The post of Director of Education has existed 'for many decades' and is the most senior education advisor to the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture, with a range of statutory duties. With Mr Warren standing down so soon, ESC is still hoping to appoint a successor before the end of the current school term in just a few weeks.

Pictured: Andrew Warren. 

Deputy Matt Fallaize, President of the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture, said:

"We are delighted with the number and quality of applications received for the key role of Director of Education. We are fortunate to have secured a range of candidates with strong records of leadership across the various phases of education. We are now looking forward to meeting the candidates who have been shortlisted."

ESC also needs to appoint someone to the newly created role of Executive Principal of The Guernsey Institute, which is there body being formed this year to encompass the States' three providers of further and higher education which are integrating. The College of Further Education, the Institute of Health & Social Care Studies and the GTA University Centre were previously run separately but will have one leader from 1 July, and will soon be under one roof. 

Deputy Fallaize said:

“We did not know what to expect because obviously this is the first time we have recruited an Executive Principal of the new Guernsey Institute. The response has been very encouraging and there are several applicants with many years’ experiencein leadership roles in education. We are confident we will be able to make a strong appointment well in advance of the formation of The Guernsey Institute on 1 July.”

Pictured: Deputy Matt Fallaize. 

When it comes down to paying for two such senior staff, ESC says neither will add to the Committee’s long-term revenue expenditure.

The existing Director of Education post will continue to be funded through the Committee’s normal cashlimit budget while the Executive Principal will actually be expected to help realise efficiency savings in the further and higher education sectors while improving the offer for students and local businesses.

Generally though ESC's finances are looking positive with a reduction in expenditure last year of nearly £2million.

That was revealed during last week's States debate when Deputy Gavin St Pier gave his financial update. It means that while at the end of 2017 the then ESC Committee submitted a budget of £79.2million. the provisional year-end financial results released last week show that by the end of 2018 the Committee had reduced the actual expenditure down to £77.4million.

ESC says those reductions in expenditure included around £600,000 in recurring and temporary savings in non-teaching staff costs and lower spending on consultancy and third party payments.

The Committee is still looking at a £2million overspend compared to its cash limits though, despite those savings. Deputy Fallaize said;

“The Committee is very pleased with financial performance in 2018. Through a combination of long-term and short-term savings as well as one-off reductions we managed to halve the budget deficit in the space of a few months. I would like to say thank you to our many staff who have been key to holding down expenditure.