States CEO calls for "smaller government"

Saturday 22 May 2021

Government would work better if it were smaller, according to the Head of the Civil Service, who says the States has been more efficient during the pandemic without all 38 Deputies "telling us how to do our jobs".

Speaking at an Institute of Directors breakfast Q&A, States CEO Paul Whitfield said his organisation was effectively working with a board of 38 members getting too involved in operational matters.

Drawn for comment on one thing he would change about the States of Guernsey, Mr Whitfield spoke to the relationship between politicians and civil servants. 

"For me, working with a smaller government would be a much more effective way of working," he said. "[Working with the CCA] was extraordinarily different to working with a board that is really the whole of the Assembly."

Pictured: The size of the Assembly was reduced from 45 to 38 in 2016 as part of reforms to the machinery of government.

He said the decisive management of the pandemic by the CCA - to which he has been an advisor - has highlighted what happens when you allow a smaller group "to just get on with the job”.

"It has almost been a pleasure to work in covid territory. Everyone becomes a specialist in non-crisis times and tells you how to do the job," he said.

"It has shown that government doesn’t necessarily work as well in non-crisis times."

Thank you to our panelists and our audience. Fantastic discussions about people, skills, decision-making at speed, government transformation and more. Let’s keep the conversation going. Thank you to @Butterfield_Grp for your support. pic.twitter.com/7RGd7vGUnT

— IoD Guernsey (@IoDGsy) May 21, 2021

Deputy Chief Minister and former Health & Social Care President Heidi Soulsby said having the powers to make swift, sharp decisions as the CCA had cut through the bureaucracy of the committee system. 

"Trying to get big stuff through a committee system takes such hard work," she reflected  "However, we did manage it [last term] with Employment & Social Security, who had a President in Michelle Le Clerc who was willing to break down these barriers to committee working."

Another problem she cited was political and civil servant time being bogged down in endless meetings and briefing papers. A recent example, she said, was an 800-page document handed to P&R members four days before a meeting.

Deputy Soulsby told the audience that briefing papers and civil service input into political decisions needed to be "sharper" and more concise. 

Pictured: Deputy Soulsby said it was an over-simplification to describe the CCA as an executive structure: "It was a hybrid system, and there were different aspects of what happened there which we ought to learn from."

The committee system, she attested, can also lead to micromanagement of operational affairs, when political focus should be honed in on setting the strategic direction. 

"I have come back round to the view that we should have some form of executive government," she concluded. 

Policy & Resources President Peter Ferbrache recently reiterated his long-time support for executive government, which he wants investigated this political term.