Would the Minister outline the policies that are in place within Home Affairs for developing staff to assume senior positions

2.5   Deputy R.G. Le Hérissier of the Minister for Home Affairs regarding departmental policies for developing staff to assume senior positions:

Would the Minister outline the policies that are in place within Home Affairs for developing staff to assume senior positions?

Senator W. Kinnard (The Minister for Home Affairs):

All operational services within Home Affairs have staff developments in place so that staff can become eligible for senior positions. Individual services have different training and development needs. Moreover, ours are small specialist unitary services so consequently factors such as the age profile of senior staff and resourcing assume greater significance when assessing what can be achieved internally. But the general policies across Home Affairs can be summarised as follows: local recruitment systems for those entering our services; locally-based promotion selection and training to develop staff for more senior ranks and managerial positions; participation in management and leadership training provided by the States such as the new modern manager programme, and external courses such as N.P.Q. (National Professional Qualifications) and the U.K. command staff training. Secondments to other services in other jurisdictions, particularly

police constabularies of Devon and the fire and rescue service. Identification of early potential of our staff through performance review and appraisal systems so that individual staff development plans are produced. My department, Sir, continues to encourage and support local development along the lines described so that we have a pool of potential successors in a strong position to apply for senior positions as and when they arise. Should Members prefer to have some detailed information about specific staff development programmes, Sir, I am happy to provide these by email.

1. Deputy R.G. Le Hérissier:

Given the excellent array of programmes which the Minister has outlined, does she not think it

strange that there has to be a recourse on several occasions to outside recruitment? Could she identify why there is this recourse? Is that because these programmes are, in fact, not working?

Senator W. Kinnard:

They are working very well. One of the recent significant posts was that of the superintendent in the police force, where we originally had a U.K. incumbent in the position. We held a local assessment centre with 3 local candidates with an independent assessor from the U.K. on the panel and a local appointment was made. So, I do believe that these procedures are working, Sir.

2. Deputy R.G. Le Hérissier:

Would the Minister explain then, given these very strong policies, has it been the custom, for example, in organisations like the police to go down, for example, to the sergeant level where one would have thought there were numerous and some very good candidates to recruit from outside the Island? Could she identify whether that has occurred?

Senator W. Kinnard:

No, it has not, Sir, but I have mentioned that in a small unitary service that we have in the Island, there are occasionally difficulties at certain levels of different staff development, and we have implemented a lot of new procedures and policies within Home Affairs to avoid those kind of

bottlenecks that are occurring in future. But inevitably in any small specialist service you are

always going to have one or 2 pressure points, but as to that Deputy 's specific question, no, that is

not the case.

3. Deputy J.B. Fox of St. Helier :

Going on from that last question, the police in the U.K. have a staff college at Bramshill which specialise in advanced training for senior officers and succession planning. Perhaps the Minister could advise me whether that college is still being used and how recently have candidates been attending that college?

Senator W. Kinnard:

If the Deputy is referring to the initial training scheme that he mentioned to me in the coffee room recently, I explained that the local training is very, very successful in Jersey for the new recruits. But at the higher levels, of course, we do have our officers going off to the staff training colleges. We have progression to the most senior ranks, of course, through the senior command training course at the police staff college and we have 2 officers at the moment who are in the preliminary stages of working towards being able to make an application to the senior command course. Of course, Sir, there are other ways in which we support officers with wider U.K. experience through secondments to other police forces and, indeed, through leadership and training development programmes which are run between ourselves and also the Home Office.

4. Connétable T.J. du Feu of St. Peter :

Could the Minister inform the House the membership of the panel who recently made the appointment for the new fire chief, please?

Senator W. Kinnard:

Yes, I can, Sir. I am just checking my notes. In fact it was Mr. Mike Liston representing the Appointments Commission, the Chief Officer of Home Affairs, the Senior Human Resources Manager of Home Affairs, and the Deputy Chief Fire Officer of the Devon Fire and Rescue Service who was present for professional input.

5. Deputy J.A. Martin:

My memory might be wrong. Could the Minister confirm a few months ago the Chief of Police was asked to stay on for another 3 years? I think at the time it was reported so this would give time to train up a very excellent local candidate. Is this a foregone conclusion and is it so that we will have a local chief of police in 3 years' time?

Senator W. Kinnard:

The hope, Sir, is that that will be the case, but of course we have to be mindful of the fact that we need to prepare our candidates locally to be in a position to compete strongly with any other candidates, and I think that that is as far as one can go. It is a matter of course for the appointments panel of the day to choose the best candidate. We must ensure, though, that we have local people who can compete on an equal basis, and that indeed is what we work towards.

6. Deputy P.V.F. Le Claire:

Could I ask the Minister for the Home Affairs Department whether or not she actively takes part in these appointments, as the Minister for Health does when he interviews people, I believe? Is there any political oversight into these appointments?

Senator W. Kinnard:

It depends on the level of the appointment. In the case of second tier appointments which are not corporate management board level or chief officer level, then it would be very unusual to have a politician involved. It tends to be only at the chief officer level.

7. Deputy R.G. Le Hérissier:

Given the array of programmes the Minister has outlined, did she ask the question of why no local candidate, given the wonderful systems in place, was available to step into the fire chief's role?

Senator W. Kinnard:

There were local candidates who did compete for the role but were not, unfortunately, successful on the day.

Deputy P.V.F. Le Claire:

May I ask a supplementary because it was leading from the train of thought that has been going?

The Deputy Bailiff :

One more from you, Deputy , and then a final one from Deputy Le Hérissier.

8. Deputy P.V.F. Le Claire:

The Minister gave to us the details of who was in attendance, I believe, for the appointment of the fire chief; at least I think that is what was said. I just wondered as she has now stated that normally there would not be oversight at a secondary level, was there oversight at that level when that appointment was made?

Senator W. Kinnard:

I was not on the panel because, of course, it is the level below my Chief Officer of Home Affairs.

9. Deputy R.G. Le Hérissier:

Could the Minister outline the process - is there a process, for example, given the considerable dedication to succession planning we have heard - where initially the local field is considered and if a person is not available or not suitable from the local field, then the broader recruitment is undertaken? Because if the broader recruitment occurs at the same time, it is quite clear that most people locally are never going to succeed.

Senator W. Kinnard:

I disagree absolutely that the idea that if there  is a broader  level of recruiting that the local

candidate is unlikely to succeed. I think that is a philosophy of despair and I think we have some

excellent people in our public service. But indeed when they go on secondments elsewhere I get the word back that they are absolutely excellent candidates and very well done for what we do in terms of providing the skills and training that we do provide for our officers in the Island. On occasion I believe there have been 2-stage processes, but advice was taken on this appointment and

the selection process, as we know, is a very long one and if it had to be repeated more than once, it

is likely that if there had been an unsuccessful process the first time around that we would not have been able to appoint a candidate by the time of the retirement of the current chief fire officer. That is why advice was taken on the matter.