Wednesday 28 February 2018
Update on the work of the Committee
Mr Bailiff,
May I begin by wishing Deputy Oliver 'Happy Birthday?' And, because its that time of year, also taking the opportunity to do so in advance for Deputy Parkinson tomorrow, Deputy Le Tocq for Sunday and in arrears for Deputy Stephens yesterday?
I am pleased to provide a general update to the Assembly on the work of the Policy & Resources Committee and a progress report against some of our domestic and external challenges.
Next week, I will be in Whitehall to discuss Brexit with both the Ministry of Justice and with the Department for Exiting the EU. Coordinating our response to Brexit remains a priority for the Committee, and Deputy Trott will provide a much more detailed update on this work in a statement to this Assembly next month.
In brief, the Brexit Group continues to provide co-ordination of the work being undertaken by the Policy & Resources Committee, the Committee for Home Affairs and the Committee for Economic Development - to whom ongoing thanks are due for the work they are doing
In November 2017, the States directed that Brexit legislation be laid before the three legislatures of the Bailiwick by the summer, and the drafting of that legislation has been given a high priority and is underway. We are considering the timing of future Brexit-related policy letters to consider with the Committee for Home Affairs and the Committee for Economic Development such as on immigration, on the extension of the UK's membership of the World Trade Organisation, and on customs arrangements with the UK. This will ensure the States' Assembly continues to play an important role in managing the island's response.
Another significant focus is our response to the EU Code Group. This month Guernsey participated in the first meeting of the OECD Voluntary Group established in response to the EU Code Group process.
It appears the EU Code Group is amenable to the Voluntary Group being involved in assisting with defining "substance" and in a "mapping process" to seek what substance means to different types of business. This is a positive development, and we are feeding in information to the OECD Voluntary Group so that the work on mapping can start.
The Policy & Resources Committee will need to ensure that resources can be deployed to assist with the necessary research, analysis and development of a proposed solution to the issue of substance. This will then enable us to proactively engage with the Code Group.
We are continuing to work closely with Jersey in particular on these matters, and I am pleased to report that this is only one area where joint working is now being prioritised.
The Chief Executives of both Guernsey's and Jersey's public sectors are establishing a joint Channel Islands Public Service Board. A further meeting is taking place in Jersey shortly in order to finalise the terms of reference for and membership of that Board, and officers in both islands are drawing up a long list of potential opportunities for joint working.
I welcome the support that Jersey's Chief Minister - with whom I speak monthly - has given to this process, and the Policy & Resources Committee looks forward to working with Jersey in providing appropriate political oversight to the joint Public Service Board.
The Chief Executive of the States will provide an update on this as part of his wider update report, to be included with the Policy & Resource Plan update that comes to the States in June.
The Policy & Resource Plan update will, of necessity this year, be more of a 'benchmarking' exercise to give us a clear view of our current position in respect of the 23 priority areas agreed by the States in November last year, as well as considering how we will monitor and report on progress for future years. It may be that as the picture becomes clearer, we will have to reconsider the feasibility of pursuing all 23 areas simultaneously. I say this not because members are not fully committed to them all, but rather in recognition of the fact that we have committed to delivering a great deal with fairly limited resources.
This point was evident in a meeting with other principal Committee Presidents last month, and further regular meetings will be set up with them to monitor progress in relation to the Policy & Resource Plan.
The Chief Executive's report will also include an update on the public service reform framework that was endorsed by the States' Assembly in 2015.
On behalf of the Policy & Resources Committee, I provide the political leadership for public service reform, and ahead of the Chief Executive's update I am pleased to be able to provide an update on two aspects of the reform framework - people and technology.
The pay bill expenditure for 2017 is broadly in line with forecast expenditure - which was £216 million. A trend for increased headcount in the public service continues, but this does not necessarily mean increased staff costs overall. A key reason is a drive to reduce our reliance on agency staff across certain areas, and particularly within Health & Social Care.
This trend for additional head count is a result of changing behaviour within the public service and the way that we work. This includes reduced hours contracts, term time working, a rise in part-time posts, increased flexible working and an increase in the number of short-term contracts.
Overall staff turnover is 13%, compared to 14% a year earlier. 12% is seen as a good benchmark compared with other public sectors and commercial employers.
Reduced sickness absence continued to be a positive trend in 2017 and should be strengthened with the launch of a workplace wellbeing campaign.
The States of Guernsey was proud to sign the Disability Charter earlier this month - and is now looking at how best to implement recommendations of the various action plans, across our services.
To support increased flexibility and mobility within the public sector workforce, we have started data collection and analysis of the current status of terms and conditions across the public sector.
The aim is to have a clear evidence based picture across all pay groups to inform the employer of the current position and to inform the States' wide review of terms and conditions.
This work will be progressed during 2018, with a particular emphasis on the nurses' pay review that Policy & Resources are under resolution to return to the States in early 2019. Work has commenced on setting the governance and terms for this review, in collaboration with union officials and the Committee forHealth & Social Care. Once options emerge, there clearly will be a need to engage with employees and their representatives as part of the reform process.
Another area of public service reform that the Chief Executive will update on is 'Smart Guernsey' - the digitisation of services to provide greater accessibility and efficiency. Central to the delivery of this is the Future Digital Strategy, which continues to progress. This is a major redesign of how technology services and systems are delivered to government - to give context, the scale is similar to the MSG contract in terms of value.
The approach is based on three pillars. First, for technology that works when it is needed - addressing the years of underinvestment in IT. Second, of supporting change across the States in how we deliver services. And third, of enabling economic development - the first States IT project that specifically includes this as an objective. The Chief Information Officer will be briefing each of the Principal Committees in the coming weeks.
Whilst Future Digital Services progresses, we recognise that we must simultaneously increase our investment in technology in critical areas. The creation of Information Systems and Services from April last year, has allowed for the first time a full review of the current state of our technology, allowing targeted investment where the need or benefit is greatest. For example, in 2018 one of the priorities is a major investment for a wide ranging technology upgrade in Health & Social Care, replacing the core infrastructure and applications.
The work I have described on people and technology demonstrates that the States is delivering on its commitment to securing improvements that support better services.
It is essential that when we invest, we receive a demonstrable return in improved performance, and the same is true at Committee level as well.
For example the Policy & Resources Committee has deployed people and financial resources to support service areas that are part of the Committee for Home Affairs' mandate, such as the Joint Services Emergency Control Centre and the Population Management Office. It is important that these deployments are used to make long-term improvements, and not simply to provide a series of short-term fixes.
Sir, briefly: we shortly expect to lodge a policy letter following a review of the Ecclesiastical Court's probate function; we also have a policy letter seeking some changes to the TRP legislation; since my last general update, we have worked with St James' Chambers to implement the recommendations of the recent review of its relationship with the States; following the last Budget Report, we are in dialogue with HM Receiver-General regarding the potential use of monies held in trust for the Crown; we have just embarked on a review of the governance of arm's length bodies;
working with others, we have started work on the review of the Population Management Law and have made progress on defining a new strategic population objective; we have been working with the States' Trading Supervisory Board on proposals for the future management of the States' property estate and hope to be able to consult with other committees imminently; we are in the process of finalising a joint policy letter with the Committee forEmployment & Social Security on combining the collection of taxes and social security contributions into a single Revenue Service; finally - but by no means least - we have started work in earnest across government on the Harbour Action Area, with a view to prioritising the delivery of some projects to commence by October 2019, in order to optimise the economic development opportunity which they can bring to the island.
To conclude, I want to highlight the importance of principles that I know this Assembly collectively shares - a strong and diverse economy, support for enterprise, small government, fair and progressive taxes, support for families, protecting our heritage and culture, balancing our environmental needs with our social and economic needs, and greater transparency and democratic engagement. All of these underpin the Policy and Resource Plan that the States' Assembly emphatically agreed just over three months ago, and I look forward to bringing an update to the States' Assembly on this in June.
