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5. Statement by the Chief Minister regarding succession planning and appointments in the public sector
5.1 Senator F.H. Walker (The Chief Minister):
At its meeting on 8th February 2008, the States Employment Board received a report outlining the work that was currently underway with regard to succession planning and management and leadership development across the States. The report has been circulated to all Members. I am extremely grateful to the 4 States Members who have supported the Director of Human Resources in this work, and so I would like to name them. It was Deputies Le Hérissier, Gorst and the Deputy of St. Peter , assisted by Deputy John Le Fondré who came on to the project at a somewhat later stage, and I do thank and commend them for a very, very useful piece of work. The members of the States Employment Board were very pleased to receive the report and accepted and fully endorsed all the recommendations contained within it. The Board were particularly pleased to receive this positive confirmation of the co-ordinated efforts that are now in place which, in the future, should ensure that local candidates for the most senior roles in the public service in Jersey are much better equipped to compete for those positions than they may have been in the past.
The Deputy Bailiff :
Does any Member want to ask questions on that? Deputy Le Hérissier.
- Deputy R.G. Le Hérissier:
Thanking the Minister for his kind words, would the Minister accept that this is just not a simplistic attempt to get jobs for local people, but to put in place programmes that will provide solid foundations, and which departments cannot evade in terms of progressive people through their management succession.
Senator F.H. Walker :
Yes, Sir. Absolutely. The overall objective is still to ensure that the best person is appointed to the right job, but as a part of this report and the work that underlies it to ensure that local candidates are better equipped to apply for those positions and to operate in those positions, there may have been a case previously.
- Deputy J.B. Fox of St. Helier :
Could the Chief Minister give us reassurance that there will be the necessary training funds made available and retained for these future senior officers of ours to be able to get the necessary qualifications in order to be able to make the applications and not just left to restricted budgets of departments?
Senator F.H. Walker :
Yes, Sir, I can, and I would point out that the report refers to 2 programmes which have been underway now, relatively recent, but nevertheless have been underway for a certain period of time, and that is the Modern Managers' Programme and the Future Leaders' Programme, both of which are designed to develop the talent, and very considerable talent, that we have within the public service so that we can fill senior vacancies with highly trained, highly capable people who have come through the ranks.
- Deputy J.B. Fox:
Can I have a supplementary, please, Sir? Yes, thank you. I was aware of those ones. My concern is for those specialist courses and those specialist areas like the emergency services, of course, and staff colleges at Bramshill, for arguments sake, for police courses are expensive and last for 12 months on some occasions.
Senator F.H. Walker :
I leave it to the expertise of the Human Resources Department and the senior officers of the relevant departments to determine which courses are most applicable, which courses are most important, to potential candidates for senior office.
- Deputy R.G. Le Hérissier:
Can the Chief Minister confirm that as part of this approach that the performance review of the senior officers will be a review of how well they are handling the development of their own subordinates?
Senator F.H. Walker : Yes, Sir. Absolutely.