THE head of the civil service has addressed his future in the role with three months remaining before his contract is due to expire.
Dr Andrew McLaughlin, who is currently employed on a six-month contract until December, with the option to extend his tenure, told the Public Accounts Committee yesterday afternoon that he would be discussing that extension at the end of the quarter with the chair of the States Employment Board.
Keeping his cards close to his chest, the government’s fourth chief executive in the past six years said he was not involved in any discussions to recruit a permanent chief executive.
On whether the role needed developing, he responded: “Jeepers, I haven’t really given that much thought; I’m too busy doing the job to think about how the job could or should be different.”
He added that his priority while serving as interim chief executive had been to “get this large and multi-faceted organisation to gather around a smaller set of priorities”, adding: “There’s a real risk to the reputation of the Government of Jersey that it becomes famous for what it doesn’t do, and my priority has been trying to get the organisation into that operating rhythm of doing things and getting that track record going.”
During the Scrutiny hearing, which at times risked becoming soporific, Dr McLaughlin also tried to reassure panel chair Deputy Inna Gardiner that it was normal to see high turnover in executive roles and argued that the fact that four of the top executive team of 11 were interim positions was not a risk.
He also referred to the fallout from independent economic advisers the Fiscal Policy Panel, which forecast that the Island’s economy faces tough times ahead, and new controls in the civil service which require employees to seek approval from the chief executive himself if they are seeking to hire a consultant who is not highly specialised.
Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham previously said he hoped Dr McLaughlin would be in post for the duration of the current government’s term of office and the subsequent change of administration in two years’ time.
