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Policy Council Media Statement on Appointment of new Chief Officer

MEDIA STATEMENT

21 December 2011

Various media enquiries have been received relating to the decision of the current Director of Education to move from that role in order to concentrate, ahead of retirement, on completing Les Beaucamps High School building project and to commence the planning for the project rebuilding of La Mare de Carteret Schools, as part of the Education Development Plan.

Many of the questions received have been focused on matters relating personally to the current Director of Education. For the avoidance of any doubt, and notwithstanding the questions received, the States of Guernsey does not and will not answer questions concerning individual employees now or in the future. However, whilst we will not answer questions concerning individual employees, we have taken the decision to address, in the following statement, certain issues raised in various questions, which relate specifically to the post and not the post-holder. We will be making no further comment on this issue, beyond the following statement.

The States of Guernsey has not created a new project management role for the completion of Les Beaucamps High School building project and the planning for the project rebuilding of La Mare de Carteret Schools as part of the Education Development Plan. The current Director of Education, as part of his remit, has been what is known as the Senior Responsible Officer of the Les Beaucamps project.

What has happened, however, is that the role of Director of Education has grown considerably, as have the expectations of the role of all Chief Officers in the changing environment in which the States finds itself. The Director of Education approached the Chief Executive and the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development in order to discuss the ever increasing work load of the Director of Education, in light of the capital building projects and especially the role that Chief Officers have in working to the corporate agenda beyond their departments in order to deliver the States' objectives.

The Chief Executive and the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development listened to the views of the Director of Education and it was agreed that the remit and requirements of these roles had become too demanding to be met by one person, and indeed were ever-growing. An analysis of the scope of the role of Chief Officer of Education, was that the role of Senior Responsible Officer for the major capital build of Les Beaucamps and the preparation of the Le Mare De Carteret development as part of the Education Development Plan would, rather than being the responsibility of the Chief Officer, be better suited to a dedicated individual, and the right person to take on that role was the person currently fulfilling it. As far back as 2008, following the Review of Options for the Future Management of the Education Department, undertaken by Trevor Robinson, the possibility of the need to separate the role of Chief Officer/Director of Education from Senior Responsible Officer role had been recognised and at that time it had been forecast that provided Les Beaucamps project was given the go-ahead, this was likely to be necessary at about this time. The recent analysis confirmed that view. The Education Minister has been fully engaged throughout this process.

The Senior Responsible Officer position was not advertised internally or externally for the simple reason that the Senior Responsible Officer was already in the role, and that role has been appropriately graded in line with civil service practice. The role of Chief Officer has however been advertised.

The timing of this move has absolutely nothing to do with the review of education services in Guernsey being undertaken by Mr Denis Mulkerrin CBE, MA. However, it is fortuitous that the new Chief Officer will be in a position to consider the findings of Mr Mulkerrin's review. The Chief Officer will be able to do this confidently, knowing that the vital capital projects of Les Beaucamps and La Mare De Carteret are in safe hands.

Mike Brown

Chief Executive Officer, States of Guernsey

Simon Elliott

Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development