The Cabinet Office

23.04.18

9 The Connétable of St. Martin of the Chief Minister regarding the Cabinet Office

(OQ.70/2023)

Further to Ministerial Decision MD-CM-2022-539 regarding the Cabinet Office, will the Chief Minister provide an update on the establishment of the office, including which departments have been incorporated into it and whether any others are still due to be transferred, how many Members with oversight for the office were chosen, and the number of staff seconded and recruited to work within the Cabinet Office, including temporary contracts and consultants?

Deputy K.L. Moore (The Chief Minister):

Apologies, Sir, I have once again lost my ... here we are. The Democratic Accountability P.P.C. Subcommittee reported to the Assembly in February 2022, having invited comments and researched the structure of and support available to Ministerial Government. The report recommended the establishment of a Cabinet Office and I have full confidence that P.P.C. undertook a full and proper piece of work. I made clear in the election campaign and when I was standing for the office of Chief Minister that the establishment of the Cabinet Office would form part of my programme. I delivered this aim in the first 100 days of Government. There was no further external consultation and ... I believe I am probably answering the wrong question. I do apologise. Forgive me. So this is oral question 70, if I am ... yes.

The Deputy Bailiff : Yes.

Deputy K.L. Moore :

Excuse me. I will start again. The Cabinet Office has been formed by bringing together 3 former departments which were led by the Chief Minister: the Office of Chief Executive, the Chief Operating Office and the Department for Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance. The Cabinet Office formally replaced those 3 departments from 1st January this year. As confirmed through the adoption of the Government Plan for 2023, the Government Plan annex details the number of staff who work within each of the service areas within the Cabinet Office. Ministers with political oversight for the administration of the Cabinet Office have responsibility by virtue of Ministerial offices they hold, which are, of course, confirmed by this Assembly. No separate Ministerial structure for the Cabinet Office has been established or is in place.

1. The Connétable of St. Martin :

Would the Chief Minister be willing to publish a public-facing organogram, which is an organisation chart, or similar visual item to identify how the Cabinet Office works and where its senior officer sits across the Government of Jersey?

Deputy K.L. Moore :

I would be happy to identify an organogram. I think we often spend time writing organograms to think about where we are going, but they are useful documents and I shall find one and share it with the Constable.

2. Deputy L.V. Feltham :

As part of the reorganisation of the Cabinet Office, it is my understanding that the States Employment Board went through the organisational change process in relation to 3 senior positions. Earlier today in the Chief Minister’s statements she mentioned that there is likely to be further organisational change, so why at that point in time at the formation of the Cabinet Office was the organisational change process followed but did not include some of those other more wholesale changes referred to by the Chief Minister earlier, and was the consultation process that happened a good use of time and money, given those larger organisational changes that it appears are planned?

Deputy K.L. Moore :

The initial work on the Cabinet Office was part of our 100-day plan. It was done at pace and, yes, I do think that that time was well spent. Of course, any organisation is constantly evolving, particularly one of the size that ours is, and now having had time to further reflect and consider and discuss with the chief executive how best we can operate to serve the public and deliver on our mandate and our agenda, I think that there is some further work to do. That is being done in the context now of the feedback from the chief executive and the group that we have talked about already, who are considering the best possible future for the organisation and its good working.

3. Deputy L.V. Feltham :

Earlier in the questions the Chief Minister referred to the C.E.O. having 13 direct reports and that number potentially needing to be reduced. Can she confirm that my understanding is correct that the recent organisational change within the Cabinet Office and the instigation of 2 assistant chief executive officers did resolve that issue and did reduce already the number of direct reports to the chief executive officer?

Deputy K.L. Moore :

As the chair of the Public Accounts Committee I am sure that the Deputy will relish the opportunity to ask the chief executive about that directly. It is my understanding through feedback from the chief executive that the creation of the 2 assistant chief executives has not fully ameliorated the number of direct reports.

4. Deputy M.R. Scott :

With respect to the selection of the Members with oversight for the office, I note that the Chief Minister’s statement referred to the need for a forensic evidence-based challenging and daring thought to leadership. Given the Chief Minister’s expressed desire for collaboration with respect to the selection of the Members that have been advertised on the Government’s website as being members of the Cabinet Office, could she please explain how she chose these particular Members with the qualities of forensic evidence-based challenging and daring thought leadership and comment on the coincidence that they all happen to be members of the Better Way coalition, except the Constable of St. John , who was involved as a campaign manager for one of her previous Senatorial election campaigns?

Deputy K.L. Moore :

I thank the Deputy for the question. The Deputy will perhaps recall that at the beginning of this term of office Ministers were selected and then Assistant Ministers were also appointed to their various roles. They were all chosen through discussion with Ministers and also an understanding of their particular priorities. For example, Deputy Stephenson sitting in front of me has a portfolio that includes communications. Of course, that is an area of particular professional expertise of hers and she is rightly a fitting person for that role and gives and contributes greatly to all of the aspects of her portfolio which crosses into Economic Development, where she is an Assistant Minister, and also now into Infrastructure, joining up some of the dots and helping to make greater coherence of the cross-cutting nature of policy that we see. I do believe and I understand that Members have drawn a conclusion with regard to the pictorial reference on the website of the Cabinet Office Ministers, but I just remind Members that these appointments were made prior to the Cabinet Office being formed. They are simply a consequence of those appointments that were made in the early days of this Government and it is something of a coincidence. There is also another member of the Better Way group, the Constable of St. Peter , and he does not figure in that picture because his expertise and interests lie within the Education and Children Department and also the Treasury, where he is a very effective Assistant Minister.

5. Deputy M.R. Scott :

Thank you to the Chief Minister for her response so far. So in order for me to understand this coincidence, could the Chief Minister please explain how exactly the particular Ministerial posts were identified that led to these particular Ministers and Assistant Ministers being members of the Cabinet Office and whether this was discussed and agreed within the Council of Ministers in advocating these particular Members’ qualities of forensic evidence-based challenging and daring thought leadership above the other Ministers and Assistant Ministers in the Council of Ministers?

Deputy K.L. Moore :

I do think I have already elaborated quite sufficiently on the many qualities. I could, of course, direct the Deputy to the Deputy sitting to my right, who has a level of experience in I.T. (information technology) and a level of understanding of data that is far superior to mine and, therefore, he was selected for his understanding and interest. I think both he and the Constable of St. John are extremely effective in working with colleagues in that sphere of interest and I am really grateful to them both for their hard and diligent work. We all do our best to match people with their expertise and their interests to the right roles and I believe we have been effective in doing that.

Deputy M.R. Scott :

Just a point of clarification, please, because my question about whether it had been discussed with the Council of Ministers ...

The Deputy Bailiff :

You need to stand up when you are addressing me. [11:45]

Deputy M.R. Scott :

Sorry, Sir. My question whether this selection had been discussed with the Council of Ministers and whether it had been approved has not been answered.

The Deputy Bailiff :

Yes. Do you want to respond to that particular question about a part of the question you were asked, Chief Minister?

Deputy K.L. Moore :

There were many conversations had at the time, I would imagine, but it was more of a verbal and iterative process done at some pace.

6. The Connétable of St. Martin :

I look forward to seeing a clear organisational chart of how the Cabinet Office works and where it sits and I wondered if the Chief Minister would have a timeframe for when that will be delivered.

Deputy K.L. Moore :

I do not currently have an exact timeframe, but I hope that we will be able to deliver an organogram in pretty short order to the chair of P.P.C. Of course, I say that with the caveat that this may be under further work as we progress forwards with the interim role and a review of how best the organisation can function.