Staffing and budget of the States Communications Unit

WQ.1/2019

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE CHIEF MINISTER

BY SENATOR S.W. PALLETT

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 3rd DECEMBER 2018

Question

Will the Chief Minister provide the following information?

1. The total number of staff employed within the States Communications Unit –

1. on 16th May 2018; and
2. on 16th November 2018;

2. The number of vacancies within the States Communications Unit –

1. on 16th May 2018; and
2. on 16th November 2018;

3. The cost of all interim staff employed in the States Communication Unit –

1. between 16th November 2017 and 16th May 2018; and
2. between 16th May 2018 and 16th November 2018;

4. The total cost of the States Communications Unit –

1. between 16th November 2017 and 16th May 2018; and
2. between 16th May 2018 and 16th November 2018;

5. The budget for the States Communications Unit for –

1. 2018; and
2. 2019;

and will the Chief Minister also provide a breakdown of remuneration for all staff employed within the States Communications Unit from the lowest to the highest in bands of £10,000 (starting with less than £30,000 and then between £30,000 and £40,000 and so on)?

Answer

The States Communications Unit' was a small team of four which served the previous Chief Minister. Alongside this small team, multiple teams and individuals across government were also engaged in communications, either as their sole role, or as part of their role. In addition, departments utilised numerous contracts with external agencies for marketing, design and PR services. An audit into communications carried out in October and November 2017 found that it was not possible to identify with any confidence what the costs of communications were at the time, either in terms of staff or in external spend.

Following the audit, the new Communications Directorate was formally established in July 2018 as part of the new Target Operating Model, as approved by the previous Council of Ministers, to consolidate communications staff into a single government communications function.

The new communication function will also undertake Internal Communications and Marketing, Digital and Design activities - which were either not carried out previously or outsourced to agencies.

A further review of external spending on communications, circulated to States Members in November 2018, showed that external spend on communications had increased by nearly half under the previous government from £623,000 in 2015 to £921,000 in 2017. However, it also showed that, under the new structure, external spending is being reduced significantly, with graphic design costs for campaigns and projects being cut by two thirds, compared with external agency costs. The Communications Directorate expects  to  generate a  net  saving of around £200,000 a year by bringing graphic design work in house.

The figures below refer to the new Communications Directorate, since the Communications Unit no longer exists.

1. The total number of staff employed within the States Communications Directorate –

1. on 16th May 2018 was 21, including 4 FTE employed via agency contracts. These posts include members of the former Communications Unit and departmental communications officers still in post at the time, as well as agency communications staff working on HR projects and internal communications.
2. on 16th November 2018 was 25, including 1 FTE employed via agency contracts. These posts include communications officers and assistant communications officers in Press Office and Internal Communications, graphic designers, marketing and social media officers, and heads of communications assigned to government departments.

2. The number of vacancies within the States Communications Directorate –

1. on 16th May 2018 was 15, based on the potential maximum Directorate size of 36.
2. on 16th November 2018 was 6, based on the revised maximum Directorate size of 32 (following ongoing reviews of its capability and capacity, the Directorate has removed one permanent role from its structure and does not intend to fill 3 other vacancies). In December 2018, appointments were made to 4 of the 6 vacancies and 2 further roles remain to be filled.

3. The cost of all interim staff employed in the States Communication Directorate –

1. between 16th November 2017 and 16th May 2018 is £113,684, which includes agency fees.
2. between 16th May 2018 and 16th November 2018 was nil.

4. The total cost of the States Communications Directorate –

(i)  between 16th November 2017 and 16th May 2018 is not available or applicable, since the Directorate did not exist and it is not possible to provide accurate costs to cover the wide range of permanent and contract/agency staff employed by the different departments prior to the new Directorate's establishment.

1. between 16th May 2018 and 16th November 2018 was £420,761. This represents only a partial year, since costs for the 21 individual communications staff remained with individual departments until July 2018, when a budget was made available for the new Communications Directorate, and the cost was further reduced by unfilled vacancies as previous staff left for new roles and recruitment was undertaken for their successors.

5. The budget for the States Communications Directorate for –

2. Costs for individual communications officers remained with individual departments until July 2018, when a budget was made available for the new Communications Directorate. The costs for the part-year to December 2018 was £461,000.
3. 2019 is £1.55 million. This is the first full year in which the Directorate will operate and staff costs are fully centralised.

States of Jersey policy is not to provide information that identifies groups of fewer than ten employees, as doing so could enable the identification of individuals. I am therefore unable to provide a breakdown by each pay band, as requested, and instead can provide the following information:

• 11 employees are appointed within grade 7 to 10 and are paid a salary range of between £32,087 and £52,297
• 12 employees are appointed within grade 12 to 14 and are paid a salary range of between £58,257 and £82,961
• 1 employee is paid in accordance with Executive Pay Salaries
• 1 individual is paid via an agency.

As identified earlier in this answer, we do not have any clear information as to what was being spent on communications in earlier years, therefore it is not possible to completely compare costs before and after the formation of the new communications directorate.