They will join at least seven other senior officials who have departed in recent weeks, or soon will, as chief executive Boley Smillie’s overhaul of the organisation gathers pace.
Policy & Resources, Health & Social Care, Environment & Infrastructure and Home Affairs have all seen senior staff removed or depart by mutual agreement.
Mr Smillie is believed to have had a hand in each of the resignations or early retirements, several of which can be traced to his attempts to reform expectations and culture. Together the departures represent an unprecedented period of turnover in a short space of time towards the top of the civil service, and it is understood there may be more to come.
Although he declined to comment on the identity or number of recent senior staff exits, Mr Smillie pledged yesterday to maintain the pace of reform, including through the reintroduction of a chief officer for each principal committee, and said he expected do so without outside help or additional expenditure.
‘While I was grateful that the States Assembly resolved earlier this year to make necessary funds available to deliver this work, I am not expecting to need any as things stand,’ he said.
‘Likewise, I have not and will not be using any external expertise to help me deliver the changes I want to introduce.
‘These roles will be introduced incrementally and aligned with wider organisational change.
‘At the end of this transition, the civil service headcount will be no greater as a result, and my aim with the new structure is for it to deliver better value for money.’
Mr Smillie’s commitment to reform, and actions, were welcomed by Marc Laine, who led a successful amendment in January which pressed for a major overhaul of the public sector, but he criticised P&R for failing to be transparent about civil service reform.
His amendment directed P&R to publish clear terms of reference and the resources required to support the chief executive’s reforms and provide the States with regular progress reports. He was disappointed that none of those had happened.
‘The reporting requirements were not decoration. They exist so that States members and the public can judge progress against something rather than take assurance on trust,’ said Deputy Laine.
‘Without published terms of reference, there is no baseline, so nobody outside the building can see what the programme covers or when it is meant to deliver. Scope can move and no one would know.
‘I have seen a draft. I was not reassured. Almost all of the substance sat in 2027, and the work on the senior leadership team was recorded as not started. Seven months after the vote, we still do not know what the top of the organisation will look like. That was the central concern behind the amendment.’
When he laid his amendment, Deputy Laine anticipated that the civil service reform programme would require an additional £150,000 to £250,000, largely for assistance from independent external experts.
‘It is one thing for a chief executive to say he does not need more budget, but it is another for P&R to have concluded that independent challenge is not required,’ he said.
‘If that decision has been taken, the Assembly should be told, and told why.’
The first principal committee chief officer was recently appointed at HSC, on an interim basis, and the next will be at Economic Development.
Mr Smillie said he hoped that all the committee chief officers appointed over the next few months would be recruited from within the island.
But the new post of chief financial officer, which will absorb the responsibilities of the former States treasurer whose departure was announced in May, has been advertised outside the island as well.
Deputy Laine said he would continue pressing for more transparency.
‘The duty to publish and to report sits with P&R. I will be asking the committee to confirm when the terms of reference will be published and when the States will receive its first progress report. I would rather that come voluntarily than through a formal question,’ he said.