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Guernsey's committee for Education, Sport and Culture will face a public scrutiny session later this year - to try and find answers to a number of questions which won't go away.
Following the release last week of 'rule 14' questions by former ESC committee member, Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen, the President of the Scrutiny Management Committee has confirmed he is also keeping a close eye on all things to do with Guernsey's schools.
Deputy Chris Green is also a former member of what was the Education Department during the 2012/16 government when the decision was made to abolish selection at 11 which has since led to decisions to reduce the number of States run secondary schools in the Bailiwick from seven (St Anne's in Alderney, Le Murier, Les Voies, the Guernsey Grammar School, St Sampson's High, La Mare de Carteret High and Les Beaucamps High) to just four - with one all ability site in Guernsey, over two campuses, replacing the three High schools and the Grammar school.
Pictured l-r: Deputies Chris Green, Matt Fallaize and Andrea Dudley-Owen
Deputy Green said that Deputy Dudley-Owen had originally approached his Scrutiny Management Committee (SMC) to ask if they would be prepared to ask some questions to the Committee for Education, Sport and Culture, focused on the recent personnel changes and the appointment processes in question.
These queries including questions on the appointments of Liz Coffey as executive head teacher over the new "two school model" and the creation of a new role at Education Services for Sophie Roughsedge, along with the appointment of Andrew Warren as Director of Education, and numerous other personnel changes.
Deputy Green said while the SMC discussed the issue as a committee, it was decided, unanimously, that in this case, it would be "highly appropriate" for Deputy Dudley-Owen to pursue the matter via 'rule 14 formal questions.'
He said that while it appeared Deputy Dudley-Owen had previously struggled to get answers to some of her queries, she was advised that the rule 14 mechanism would be "a good route for her to use as formal questions under that rule require committees to answer questions on the record. This helps to ensure transparency."
Pictured: Rule 14 questions can be used by deputies wanting to probe deeper on certain matters. Previous rule 14 questions and answers can be read here.
Deputy Green said rule 14 questions - and rule 7 questions which are asked orally during a States meeting - are "a vitally important tool in a deputy's armoury. My own view is that deputies should never be dissuaded from asking formal questions on the record in the interests of clarity and transparency. Criticism of deputies for asking formal questions leaves me rather concerned about the States' professed commitment to openness."
While Deputy Green said his committee will study the formal answers that ESC gives to Deputy Dudley-Owen's questions on internal civil service changes, he also said his SMC will be hosting a public Scrutiny hearing with the Committee for Education, Sport and Culture in November 2018 which will focus on wider matters including:
Like other public scrutiny hearings, members of the public will be able to attend but won't be able to ask questions.
Pictured: Deputy Andrew Dudley-Owen
Deputy Dudley-Owen's questions focus much more specifically on recruitment and in particular on how and why Andrew Warren was appointed as Director of Education and what role Sophie Roughsedge is now fulfilling.
Her questions include requests for information on the number of applicants for the Director of Education post, what role Mr Warren took while on the recruitment panel for a job he eventually accepted himself and whether he actually applied or was asked to take on the role.
Deputy Dudley-Owen also queries the appointment of Mrs Roughsedge to a new role within Education Services, and whether this role was created for her or was it an existing role, what necessary skills and qualifications did Mrs Roughsedge need to secure her new role and whether other applicants had the opportunity to put themselves for the role and if so, how many people did.
Until this summer, Mrs Roughsedge was headteacher at Les Beaucamps High School, but Deputy Dudley-Owen wants to know if she will return to that role at the end of her year long secondment, and whether she also previously applied for the then-vacant position of Director of Education, and whether it is intended that she will take over from the current Director of Education once Mr Warren's temporary contract ends in 2019.
Pictured: Deputy Matt Fallaize
As President of the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture, Deputy Matt Fallaize has said he will reply to Deputy Dudley-Owen's questions within the time frame allowed by the States. He said however that some of the questions are of a personal nature relating to individual members of staff and he believes there is a degree of misunderstanding surrounding the roles those people now occupy.
"As per the rules and procedures of the Assembly, we will provide answers to Deputy Dudley-Owen by 20 September. Not withstanding the formal response we will provide, given the personal nature of the questions asked relating to individual members of staff I would take this opportunity to make a number of observation at this stage.
"Deputy Dudley-Owen’s questions imply a high degree of misunderstanding in the process for appointing the officers concerned. This is surprising given Deputy Dudley-Owen has already asked most of these questions of the Committee informally and the processes which led to these appointments have been explained to her in detail.
"As is known, since its election in February the Committee has been working with its Chief Secretary to restructure the Education Office. This has included considerable change of personnel in senior positions. The Committee is confident that it is supported by a strong and capable team of senior advisors with the right blend of skills to advise and support the Committee as it leads significant transformation in education in the months and years ahead."
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