Education involvement in appointment laid bare after email leak

Saturday 27 July 2019

The real extent of political involvement in job appointments has been revealed by an email leaked to the media today.

Reported today in Guernsey news, an email from Deputy Matt Fallaize, the President of Education, Sport & Culture, showed how he was outraged after civil servant colleagues who sat on an interview panel did not vote for his preferred candidate for the role of Head of Curriculum.

His disagreement eventually led to an offer to the originally-preferred candidate being withdrawn, even after they had accepted.

The panel consisted of five people: Deputy Fallaize, the then Director of Education Andrew Warren, the former Chief Secretary Colette Falla, a HR advisor and an external Education advisor. They interviewed four candidates, one from off-island, and in the end voted four to one for an on-island candidate, with Deputy Fallaize being the sole vote against. 

Deputy Fallaize was the only person to not vote for the candidate, but they still didn't end up with the job. 

The candidate who the panel had decided on was a local headteacher, and they accepted the job after they were offered it the same day. But this decision did not sit well with Deputy Fallaize, who sent an email to Ms Falla, the Chief Secretary, threatening to call a vote of no confidence in her. The email said: 

"Today, in making the decision you have and therefore disregarding agreements made previously between the Committee and the [civil] Service, you have acted in a way which I sense is very likely to result in the committee expressing no confidence in you as Chief Secretary."

"Whatever the governance arrangements around appointments, no Chief Secretary should act in a way which plainly and knowingly obstructs their Committee's agreed policy agenda. This is what you have done today.

"At the end of the interview process, when it was clear you were going to reach a particular decision, I advised that in doing so would most likely take the Committee's position untenable and lead to my certain resignation. Andrew then suggested that in the circumstances, there should be a period of reflection overnight before the scheduled meeting tomorrow.

"That would have been wise. instead you asserted that Andrew must contact the candidates immediately. This is an aggravating factor in a deliberately obstructive act." 

Deputy Fallaize is currently leading the delivery of the new Education system. 

Following that email and contact with Deputy Gavin St Pier - the President of Policy & Resources - the appointment was suspended that night. 

Days later, having been told what was happening, the formerly successful applicant quit the process. 

The original media report also revealed how there had been a number of attempts to keep this situation from going public. Application for Information requests were declined, and the HR advisor quit their position because they did not want to be involved in a cover up.

Even in the most recent States meeting, Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen asked a series of questions about this appointment, but Deputy Fallaize declined to answer most of them following legal advice from the Bailiff. 

In those questions though, Deputy Fallaize did say the roles were filled by the States, because they were 'not political appointments'. 

The email was copied to the rest of the Education Committee, Deputy St Pier and Paul Whitfield, the Chief Executive of the States. 

Deputy St Pier has declined to comment until next week, while Deputy Fallaize could not yet be reached for comment. 

Pictured top: Deputy Matt Fallaize.