Deputies to benefit from a graduate intern

Thursday 14 October 2021

A re-worked civil service vacancy will give deputies access to a research assistant who will support their constituency work.

Guernsey’s elected officials have previously carried out this with with constituents - and in previous terms, parishioners - themselves.

Feedback from politicians, coupled with a newly-vacant position, has allowed a new role to be created to help tackle some of the longer and more complex cases.

The States of Guernsey is actively looking to appoint a graduate intern by the end of the year.

“We’re working up a whole new role,” said Strategic Lead for Supporting Government, Colette Falla.

“Some of the responsibilities in respect of this post is to work with members and to provide research services for them, to manage their constituency work and co-ordinate requests that come into the states.

“Sometimes you’ll get a constituent contact you with a very complex case that’ll actually touch on a number of service areas within the states, so it’ll be about finding a way through all of them and co-ordinating it for the deputy and for the constituent,” she said.

Pictured: The chosen candidate will be based at Frossard House.

The appointment was announced alongside the States Assembly and Constitution Committee’s update on its ‘Induction and Ongoing Development Programme’, and will be run as a pilot scheme for at least a year.

“We’ll have to keep track of how much time is being spent on this and what the outcomes are and how well received it is by deputies,” said Ms Falla.

“We’ll need feedback from them to understand the effectiveness of the service too.”

The role won’t just benefit the deputy, it’ll also suit someone who is looking to develop a career in the civil service.

“It’s a very good opportunity to work with elected members and to learn about how you interact with politicians and about how to manage competing priorities,” continued Ms Falla.

“It’ll teach you a lot about meeting deadlines because some of it will be support around States meetings. Those deadlines are very much set in stone.”

Pictured: The president of SACC, Deputy Carl Meerveld, said the appointment is part of an ongoing process: “It’s part of providing support for deputies so they can be more effective.”

The workload for the role is currently unknown and will depend on uptake from the deputies.

“It’s difficult to say [how much of their time will be taking up] because it’ll depend on the take-up from deputies, so it could be a lot or it could be not very much, it really it is going to depend on how the service is used,” said Ms Falla.

“If it’s not needed or not adding value we’ll really have to think again, but it is something we’re introducing following feedback from deputies, who have highlighted that there is less support around their constituency work in particular.”