Treasury Minister Alan Maclean has authorised the use of £467,000 for the creation of a central restructuring team.
He has also released £490,000 for a recruitment exercise to ensure that the ‘right appointments’ are made to newly created senior roles in the States. The money has come from States underspends in 2017.
New chief executive Charlie Parker has asked senior States executives to reapply for their jobs, with the new role of director-general replacing that of chief officer, and intends to cut the number of States departments from ten to seven as part of his One Government vision for the States.
The new restructuring team, which will include both ‘internal and external experts’, is in addition to Mr Parker’s ‘transition team’ of four UK consultants, who have already cost more than £400,000 to employ, and have been offered contract extensions. It was also revealed recently that the States is tendering for an external private company to help deliver a ‘culture change’ as part of Mr Parker’s reforms. In a statement, the Chief Minister’s Department says that the two latest projects will ‘help establish a modern, customer-focused, value-for-money and joined-up public service’.
‘A number of projects are under way to improve key areas of the States’ administration. They are all being funded from current and underspent 2017 budgets and are intended to accelerate the transformation of the public sector.
‘These include projects to speed up the pace of change in Children’s Services, to support the upcoming Ofsted report on Children’s Services, to enable culture change throughout the organisation and to modernise financial management,’ the statement says.
