Top roles in the civil service will have to be signed off by politicians in future, after the States voted to make committees accountable for staffing in their service areas.
The proposal, put forward by Policy and Resources (P&R) President Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez, will mean any roles at ‘Senior Officer 1’ (SO1) level or above will need to be “approved or ratified in principle” by the committee they report to.
Deputy de Sausmarez said her amendment would give “more accountability to committees for their staffing”.
She added: “There is no way we can or should delegate for what is for many committees the most significant proportion of their budget – pay.”
The new rules will apply to both new roles and existing vacancies.
The States has 12 grades of ‘Senior Officer’ within the civil service, with the top band covering salaries up to £209,560.
SO1 roles currently pay between £69,469 and £78,250.
P&R will also have to create a “standardised reporting template” for committees to fill out each year.
Several politicians argued against the proposals, with Deputy Andy Sloan saying it was introduced too late in the day for proper consideration.
“I don’t really like being bounced through an amendment on Monday morning”, when planning for the budget had been going on for months, he added.
Meanwhile Deputy Haley Camp said the proposals risked becoming “virtue signalling” as the wording meant they were non-binding, so civil servants could choose to ignore them.
The amendment passed by 29 votes to 9, with one abstention.
Alderney States Member Alex Snowdon was unable to vote, as he was stuck in Alderney due to flight issues.
