Public Accounts Committee holds Chief Minister to account for Charlie Parker payout and scrutinises the States Employment Board
On Friday 9th July, the Public Accounts Committee questioned the Chair of the States Employment Board (SEB) Chief Minister Senator John Le Fondré. The question areas covered during the hearing included; Non-executive directorship (NED) roles, Line management of the former Chief Executive, Severance of employment, Break in employment and re-engagement on a fixed term contract, and the former Chief Executive’s original contract.
The PAC were interested in finding out what the circumstances were which led to the payout of half a million pounds to the former Chief Executive. The Chair of the SEB apologised for not informing the SEB about the NED role and admitted a technical omission had ocurred, but insisted it did not alter the outcome.
A number of other findings arose from the hearing including:
- Agreement that actions required to improve technical processes will be completed on time.
- Secondary employment is not unusual in the public sector and the Government of Jersey encourage senior officers to take on second roles in order to expand their experience.
- The SEB sought to repair and remedy the situation with the former Chief Executive and efforts were made to retain him.
- The former Chief Executive’s exit payment became a high-profile public issue which complicated matters.
- The Chief Minister accepted that things would be done differently should such a situation arise in the future and the terms of contractual agreement would be covered in the recruitment process.
In conclusion the Chief Minister commented that the result was a good outcome for the taxpayer. The Chief Minister also apologised for the technical breach and considered that despite the evolving circumstances the Government of Jersey had done their absolute best to achieve stability for the Island.
To watch the entire hearing please click here.
Deputy Inna Gardiner, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, commented:
“Although new learnings have surfaced during the hearing, the public still do not have all the answers to important questions regarding how their money is spent. The public deserve accurate, timely, high-quality information. I’m really concerned that the Chief Minister has not taken full responsibility for the circumstances that led to a huge payout to the former Chief Executive and we are not reassured that similar mistakes won’t happen again. The PAC will continue to hold the Government of Jersey to account.”
PAC Press Release.