USING existing expertise within the public sector to reduce reliance on external consultants will be a key feature of the government’s drive to ‘cut its cloth’ and save £40 million over the next four years, according to its chief executive.
Speaking at a Chamber of Commerce event yesterday, Suzanne Wylie said the government would undertake a series of ‘value for money’ productivity reviews to bring public spending ‘back under control’.
A recent Freedom of Information request revealed that there were more than 300 staff within the government’s chief operating office. Included on the list were 40 consultants, 21 advisers, 37 managers and 34 leads.
During her speech, Mrs Wylie referenced the Government Plan, which was unveiled earlier this week and will be debated in December. If approved, it would see an additional £61 million invested in key public services such as health and education. Mrs Wylie also noted that the government had been tasked with making £10 million of savings a year for the next four years.
She said: ‘We want to do this through a series of value for money and productivity reviews. This will be the way that we will bring public spending back under control and focus on the priorities of Islanders. And to do this, the public service will cut its cloth accordingly while enhancing frontline services.’
She added that ‘the right constraints’ needed to be placed on government spending.
‘This means that we need to have the right skills, capacity and leadership across government. As part of setting up the Cabinet Office, I have established a delivery unit which will develop a core improvement plan for the public service to help us build that capacity and capability and troubleshoot in certain areas.’
Chief Minister Kristina Moore confirmed last month that a Cabinet Office, led by Mrs Wylie, would be formed and would ‘allow ministers to set the political direction, strengthen our decision-making and drive improvement and efficiency across government’.
During the question-and-answer segment of yesterday’s event, Jersey Business chair Jennifer Carnegie questioned how the civil service would ensure it had the capability to deliver on its targets.
Mrs Wylie said that there was going to be a lot more ‘talent management’ and focus on developing local skills and expertise.
‘One of the things that we are doing through the delivery hub that I talked about, to get people experienced across government, is looking at internal associates. That is different from bringing in lots of external consultants. Let’s use some of our own people to do that thinking and to be that internal consultancy.
‘It will take time but I think that you will see from the senior leadership team in government, working with ministers, that that is exactly what we want to do.’
Earlier this year, the States annual accounts revealed that the number of public sector workers had grown by around 800 since the launch of a government streamlining model led by former chief executive Charlie Parker, which was designed to drive efficiencies.
Figures released in April showed that there were 7,570 people employed within the Government of Jersey last year compared with around 6,700 in 2018 when the OneGov campaign was launched.
The OneGov programme was designed to deliver modernisation and change within the public sector.
However, it regularly attracted criticism for its use of highly paid consultants and interim workers who were brought in to implement change.
Chief Operating Office roles and numbers:
Administrator – 1
Advisor – 21
Analyst -16
Assistant – 7
Associate Director – 2
Business Partner – 24
Business Support Officer – 4
Chief Information Security Officer – 1
Chief Operating Officer – 1
Consultant – 40
Cyber Security Architect -1
Developer – 15
Engineer – 4
EPR Clinical Workstream Deputy ICP – 2
EPR Configuration Support – 3
EPR PAS Workstream Deputy – 4
Finance Implementation Partner – 1
Group Director – 2
Head of Area – 12
Lead – 34
Manager – 37
Officer – 7
Post Room Clerk – 1
Programme Director – 1
Programme Manager – 3
Project Manager – 10
PSO Support – 1
Senior Engineer – 2
Sister/Charge Nurse – Immunisation – 1
Solutions Product Owner – 1
Specialist – 4
Specialist Registrant – Immunisation – 1
Subject Matter Expert – 3
Technician – 52
Total – 319
