Government rebrand dubbed “confusing”

Tuesday 03 March 2020

A top clerk for the States Assembly has said that the ‘Government of Jersey’ rebrand has caused so much “confusion” among staff that even senior department heads are unsure what it means.

The comments come from States Greffier, Dr Mark Egan, in a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report examining governance arrangements across the organisation.

The PAC's investigation of this issue follows the work of former Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) Karen McConnell who penned a series of reports on the issue of governance across Ministerial and non-Ministerial departments before stepping down.

Speaking specifically about the rebrand’s “unintended adverse consequences for non-ministerial departments” such as his own, the States Greffe, which provides administrative report to the States Assembly, Dr Egan claims that “the changes have caused confusion, uncertainty and disquiet amongst staff".

Pictured: The States Greffe administrates the running of States sittings.

The launch of the ‘Government of Jersey’ was designed to more clearly separate the work of elected politicians in the States Assembly from that of non-elected civil servants working across different departments. 

However, Dr Egan says that whilst it was “no doubt beneficial in many ways”, it has been problematic for non-ministerial departments like the Greffe, with even some senior government officials not knowing whether it is part of the government or not.

The PAC particularly notes Dr Egan’s observation that certain documentation sent to him inaccurately refers to the Greffe as being part of the government when, actually, it’s a non-ministerial department.

PAC Chair Senator Sarah Ferguson states: “The launch of the ‘Government of Jersey’ brand, and governance structures specifically for ‘government’, while no doubt beneficial in many ways, have had unintended adverse consequences for Non-Ministerial Departments and have caused confusion. 

Pictured: Senator Sarah Ferguson chairs the Public Accounts Committee.

“For example, the Accountable Officer letter issued to the Greffier of the States on 23 December 2019 was headed 'Accountability and Governance within the Government of Jersey', despite the States Greffe being a Non-Ministerial Department, distinct from, and independent of, the Government of Jersey." 

In his response to the C&AG’s report, Chief Executive Officer Charlie Parker acknowledges the States watchdog’s “helpful recommendations regarding the relationship between the Government of Jersey and the non-ministerial departments."

He continues: “These recommendations will be taken forward, including the agreement of a high-level statement regarding the overall relationship between the Government and Non- Ministerial Departments, and to clarify the applicability of different corporate arrangements.

"In order to further strengthen the overall governance arrangements, a review of the current governance framework for the public sector is being undertaken, which is anticipated to be completed in an initial form during 2020, including democratic oversight where appropriate.” 

Pictured: States CEO Charlie Parker's comments were also attached to the PAC response.

Elsewhere in his comments, Dr Egan remarks upon a recent instance where the drafting instructions for the Public Finance (Jersey) Law 2019 were not made available to scrutiny as per the usual process. 

Although the Greffier argues that “this was exceptional rather than the norm”, he did call for “more transparency in this area."

Particularly, Dr Egan says: “I note that ministerial decisions to instruct the legislative drafting office are often exempted from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Law: I am un-persuaded that this is ever necessary.”

Drawing the Committee’s conclusions, Senator Ferguson rounded off the panel’s response by saying: “The PAC agrees with the former C&AG’s observations that good public services are underpinned by good governance – effective, transparent processes for making and implementing decisions. The best-performing organisations continually strive to improve their governance arrangements, and the PAC welcomes the Executive’s and the Greffier of the States’ contributions to improve the process. 

“However, it cautions against complacency and will engage with Non-Ministerial Departments and the Chief Executive in the coming months, to ensure that, in step with the current C&AG’s audit plan, it can continue to assess progress on all the areas raised in the former C&AG’s report throughout 2020.”