Mark Rogers, who has recently been appointed as the new director general for the Children, Young People, Education and Skills Department, said the new internal policy procedures would come into force from September.
His comments come after the JEP published revelations from a Children’s Services whistleblower earlier this week who claimed that there were a multitude of problems and failures within the service and a ‘culture of fear’ prevented staff from speaking out.
Earlier this month, senior government officials admitted that progress on the eight core recommendations made by the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry had not been delivered quickly or deeply enough.
Mr Rogers admitted there were areas within Children’s Services on which quicker progress needed to be made.
He said: ‘From September, we have a new policy framework. We have made arrangements to strengthen the whistleblowing arrangement so it will be easier for people to speak up while being treated respectfully and confidentially.
‘Again, from September, we have a new confidential hotline – that is an independent service that will provide help and guidance to people to decide how they want to deal with issues.’
He also said that all staff, including agency and temporary staff, were now subject to an exit interview and that ‘nobody would be leaving who hasn’t had that opportunity to describe their experience’.
Mr Rogers said that both Children’s Minister Sam Mézec and Education Minister Tracey Vallois had placed implementing the inquiry recommendations among their top priorities and that the ‘political drive is there’ to push improvements.
He added: ‘This is a classic case of being a journey. There are some areas where it has been acknowledged quicker progress needs to be made.’
Last week, the States unveiled an action plan to improve Children’s Services. The 27-page document laid out a string of targets to tackle some of the issues raised by the inquiry. (Full story: Pages 8 and 9.)
Senator Mézec said: ‘[When problems arise] the people who will suffer the most are the children and what has changed since the publication of the inquiry report is an acknowledgement that the Island has failed previously as a corporate parent.
‘That realisation and commitment to changing what we have are that extra drive to make sure our services are meeting the need of the people they are meant to service.
‘I would hope the public recognise that the political commitment is there and the wheels are in motion for a lot of changes like the fact that we are having on-Island training for certain positions like social workers.
‘The political leadership is not coming up with excuses. We aren’t satisfied with what is happening and we are striving to make improvements.’
***
Anyone can contact Gary Burgess by emailing gburgess@jerseyeveningpost.com in confidence if they wish to share further information, as can any whistleblower from any company, department or service wishing to expose wrongdoing.
