Role of Chief Executive Officer to Council of Ministers and his role in overseeing performance of other chief officers and identify chief officers not responsible to the Chief Executive

4.6   Deputy A.E. Jeune of St. Brelade of the Chief Minister regarding the role and responsibilities of the Chief Executive to the Council of Ministers:

Would the Chief Minister outline the role of the Chief Executive to the Council of Ministers, and specifically, clarify what his responsibility is in relation to overseeing the performance of other departmental chief officers to ensure they carry out their roles and responsibilities efficiently and effectively? Would he identify any chief officers who are not accountable to the Chief Executive? Thank you.

Senator T.A. Le Sueur (The Chief Minister):

The Chief Executive has 4 principal roles. He is the executive officer and a principal adviser to the Council of Ministers; he is the head of the paid service, responsible to the States Employment Board; he is Chief Officer of the Chief Minister's Department and Accounting Officer for policy, law drafting, and international affairs functions; and he is the executive officer for the Emergencies Council. The Chief Executive is responsible for performance management of chief officers, and holds them to account for managing their Department effectively and delivering the policies of the appropriate minister. Chief Officers are accountable to their Minister for the proper implementation of ministerial policies and the delivery of the required services and functions. Each chief officer is an accounting officer in their own right and as such are responsible for the prudent stewardship of finances and the economical and effective administration of their departments. The Chief Executive is responsible for the performance management of all ministerial and departmental chief officers, except for the Chief Officer of Police, who is solely responsible to the Minister for Home Affairs. The Chief Executive has no responsibility for any non-executive departmental chief officers. While, in practice, all chief officers are also accounting officers, there are some accounting officers, such as the Airport Director and the Harbourmaster, who are not chief officers. These accounting officers are responsible to the chief officer of the relevant ministerial departments.

1. Deputy A.E. Jeune :

Would the Chief Minister justify the associated remuneration for this post, and does

he believe that departmental chief officers have been managed appropriately when it

appears that there has been evidence of ongoing, unacceptable organisational and cultural behaviour in some departments?

[10:30]

Senator T.A. Le Sueur :

The remuneration for the post is a matter which has been discussed and found necessary in order to secure the person of the right ability and qualifications. As to whether the performance management of chief officers for which that Chief Executive is responsible has been carried out effectively and in the best possible way, I would say there certainly is always scope for improvement. One of the things which I have done since becoming Chief Minister is to ensure that there is proper independent review by myself of the Chief Executive in conjunction with an external reviewer from the U.K. and that process is now being sent down the line to the remaining chief officers. There is scope for change. There is scope for improvement, but a process is in place and it is being carried out.

2. The Deputy of St. John :

Given that the C.E.O. (Chief Executive Officer) of the States is also in charge of the States Employment Board, among other things, and overall charge of chief officers

across the board, will the Minister please explain why it has been found necessary

with the new C.E.O. of Health wanting to bring in project  managers to manage change within the Health Service, is the Minister and his Chief Executive going to permit people from off-Island to be brought into Jersey into the Health Service to manage change within that Department, or will the Chief Executive through the Chief Minister make sure that any management of change is done from on-Island?

Senator T.A. Le Sueur :

Just a slight correction, the Chief Executive Officer is not in charge of the States Employment Board, he is the Chief Executive to the States Employment Board. As far as the substance of the question is concerned and the need to bring in outside

project management for the Health Department, I think it is fair to say that the

management structure of the Health Department needs improvement and strengthening. How that is done is a matter for the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of Health to determine in conjunction with the Chief Executive and the Minister concerned and myself, and if the best way to achieve that is by performance management experts, be they from on-Island or off-Island, that is a decision which is taken in the best interests of Health and the future of the Health Department. If we can find such expertise on the Island then I believe certainly we should use that expertise. If that expertise does not exist within the Island, we will have to look elsewhere. If the questioner is suggesting that the Chief Executive themselves has enough bandwidth to do that job as well, I would suggest that the actual size of the problems at Health are more than one person can cope with and that is the reason for setting up a particular project management group for particular areas of change.

The Deputy Bailiff :

Can I just remind Members that the question is the focus of the Chief Executive's role and if we are not careful we could have questions about every Department which is not within the scope of question time. The Connétable of St. Lawrence .

3. Connétable D.W. Mezbourian of St. Lawrence :

I think I heard the Chief Minister say that the performance of the Chief Executive is reviewed by himself and an outside external body. Is it ever referred to the States Employment Board?

Senator T.A. Le Sueur :

It has not been in the past. The performance review is normally a matter for the chief officer concerned to discuss with the Minister of his particular Department, but having taken the point from the Constable of St. Lawrence I will certainly look into

the suggestion. It could well be discussed by the States Employment Board and indeed the Employment Board might well look more closely at the whole performance management and evaluation, review and assessment procedures for the future. So, I thank the questioner for the question.

4. Deputy R.G. Le Hérissier:

Without naming names, I wonder if the Chief Minister could identify how many chief officers, and I hate to be negative but it has to be so, how many chief officers have been analysed by the overall chief officer as not meeting their performance and therefore should be subject to serious review? How many Chief Officers have been subject to that process and reported to him on that basis?

Senator T.A. Le Sueur :

I do not know the answer to that question and if I did know the answer, I am not sure it is something for the public domain anyway. It is a matter for really making sure that the person concerned has the opportunity to improve their performance. If that opportunity does not result in improved performance then appropriate steps should be taken. It is not a matter for public discussion. That is a matter for internal administration.

5. Deputy R.G. Le Hérissier:

Would the Chief Minister not think that that is a total abdication of responsibility given the kind of salaries, rewards and permanence accorded to chief officers, is it not imperative that without micro-managing he keeps a very close weather eye on their performance given the amount of ever-growing public dissatisfaction?

Senator T.A. Le Sueur :

I agree it is my responsibility to keep a weather eye on the performance review of all chief officers and that is a matter which I will do but not in the public domain. What one finds with any performance review and appraisal is that there are some aspects which can be kept with improvement, development, some aspects which are very good. One tries to encourage and support those that are already very good and put work into areas which are not so good to bring them up to standard as well.  No one is perfect but we can all learn from performance reviews. That starts at the top and works all the way through.

6. Deputy A.E. Jeune :

In his reply, I heard the Chief Minister say that the heads of Airport and Harbours do not report to the Chief Executive. Does that include the head of Industrial Relations who sits on the States Employment Board?

Senator T.A. Le Sueur :

The head of Industrial Relations is not a chief officer and is not an accounting officer. I drew the distinction between the Harbourmaster and the Airport Director who were accounting officers and who were responsible for the financial and accounting performance of their Departments. They are responsible, as I said, to their chief

officer of the, in this case, Economic Development Committee. The head of

Industrial Relations in the Chief Minister's Department is not a chief officer or an accounting officer. The responsibility remains with the Chief Executive.