The head of Guernsey’s civil service said more openness and scrutiny would be key to rebuilding public trust, as he promised a “warts and all” assessment of government projects.
Boley Smillie, Chief Executive & Head of the Public Service, said the States would publish a detailed update on its major programmes, giving a clearer picture of progress and performance.
“At the end of this month, we will publish a warts and all assessment of where we are with all of our transformational programmes,” he said.
“There’ll be far more scrutiny on how we’re performing and how we’re doing.”
Mr Smillie argued that greater transparency would help prevent problems escalating, adding that “sunlight” was often the best way to drive improvement.
“My experience tells me that scrutiny – that sunlight we apply to the challenges – generally results in actions that deal with issues much sooner before they become bigger problems,” he said.
“It’s about doing what we promise, more often,” he added.
Mr Smillie acknowledged that confidence in government delivery had been damaged in recent years and said improving that trust was central to his role.
“The context of the difficult political decisions… and the trust and confidence that the community has in us needs to improve,” he said.
Ruthless efficiency – but not ruthless with people
Mr Smillie said the public sector needed to “ruthlessly focus on efficiencies”, however he was not prepared to be “ruthless” with civil servants.
“I’m going to treat our people well, but we’re not going to shy away from the challenges that we need to meet, whatever that means,” he told Express.
He said he could not rule out redundancies at some point in the future, however that would ultimately be a decision for politicians.
“My job is to make sure there is an alignment between what we’re being asked to deliver and the resources we’re given,” he said.
“I’ll do whatever I’m directed to do.”