Deputy wants to impose new rules on civil servants

A move to change the rules governing how civil servants in Guernsey work is set to be launched by the island's former deputy chief minister.

Deputy Mark Helyar is set to lodge an amendment to change Policy and Resources' proposed government work plan, which is set to be debated at the end of the month.

If approved, it would change the way members of the civil service could use authority delegated to them by politicians as there are currently no rules about how that is done.

Prospect, the union representing civil servants, said it had not seen the proposals, but added members' day-to-day work decisions were "primarily operational in nature" and not political.

Deputy Helyar criticised the current relationship between civil servants and politicians: "We delegate our authority as elected representatives to civil servants and then they go and exercise them but there are no rules about how that's done.

Previously Helyar has criticised officials at Health and Social Care after they withheld details of a potential overspend on the project to extend the hospital from politicians.

He said: "We have a lot of expectations from the public that we are actually in charge of the decision-making process, and a lot of the time we're asked about things where decisions have been made but we've actually had no involvement whatsoever in.

"The decision itself has been made by somebody in the civil service and this is a rule that will enable things to be properly decided by the people that should be making the decisions."

Delegated authority within the States is often in reference to officials who have been given power to make decisions on certain matters by the States of Guernsey.

For example, the Development & Planning Authority (DPA) has delegated specific powers to the director of planning and other officers to determine the fate of most planning applications.

The proposal is set to be lodged with the States next week.

Helyar said: "There are a lot of examples, unfortunately, where sometimes because people think they're doing the right thing, where what I would consider to be their authority to act in a delegated way has been exceeded.

"There needs to be accountability when errors are made for those things and they need to be able to be pulled up."

The Association of Guernsey Civil Servants branch of Prospect said it had "not seen a copy of Deputy Helyar's amendment".

It added: "However... civil servants are required to act in accordance with relevant legislation, the Civil Service Code and established States of Guernsey policies and procedures.

"Their day-to-day decisions are primarily operational in nature, involving practical implementation and administration of States of Guernsey services.

"Where decisions involve the exercise of significant discretion, such powers are authorised by statutory provisions (for example the Social Insurance (Guernsey) Law, 1978) and are not political in nature."

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