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Review: Performance Management - Follow up - Public Accounts Committee

Committee/Panel: Public Accounts Committee
Launch Date: 4 April 2023 Close Date: To be advised
Submissions Deadline: To be advised Ministerial Response Date: To be advised
Review Status: Report published

The PAC are currently undertaking public hearings with the Chief Officers of Government of Jersey Departments until mid-July 2023. 

About

​Background

The previous Public Accounts Committee (PAC) undertook a review of Performance Management across the Government of Jersey during late 2021, with a report being presented to the States Assembly on 8th March 2022. The report presented an overview of the recent changes to the Government structure as part of the One Gov reforms and assessed how new performance management processes within Government and non-ministerial departments had been embedded and applied.

The report also assessed the modernisation of Information Technology systems throughout the organisation and examined the tools that were being used by Government in order to track and measure its own performance. Specifically, these tools were:

  • The Recommendations Tracker
  • The Jersey Performance Framework
  • Customer Feedback and complaints handling

As part of the review, the appraisal process was considered for Chief Officers, including the Chief Executive Officer of the Government of Jersey

In total, the previous PAC made 30 recommendations within its report across the areas examined, and subsequently the Government accepted 29 of those in full and one in part and provided detailed action plans in respect of how they would be implemented. 

Rationale for the Review

A recommendation made by the previous PAC to its successor was that progress on the implementation of the recommendations arising from this report should continue to be tracked. Furthermore, it is important to identify and track the open recommendations made from C&AG reports that are currently within the recommendations tracker and the progress that is being made in addressing them by the Government of Jersey. 

During a recent quarterly public hearing with the Chief Executive of the Government of Jersey, the PAC followed up on specific points raised in the previous report and were concerned that objectives for the Chief Executive have yet to be set by the new Council of Ministers. Furthermore, the Committee noted that the performance appraisal process for Chief Officers with the exception of the Chief Executive, falls in-line with the rest of the organisation, however, further assurance is required about this specific point.

The PAC identified within its review of the States Annual Report and Accounts 2021 that reporting on performance did not necessarily follow the 'golden thread' from the Common Strategic Priorities through to the Departmental Delivery Plans and the measurable outcomes provided on the gov.je website on a quarterly basis. As such, it is important to clarify the processes in place to ensure that the performance management processes within Government are being clearly linked to Ministerial and overall Departmental objectives and gain assurance over the suitability of those processes in  meeting those objectives.   

Terms of reference

1. To identify the steps that have been taken in order to implement the recommendations made in the previous Public Accounts Committee's report P.A.C.2/2022 by;

  • Examining the success, or otherwise, of the implementation of the recommendations.
  • Assessing the steps that are being taken to implement the recommendations that are outstanding.
 

2. To identify and assess the status of recommendations made by the Comptroller and Auditor General within the recommendations tracker that relate to improving performance management across the Government of Jersey.  

 

3. To examine the processes and culture in place in relation to the appraisal and objective/key performance indicators setting of the:

  • Chief Executive Officer of the Government of Jersey
  • Chief Officers
  • Employees of the Government of Jersey

4. To establish how performance management processes and cultures across the Government of Jersey are linked to Ministerial and Departmental objectives and assess the suitability of these processes and reporting of outcomes.