Jersey |
| Occupation | Politician |
Curtis is the chair of the Children,Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel (since 12 July 2022),a member of the Legislation Advisory Panel (since 9 February 2023),vice chair of the Assisted Dying Review Panel (since 12 March 2024),a member of the Disability Strategy Advisory Group (since 26 March 2024) and chair of the Ecology Trust Fund. [2]
Curtis was born in Jersey in 1964 and spent much of her childhood on the Island as well as periods in Guernsey and Kent. In the 1980s,Curtis spent six years living in Spain with her then husband and young family. They returned to Jersey in the mid-1990s. [3]
Curtis is an entrepreneur and has started several successful businesses,including Jersey Home &Petsitters,launched in 2003. She also launched and managed an international product business,which was awarded 16 national and international design awards,including the Junior Design Awards Best Travel Product 2019. [3]
Curtis has more recently launched Edward's Angels Grave Care,named after her father,which specialises in tidying graves by hand without the use of weedkillers. [3]
Prior to being elected,Curtis volunteered as a Rates Assessor for the Parish of St Helier. [3]
Curtis stood for election to St Helier Central in 2022 with Reform Jersey,winning one of the five seats available with 847 votes. [4] She represents the constituency alongside her Reform Jersey colleagues Carina Alves,Robert Ward,Lyndsay Feltham and Geoff Southern. [5]
The Children,Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel (CEHA),chaired by Curtis,has brought several successful budget amendments in 2022,2023,2024 and 2025 for extra police funding,ringfencing funding for the teaching of Jèrriais,funding for repairs to Highlands College,calling for a government review of apprenticeship funding,calling for a commitment by government to prioritise youth facilities and the modernisation of the school estate in St Helier,universal early years nursery provision and sports facilities at Le Rocquier School,and for the government to work towards free primary health care for all Jersey children.
Curtis formally asked the then Infrastructure Minister Deputy Tom Binet in August 2023 to "take the necessary steps" to reopen the reuse centre at La Collette by the end of the year. [6] Binet amended the proposal to allow time for a tender process to find a third party to run the service which was successfully voted through by the Assembly in September 2023. [7]
In a bid to resolve the 2023 Jersey Teachers' Strike,Curtis proposed an amendment to the 2024-2027 Government Plan. The amendment aimed to divert £2 million from the Cabinet Office budget for 2024 to the Education fund in order to fund teachers' pay uplifts. During the debate,the amendment was defeated by 32 votes to 13. [8]
In April 2024,Curtis expressed disappointment that Jersey's Government chose not to allow extension of the UK Online Safety Act to the Island. [9]
Curtis brought a proposition to the States Assembly in October 2024 to change housing rules so that landlords would no longer be allowed to ban tenants from owning pets in properties without a good reason. [10] The proposition was subsequently amended by Deputy David Warr who argued in favour of a code of practice for landlords and tenants rather than a law change,which he said would place "unnecessary stress" on the tenant-landlord relationship. [11] The amended proposition was approved in the Assembly on 12 November 2024 by 29 votes to ten. During the debate,Curtis stressed that "guidance will not be sufficient to prevent blanket bans on pets,which is discriminatory against good tenants." [12]
The CEHA panel published a report in December 2024 outlining several recommendations aimed at improving the Island's secondary education system,including calling for the government to reconsider the policy of allowing selective transfer of students to Hautlieu School at age 14. [13]
The panel published an in-depth report in 2025 entitled 'What protection do children in Jersey have from online harms?' [14]
In March 2025,Curtis proposed a new road traffic law covering hit-and-runs in Jersey with penalties including a lifetime driving ban if drivers broke the law. A report by Curtis,included with the proposition,highlighted that Jersey has the highest proportion of road traffic casualties in Britain. [15] The assembly unanimously approved the proposition with 47 votes for,no votes against and no abstentions in May 2025. [16]