Government's Interim CEO to have contract extended after 'break'

Tuesday 21 May 2024

The Government's Interim CEO may be staying in the top job for longer than planned with negotiations for a fixed-term contract "almost complete" – despite the post-holder currently being on an eight-week leave of absence.

In the States Assembly this morning, Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham confirmed that the Deputy CEO is currently acting up in Interim CEO Andrew McLaughlin’s absence.

Dr McLaughlin was due to leave his Government post this month but Deputy Farnham recently confirmed that discussions were taking place to "establish if there are opportunities for the arrangements to continue either short or longer term".

"This will provide a period of stability and continuity, supporting a focus on performance and delivery for islanders," he said last month.

In response to a question from Deputy Helen Miles this morning, the Chief Minister said: "The interim CEO is currently not in post; he is on an eight-week leave of absence.

"Negotiations are almost complete for an extension of his role leading to a new fixed-term contract.

"In his absence, the Deputy CEO is currently acting as CEO."

Pictured: Dr Andrew McLaughlin is Interim CEO on secondment from NatWest bank, where he co-leads its ‘Commercial and Institutional’ division.

It comes after the process opened in November 2023 to find a permanent successor for Dr McLaughlin was stopped in January following the vote of no confidence in former Chief Minister Kristina Moore.

The closing date for applications was due to be in mid-January, with shortlisting and panel interviews taking place the following month. It was then anticipated that the successful recruit would start in June.

Express has asked the Government to confirm where the recruitment process for a permanent Government CEO is up to now.

Last month, a report on performance management within Government also revealed that there is still no formal appraisal process for the leading role.

When Dr McLaughlin was recruited, the only targets set by the then-Chief Minister Kristina Moore – including being “energetic” and sharing five ideas to “simplify” Government and save money – were criticised for being vague and overly "broad".

Pictured: Concerns were raised that the vague CEO objectives could lay the foundations for “another Charlie Parker situation”.

As part of his objectives, Dr McLaughlin was to provide two key papers "which provide a strategic view and set the strategic vision for the Government of Jersey and inform the 2024 planning cycle" by December 2023.

After initially saying these papers wouldn’t be made public, former Chief Minister Kristina Moore then said that she was "committed to publishing [the CEO papers] when they are ready" in an apparent U-turn.

But despite repeated queries from Express dating back over three months, the Government is yet to confirm if Deputy Farnham will be honouring the commitment made by his predecessor to make Dr McLaughlin's papers public.