Decisions on recruitment of posts

WQ.240/2021

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE CHAIR OF THE STATES EMPLOYMENT BOARD BY DEPUTY R.J. WARD OF ST. HELIER

QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 17th MAY 2021

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 24th MAY 2021

Question

Will the Chair state –

1. the current constitution of the resourcing panel tasked with making decisions about the recruitment of public service posts;
2. whether this panel includes representatives from all parts of the public sector (for example, education, health and social services, the civil service, manual workers etc.);
3. how the resourcing panel receives information about the specific needs of the various areas of the public sector;
4. the Panel's criteria for decision making with regards to approving a role in a particular sector; and
5. how many members of the panel are currently working off-Island?

Answer

In response the five specific questions, I can confirm that:

1. The constitution of the resourcing panel is Director General for Customer and Local Services, Chief of Staff (OCE) , Group Director of People and Corporate Services (COO), Treasury Finance Business Partner (T&E), Associate Director for People Services (HCS) and Head of Office from Children, Young People, Education and Skills (CYPES).
2. The representatives of the panel have been appointed to cover a broad range of professions from across the government.
3. The government has a centralised online process for the request to recruit into a role which is initially approved by the Director General and departmental finance representative. This allows the business area to fully document their needs and any other information relevant to the request. All requests are reviewed by the resourcing panel on a weekly basis. As the government introduces strategic workforce planning, departments will have the opportunity to seek approval of a full resourcing plan for a 12-month period and thereby negate the need to seek individual approvals from the panel.
4. On the 15th April 2020, The Executive Leadership Team agreed the commencement of a Government of Jersey recruitment controls for all recruitment including external, internal, fixed term and agency. Following the Endorsementof the State's Employment Board this applies to all Government and non-ministerial departments. Non-ministerial departments are required to agree. with the Panel, a defined process for the management of recruitment in their departments.

This decision was made, in light of known financial constraints, to allow the Government of Jersey to review delivery and service priorities post Covid-19 response. On this basis the Panels' role will be to ensure only essential recruitment is undertaken until budgets are agreed, department operating models realigned to future need and staffing establishments identified. It is anticipated that the need for the panel will be superseded by workforce plans and establishment control being introduced during 2021.

The Panel uses the following criteria to inform decisions.

1. That the Director General has approved the role to proceedand that Finance Business Partner approval has been obtained.
2. The specialist nature of the role including the requirement for specific qualifications or experience in a specialist field.
3. That there is a clear justification for recruiting into the role and also the risk/impact of not proceeding to recruitment.
4. Where the role is required to replace a leaver, the panel will seek assurance that the department has assessed the critical need to replace based on the nature/programme of work of the department.
5. If the role requires a Licence', that all available options have been considered
6. For agency worker requests, that they are either covering a (pre-approved) substantiated role during long term absence or whilst a formal recruitment process is undertaken or thereis a clear business case requiring additional resource for a specific programme of work. Initial agency assignments will only be approved up to 12 weeks in durations or for the fixed period of the work if the work has a defined timeline.
7. Any extension to an agency worker contract will also need to meet the above criteria but also provide justification on why a formal recruitment process has not completed or why the programme of work has been extended.
8. In the case of extending a fixed term appointment that a clear justification is in place for the need to extend past the initial term of the contract.

5. None of the panel are currently working off-island.