Cabinet Office could be targeted for public sector job cuts

Saturday 04 May 2024

Civil service job cuts may come from a government drive to curb growth in the public sector, the Chief Minister has admitted.

Deputy Lyndon Farnham cited the Cabinet Office, communications department, and roles in senior and middle management among the potential areas where “re-sizing” of staff numbers could occur.

Since his new government took office in late January, the Chief Minister has repeatedly stated his belief that government tries to do too much, and he said during the last States Assembly sitting that growth of public sector jobs by 380 during 2023 was hard to justify.

During a Scrutiny hearing with the Common Strategic Policy review panel, Deputy Farnham was repeatedly pressed on specific examples of the “re-priorisisation” of government policies.

Priority areas had been developed after studying the views of islanders in the annual opinions and lifestyle survey, he said, although the details had yet to be finalised.

More specific detail would be provided in departmental plans and the next Government Plan, which are due to be published in July.

Pictured: Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham has repeatedly stated his belief that government tries to do too much.

Asked about job losses, Deputy Farnham said: “Yes, it’s possible, there could be a re-sizing. I couldn’t tell you which areas, as it’s not decided yet, it’s an ongoing piece of work and I don’t want to be too specific and set hares running and get people second-guessing.”

Pressed by Deputy Montfort Tadier for examples about where government might “over-deliver”, Deputy Farnham added: “Various roles in the Cabinet Office, including communications, we’ll be looking at senior and middle management structures right across the public sector.”

Deputy Helen Miles expressed concern that Public Health, which was moved to the Cabinet Office in recent years, might be affected. Deputy Farnham said he appreciated the importance of this function, which had been moved in order that it wasn’t affected by wider cost pressures in Health.

The ageing population, with the number of islanders aged 80 or above doubling by 2046, was mentioned as the biggest challenge by the Chief Minister, but he was not prepared to commit to removing “barriers” to expansion of the population cited by Deputy Montfort Tadier.

Deputy Miles said that reversing the growth of public sector employment had been a target of successive governments but had not been realised.

Deputy Hilary Jeune said those working in Scrutiny remained unclear about the Common Strategic Policy.

“it’s difficult to say from a Scrutiny perspective what’s actually prioritised and what’s prioritised but not included as a priority, it’s confusing to understand that,” she said.

“There are concerns about streamlining and having to ‘de-prioritise’ but we don’t yet know what that is.”