States chief executive Charlie Parker has announced that the members of the specialist team brought in to review the running of Jersey’s civil service would each be retained, having done what was initially asked of them.
In the five months they have been employed, more than £400,000 has been spent on consultancy fees, while accommodation and travel costs take the total spent on the team to £432,945.
Chief operating officer Anna Daroy, director of communications Stephen Hardwick, organisational transformation consultant Jacquie McGeachie and strategic finance review consultant Camilla Black were appointed in October to drive changes in the public sector.
Last week, the States approved changes to the running of the public sector which effectively put more power into the hands of Mr Parker.
The changes make Mr Parker the accountable officer for the public sector, meaning that the chief executive would be required by law to ensure that taxpayers’ money is spent in an efficient way. He is also now responsible for the work of other senior civil servants.
And despite the transition team being stood down, three of them will stay to work on ‘specific initiatives’ – details of which have not been specified – and a fourth will continue in their post for a short period before a permanent appointment is made.
Mr Parker said: ‘The transition team has done what we asked of them, and that phase of work is now complete.
‘We have a rigorous view of the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation, and the team’s recommendations have informed both the one government structure I announced recently and the priorities
for action.
‘We are now moving from review and recommendation to action, and we’re kicking off a wide range of important cross-government initiatives, which now need a different approach.
‘I am therefore standing down the transition team as a unit, although we will retain three individual members to support the delivery of specific initiatives on new time-limited contracts over the next year. A fourth will continue to oversee a specific post for a couple of months pending a permanent appointment to that position through an open competition.’
