New targets to be set for civil servants

Tuesday 20 November 2018

The States CEO is working on a series of targets to measure the performance of civil servants - but specific indicators to measure his own success in implementing major changes in Jersey’s public sector remain missing.

Charlie Parker was appointed to the £250,000 role of States CEO in July 2017 and the exact details of the deal are still being withheld, although it is known that they included full residency rights.

His official start date was 8 January 2018, but Mr Parker was already working in Jersey months before that, as he begun to put his team in place to reform the States. Despite repetitive requests from Express, and questions in the States Assembly, Mr Parker is still working without a set of 'key performance indicators’ (KPIs) - an agreed set of standards against which his performance can be measured. 

Senator Tracey Vallois, the Chairman of the States Employment Board, told the States Assembly two weeks ago that Mr Parker's "performance framework process and associated KPI`s" were being developed with the support of an independent assessor under the guidance of the Chief Minister. The States are however refusing to give any details on who the assessor is, how they were appointed or what their qualifications are.

Meanwhile, Mr Parker is working to implement recommendations from the Comptroller and Auditor General, Karen McConnell, to use KPIs within public services. Questioned by a panel of politicians tasked with investigating government spending yesterday, the States CEO admitted that it was still a work in progress. "We aren’t quite where we want to be around the introduction of KPIs across the organisation," he told the Panel, which is chaired by Senator Sarah Ferguson. 

He explained that there previously was "a patchwork approach" to KPIs and they "regrettably" were not the focus, something he was aiming to change. 

Pictured: Charlie Parker appeared in front of the Public Affairs Public Accounts Committee Scrutiny Panel on Monday.

Deputy Rowland Huelin asked Mr Parker how his personal KPIs would fit within the framework of change he is bringing. The States CEO first stated, that contrary to "a lot of communication around his performance framework", the previous government had set some targets for him to achieve, in the period leading up to the election.

"But there was always the caveat that they would then be available for whoever formed the new government to determine them going forward and that process is being undertaken by the Chief Minister in conjunction with an independent assessor," he said, before adding that his personal targets would be be set and published "in a timeframe of its making."

Mr Parker then explained he was about "to set a whole series of new appraisal arrangements for officers across public services for 2019." He commented: "We have had in the past a variety of approaches to performance management. It’s not consistent, in some areas it doesn’t even exist and we needed to codify that. 

"Going forward, all appointments that we’ll be making are set within a framework for outcomes that are expected by individuals in their roles, depending where they sit in the organisation."

He said that appraisal targets will be set against the Common Strategic Policy and the government’s priorities, as well as each departmental "business units targets." They will be introduced in 2019, a transition year, before being consolidated by the States Employment Board in 2020. 

Pictured: Mr Parker says that there will be less attention around him once his measures start being implemented.

Mr Parker was also questioned over the level of scrutiny that surrounds his "personality", with Public Accounts Committee layperson Tim Rogers asking him if it undermined his work. Mr Parker replied: "It’s unfortunately easier to attack or focus on the person bringing the change at the top of organisation... From my experience, when things become embedded, when morale shifts, when people sit in operating better conditions, when people are valued, when the organisation becomes a learning organisation, that fades.

"If you build the right form of leadership, it is the leadership as a whole which starts to take on and being given the responsibility and permission to do things... The organisation is stronger, the place is better and the individual at the top is becoming less of a focal point."