States lack ‘get it sorted’ mentality

States lack ‘get it sorted’ mentality

The panel, which last week held a series of hearings to review progress since it published its damning report two years ago, said there were that many panels and committees that it had given up trying to work out their names let alone what they all did.

On Friday, Chief Minister John Le Fondré and States chief executive Charlie Parker were told by members of the panel, which investigated historical child abuse in Jersey’s care system, that during their evidence-gathering they had received feedback that the upper levels of the government lacked a ‘let’s get it sorted’ mentality and spent too much time holding committee meetings.

During the session a number of issues concerning the way in which the public sector works were discussed, including the ‘silo mentality’, complaints processes and tackling the negative perception that the Island’s government was corrupt – a view named by the panel as the ‘Jersey Way’.

Panel member Alyson Leslie said that during its work, the panel had been perplexed by the number of boards and committees operating in Jersey’s public sector.

‘One of the things that has given us great puzzlement as well as concern is further up the structure,’ she said.

‘When an issue evolves there is less of a “let’s get together and sort it mentality” than the attitude of “let’s set up a board, or a sub-committee or a group”.

‘We have basically given up trying to map and identify the names, let alone the functions, of some of these groups.

‘For a place the size of Jersey, the question you would ask is whether there is a need for these groups? We need to challenge the behaviour of: “let’s set up a group”.’

Frances Oldham, who led the inquiry, added that the feedback suggested that there was a frustration among Islanders that the government did not focus on achieving outcomes.

‘Meetings can take time and a lot of time seems to be spent in meetings. What we are hearing very much from all sources is that what matters is outcomes,’ she said.

In response, Mr Parker said that three boards had been set up to deal with issues raised by the care inquiry, two of which should not be required in the long term.

‘At the moment we have got a lot work to do at a strategic and operational level and the two come together,’ he said.

‘The Children’s Commissioner has a role to play, stakeholders and third parties will also play a role in the delivery of the Children’s Plan.’

He added: ‘If you have groups of individuals coming together and creating unnecessary bureaucratic structures, we should be dealing with that.

‘That comes back to how you are dealing with the culture shift [in the public sector] – how do you get people to take responsibility? How do you deal with decision-making being driven down? How do you get straightforward fixes?

‘That’s part of the broader Team Jersey work that we are doing, plus our changes in social work practice.’

Later during the hearing, the panel also raised concerns that grievances were not being responded to despite recent changes to the States complaints process, including the establishment of a public sector ombudsman.

Panel member Professor Sandy Cameron also attended the hearing, as did Tom Walker, the director general of the Strategic Policy, Performance and Population Department.

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