Staite finds the good, bad and the ugly

In June, the governance report by Professor Catherine Staite into Home Affairs had not even been published before two members of the committee resigned in disgust at its contents.

The report was truly damning. A ‘horror show’ of governance was laid bare with allegations of bullying and harassment of senior officers. Home was failing to provide strategic direction, lacked transparency and was repeatedly meddling in operational affairs.

Professor Staite went on to claim that she had been insulted and bullied by Home members herself in their outrage at the stinging criticism.

In such stormy political times Home president Mary Lowe did well to keep afloat a foundering vessel, especially when the senior committee demanded she show some humility and resign.

Last week’s governance report into Policy & Resources by the same author is, by comparison, a tame affair.

It identifies exemplary behaviour by P&R deputies with a good understanding of governance, a desire to be transparent and to ‘do the right thing’.

The divisions of opinion between senior staff and politicians that surfaced in the Home Affairs ranks are replaced by a collegiate atmosphere of mutual respect and cooperation.

Criticism is limited and largely focuses on the power vacuum within which P&R tries to bring leadership to the States, despite ‘lacking teeth’.

The report rightly condemns the Future Guernsey plan as bloated and overcomplicated and points to structural weaknesses that encourage committees to operate in silos.

Overall, there is room for reform, but P&R is seen as part of the solution not the problem.

As is the nature of news, Professor Staite’s latest report will quickly come and go. There will be no headline calls for resignations, no deputies leaping to attack or defend.

While the Home report will long be remembered, P&R’s (and the positive report on Health & Social Care before it) will rapidly fade into obscurity.

Despite a flawed system, there are parts of government working hard and functioning well.

The trick for the next States is to take the good and the bad from such reports and strive to embed a culture of ‘doing the right thing’ across all elements of government.