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8
WQ.235/2018
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SECURITY
BY DEPUTY R.J. WARD OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 6th NOVEMBER 2018
Question
Will the Minister advise –
- how many temporary contracts are currently being used for Social Security staff; and
- how many of these are zero-hour contracts;
and will she state whether it is her policy that temporary and zero-hour contracts should become a permanent feature of One Gov' employment arrangements for the Social Security department?
Answer
There are no Social Security staff employed directly on zero hours contracts.
The Social Security Department has 36 temporary agency workers working in the department on a variety of projects.
The Minister does not hold information on the contractual arrangements between the recruitment agencies and individuals. The Department engages Recruitment Agencies to supply temporary workers to work in the Department. These temporary workers are not employed by the Department. The Department's decision to engage temporary agency workers for these tasks accords with JACS guidance.
The Minister considers that the Department's current use of temporary agency workers is appropriate given the Department's workload and obligations. The Department must be able to act quickly to set up new projects and initiatives, provide support to customers following changes in legislation, pilot new ideas where permanent funding has not been established and cover short-term fluctuations in workloads.
Individual ministers do not determine employment policy within their operational departments. Overall employment policy for the public sector is set by the States Employment Board. The Board confirmed its policy in its response to written question 224/2018, which stated
"The States of Jersey will continue to use different employment frameworks as part of the need to ensure effective headcount management and protect permanent employees in a period of change. They will support the proposed introduction of the Target Operating Model and associated restructures by maintaining an agile and flexible workforce structure."