Ministers back Richardson – and say open recruitment for CEO starts in 2016

Tuesday 01 December 2015

An open recruitment process will start for a new States CEO next year but the man in the top job must be allowed to finish his three-year contract, according to the Council of Ministers.

Ministers are backing John Richardson in the £210,000-per-year job, saying he is a home-grown civil servant with considerable experience.

This week, the States will debate a proposition by Deputy Tracey Vallois – a former assistant minister at the Treasury department – to cancel Mr Richardson’s contract extension, and hold an open recruitment instead.

The Deputy – who resigned her Treasury role in frustration at the lack of leadership at the top of the States – said that the job should be opened up to a full recruitment process for the first time in a decade.

She has been backed by the Institute of Directors and another former assistant minister, James Baker, who wrote to all States Members urging them to back her.

But ministers say that a full search will start next year for a candidate to take over from Mr Richardson when he retires in 2018 – and they say that the cost of cancelling the contract and the damage to the States’ reputation as a good and fair employer are too high a price to pay.

In comments published ahead of this week’s debate, ministers wrote: “It is not appropriate to breach a contractual arrangement, and this applies to the Chief Executive as much as it does to any other employee, and would not help in recruiting the next Chief Executive, given the prominence of this matter.

“More generally, to approve this proposition would be poor recognition of a ‘home- grown’ employee who has progressed through the public sector since being first appointed in 1985.

“We should welcome and support this type of progression.

“Instead, the States’ Employment Board asks the Assembly to support an open and competitive selection process for a new appointment in 2018, and to uphold the agreed contractual relationship with the current Chief Executive, providing continuity as he leads the public sector through the ongoing transformation programme.”