Rob Curgenven has posed formal written questions to Home Affairs president Marc Leadbeater to probe what the committee knew about the arrangement and its views on governance and accountability that resulted.
Long-serving officer Gary Salter has now left his role.
States chief executive Boley Smillie said earlier this week that he believed that the post needed to be held by someone based in the island.
‘The population management administrator role is important, and I am clear that it needs to be based in Guernsey,’ he said.
‘We have made efforts during recent months to achieve this but, unfortunately, that has not been possible and, as a consequence, the role has become vacant.’
He refused to comment further on an individual employment matter.
Mr Smillie said that his priority now was to ensure that the population management team, which has been criticised for service levels and standards in recent months, ‘has the leadership and support it requires’.
He has put interim leadership arrangements in place, including a temporary appointment to the lead administrator role, which has been approved by the Home Affairs Committee.
Mr Smillie said he had also asked internal auditors to undertake a review of the current operation.
‘This is to ensure we have a clear and independently assured understanding of the backlog of permit applications and the plans in place to address it.’
Deputy Curgenven wants to know if the committee and Deputy Leadbeater knew that the lead officer was based outside the island, whether they had signed off on such an arrangement and in respect of any other senior staff, or if they did not know, how that could have happened in respect of a statutory official.
Deputy Leadbeater was quoted as saying in local media last month that the arrangement ‘was not a good look’ and Deputy Curgenven has also asked when he first formed that view. Several of the questions are demanding a ‘yes or no’ answer.
The committee has two weeks to respond.
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