The data was revealed through formal written questions submitted by Deputy David Goy. He said he thought that islanders would be surprised by how high the number was.
However, he added that Policy & Resources had not answered all his questions to protect staff privacy, a position P&R said aligned with ‘standard employment practices’.
‘The States is not any “standard employer”,’ he said.
‘The States is largely funded by public money, so the public has every right to know if the States’ senior leaders and management salaries are fair and proportionate. This is crucial for public accountability. Public sector pay transparency is a legitimate public interest consideration that can override the general presumption of privacy.’
Deputy Goy had asked P&R to set out every role that paid an annual full-time equivalent base salary of £85,000 or more, and was in a primarily managerial or leadership role, not a technical or professional post.
For each role he requested four non-identifying data-points, including job title, department, actual base salary and minimum and maximum of the role’s pay range.
The committee said that 389 staff fitted the criteria.
That still leaves more than 5,000 public servants earning less each year.
Deputy Goy said he had asked the questions to discover whether the balance between senior management and front-line staff was reasonable. He said he was disappointed that P&R had said that as data was not held in the requested format they could not provide a breakdown.
‘P&R must understand that “not held in that format” is not the same as “not held”. The fact that the data requested must be sorted or filtered does not exempt P&R from disclosure under Rule 14,’ he said.
‘Because the detailed breakdown was withheld, taxpayers still do not know how those 389 posts are spread across departments, what they cost in base salaries, nor what pay-range flexibility exists at the top of the organisation.’
Deputy Goy added that he was submitting further questions on this issue, which narrows his request to four anonymised columns only.
‘This offers the committee several practical ways to supply the information without compromising personal privacy. Islanders will be able to judge for themselves whether the management head-count and cost are proportionate to the services delivered.’
P&R has invited invited Deputy Goy to meet with its political board so that it can better understand his requests for information relating to the public service workforce.
‘The answers are sought as much for the public as for myself,’ said Deputy Goy.
‘They must therefore be readily available to everyone. For that reason, a written reply remains essential.’
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