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STATEMENT TO BE MADE BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE EDUCATION AND HOME AFFAIRS SCRUTINY PANEL
ON WEDNESDAY 18th MAY 2011
SUCCESSION PLANNING IN THE STATES OF JERSEY POLICE
The Education and Home Affairs Panel is publishing today its report on Succession Planning in the States of Jersey Police. The purpose of our review was to examine the criteria for the selection and appointment of the Chief Officer and other senior managers in the Island's Police Force Police. Its underlying theme was the question why it is so difficult for local trained candidates to be successful in applying for top executive posts.
Our review revealed that there has been a serious absence of succession planning in the Force over the last few years with the result that there has developed a serious deficit in leadership and command experience skills within the senior management team of the Force. No local officers possessed the required qualifications for appointment to the post of Chief Officer nor were there any working towards it. Equally no local officers were seeking to broaden their experience through secondment with other forces.
We received evidence that there had been numerous initiatives over the past decade to support local officers with high potential seeking to advance their career through recognised national talent management processes. However, none had progressed beyond the initial stages of application. It seemed to us that early momentum in succession planning had drifted. Following the change from the Committee system we found no records of political oversight to ensure that succession planning policy was effectively pursued. It also seems to us that there are a number of structural factors related to a small Island Force which cause particular obstacles for succession planning.
The current Minister for Home Affairs has expressed his intention to address the current situation and to work towards achieving a strategic balance of UK expertise and local experience. He has stated that the recently appointed experienced specialist officers from the UK will be used to assist with the training in Jersey of future senior officer. The current senior management in the Force has already initiated a programme of training of potential senior officers.
We support the Minister's intentions but warn that historically previous good intentions have failed. We believed that the new Police Authority established by the States earlier this year will provide an important mechanism for monitoring the implementation of his policy and holding the Chief Officer to account for the progress of local officers.
Significant investment will be required over a number of years to redress the skills, leadership and command shortages identified in the senior management team and to offer local officers with secondment opportunities to broaden their experience in other forces. In a period of spending restraint, training budgets are often hard pressed. Again we look to the new Police Authority to ensure that the training budget is focussed and used effectively.
In conclusion, we hope the result of this Scrutiny will be a Succession Planning policy which is committed to full development of local staff, backed up by the right resources and monitored rigorously.
STATEMENTS ON A MATTER OF OFFICIAL RESPONSIBILITY
3. The Chairman of the Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel - statement regarding its report with respect to succession planning in the States of Jersey Police.
The Deputy Bailiff :
Deputy Le Hérissier, I understand you wish to make a statement as Chairman of the Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel. Now might be a convenient time to do it.
3.1 Deputy R.G. Le Hérissier (Chairman, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel):
If I can crave Members' indulgence, I think we can get this over with, with the relevant question time, by end of session. The Education and Home Affairs Panel is publishing today its report on succession planning in the States of Jersey Police. The purpose of our review was to examine the criteria for the selection and appointment of the Chief Officer and other senior managers in the Island's police force. Its underlying theme was the question why is it so difficult for locally trained candidates to be successful in applying for top executive posts? Our review revealed that there had been a serious absence of succession planning in the force over the last few years with the result that there has developed a serious deficit in leadership and command experience skills within the senior management team of the force. No local officers possessed the required qualifications for appointment to the post of Chief Officer, nor were there any working towards it. Equally, no local officers were seeking to broaden their experience through secondment with other forces. We received evidence that there had been numerous initiatives over the past decade to support local officers with high potential seeking to advance their careers through recognised national talent management processes. However, none had progressed beyond the initial stages of application. It seemed to us that early momentum in succession planning had drifted. Following the change from the committee system we found no records of political oversight to ensure that succession planning policy was effectively pursued.
[17:15]
It also seems to us that there are a number of structural factors related to a small Island force which cause particular obstacles for succession planning. The current Minister for Home Affairs has expressed his intention to address the current situation and to work towards achieving a strategic balance of U.K. expertise and local experience. He has stated that the recently appointed experienced specialist officers from the U.K. will be used to assist with the training in Jersey of future senior officers. The current senior management in the force has already initiated a programme of training of potential senior officers. We support the Minister's intentions but warn that historically previous good intentions have failed. We believe that the new Police Authority established by the States earlier this year will provide an important mechanism for monitoring the implementation of his policy and holding the Chief Officer to account for the progress of local officers. Significant investment will be required over a number of years to redress the skills, leadership and command shortages identified in the senior management team and to offer local officers with secondment opportunities to broaden their experience in other forces. In a period of spending restraint, training budgets are often hard pressed. Again, we look to the new Police Authority to ensure that the training budget is focused and used effectively. In conclusion, we hope that the result of this scrutiny will be a succession planning policy which is committed to full development of local staff backed up by the right resources and monitored rigorously.
The Deputy Bailiff :
It is now open to questions. Senator Ferguson.
- Senator S.C. Ferguson:
Did the panel take into account the fact that the usual practice, as I understand it, in the U.K. is to appoint a chief officer from another district and not from within the particular police district where there was a vacancy?
Deputy R.G. Le Hérissier:
Yes, that was considered and, in fact, we had thought that there had been a statement by the last Home Affairs Committee to that effect, that there would never be ... well, certainly for the period of their control of the situation there would not be a local person appointed because it was felt in terms of connections and so forth they could not bring the required objectivity to bear upon the position. But our feeling was that while we could not find evidence that that had been stated as a policy position, there is no doubt the result of the stand taken by that Home Affairs Committee, because it called for 5 years' experience in a U.K. force, was essentially to lead to the same result. Our view was that because it is important to have a local person that probably the right approach is to have a mix of local and U.K. officers at the top and that they should not necessarily be strictly allocated one to the chief's position and another one, for example. So much will depend upon the mix of talent you have at that particular moment in time.
- The Deputy of St. Martin :
In the second paragraph, the panel has mentioned the fact that there was a serious absence of succession planning in the force in the last few years, but then in the last sentence it says: "Equally, no local officer was seeking to broaden their experience through secondment." Therefore, it is a bit of a contradiction, would the Chairman not agree, that if indeed members of the States Police are not willing to go out and broaden their experience so, therefore, no one can be blamed if there is no succession planning?
Deputy R.G. Le Hérissier:
I do not think it is a contradiction because a lot of succession planning depends on the organisation laying the foundations, laying out the approach. There is one of these contained in the appendix where former Chief Officer Power lays out in some detail what his approach is. We also have the approach of the current administration laid out in the appendix as well. What the questioner will see is it is really a co-operative effort between willing officers who feel that they want to seek promotion or seek higher office within the force, and an organisation who will provide them with the mentoring and training at certain pivotal points in their career. It is a question of bringing both those factors together, and certainly our finding was... and remember the documentation dried up in a sense. Our finding was that while excellent programmes had been announced and set up, yes, sometimes local candidates had not pushed themselves, the questioner is quite right. But other times it was very unclear to us whether the kind of push was coming from the top of the force to ensure that the enthusiasm and the drive and the application of these officers was nurtured as it should be.
- Deputy P.V.F. Le Claire:
The statement says that significant investment is required over a number of years to address the skills and it goes on to state that they hope the new police authority will ensure that the training budget is focused and used effectively. What amount are we talking about here in terms of significant investment? In terms of ensuring the training budget is focused, has the money for training been set aside for succession training and spent in other areas or has it been set aside and it is still available?
Deputy R.G. Le Hérissier:
As we understand it, we do on page 32 of the report put out the training budget for 2010 and the anticipated training budget for 2011. Our feeling is that, to use the jargon phrase, they will have to be reprioritised because a large part of that training budget is obviously to deal with new officers. But our feeling is that it is not a massive sum of money. Some of it will, for example, support officers who want to do part-time degree study. Some will support officers on short-term secondments to the United Kingdom where they will be expanding their experience. It should be possible because when you are looking at officers for the most senior levels of the force, you are not looking at vast numbers. You are not looking at creating a pool of 20 to 30 people. You are creating a pool of a few people and it should in our view be possible, with a bit of balancing, to ensure that if these people have the right motivation and the right willingness they can be provided with the right experiences to advance.
- Deputy J.B. Fox of St. Helier :
On page 10 of your document, the Jersey Appointments Commission refers to that unless candidates feel they have a real opportunity they will become demotivated. As the way the rules currently stand, that you are not allowed or you were not able to talk to individual officers unless certain other rules applied, do you think that this might have hindered your inquiries to find out exactly where or what the real situation among officers is in relation to how they feel about future promotion?
Deputy R.G. Le Hérissier:
Yes, the Deputy is spot on. It did hinder our inquiry. We made a request and the Minister felt in terms of the code and in terms of the disciplined nature of the force all views had to be channelled through the Chief Officer. As another Minister knows, we have a similar policy applied in another Ministry. Our view was this is something that affects junior officers. The way the policy is formulated obviously impacts on them greatly and we really need to find out what they think. Now, it obviously is a case and it goes against our better judgment ...
The Deputy Bailiff :
Chairman, if I may say so, you have answered the question, and answers even by Scrutiny Panel Chairmen must be crisp, as they must be for Ministers. The Connétable of St. Brelade .
- The Connétable of St. Brelade :
Would the Chairman agree that enthusiasm of local officers for bettering themselves and moving to senior management posts may have been stifled by continued political interference over the last 2 years?
Deputy R.G. Le Hérissier:
Obviously, we did not look at that. We looked at that in the sense it was quite clear that, for example, under one administration - I think that of Chief Officer Power - a very elaborate programme had started and there is no doubt because of the turbulence that affected the force that the priorities were put elsewhere and it was very difficult to keep these programmes going. But there is also no doubt that there is a feeling, insofar as we could gather a feeling, among the officers, the very few we could identify, that if you bring in a management which is totally U.K.- based it is going to be very difficult for local officers to move up within that kind of structure and to be seen as making a vital contribution.
- Deputy J.A. Martin:
While I do agree that it is always good to employ a local and already on-Island, is it not the case in the U.K. that once a policeman reaches a certain level and is applying for promotion they have to go across to another police force, i.e. Metropolitan to Hampshire or anything? They cannot be promoted right to the top in the same police force because of all the things the Deputy mentioned earlier of who you meet on the way up and all those sort of things. It is a question here that the encouragement will be if we want to carry on that they will have to go to the U.K. more and maybe come back. That is where we do not seem to be encouraging people to do it.
Deputy R.G. Le Hérissier:
Yes, the Deputy is right but we felt ... certainly the last policy statement of the last Home Affairs Committee I think was 5 years and that was clearly intolerable for people who have families. So there have to be shorter secondments. Yes, it would be nice to have long ones, but I think we are going to look at a combination of short secondments, formal education, rather than long periods away, and we are going to have to work out a system based around that.
- Deputy A.E. Jeune :
I welcome this statement and report from the Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel because I was extremely disappointed when we appointed quite recently 3 officers from the U.K. Not that I had anything against that, but why was there nobody locally?
The Deputy Bailiff :
Time for questions, Deputy , not statements. It is not a speech. Deputy A.E. Jeune :
Yes. Within the plan that the current administration has shown the Scrutiny Panel, is there any reference to possible exchange programmes rather than just secondments?
Deputy R.G. Le Hérissier:
I do not know the details because it is not a plan we saw, it was the Minister's announced intention to make it almost ... not a contractual arrangement with his new Chief but to make it a firmer arrangement that the development of succession planning would be a high priority within the police. I would imagine, yes, exchanges will be part of that. But, of course, ultimately you depend on volunteers, and because the conditions of service in Jersey are very good a lot of officers are in a very comfortable position.
The Deputy Bailiff :
Very well, the 10 minutes allowed for questions to the Chairman of the panel have now expired. The adjournment is proposed.