Over £60k spent on ditched Gov CEO recruitment process

Tuesday 30 July 2024

Over £60,000 was spent on the recruitment process for a permanent Government CEO which was abandoned after just two months, it has emerged.

The process opened in November 2023 to find a permanent Government CEO was paused in January 2024 following the vote of no confidence in former Chief Minister Kristina Moore – and never restarted.

Following queries from Express, the States Employment Board has now confirmed that the total cost of this two-month recruitment process was £62,400.

Pictured: Dr Andrew McLaughlin was appointed Interim Government CEO in September last year. 

After the shock departure of former Government CEO Suzanne Wylie in March last year, Dr Andrew McLaughlin was appointed Interim Government CEO in September 2023 on secondment from NatWest bank.

With Dr McLaughlin's nine-month interim contract due to end in May 2024, the Government began the process to find a permanent successor at the end of November 2023.

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.

WATCH: Former Chief Minister Kristina Moore launched the process to find a permanent Government CEO at the end of November 2023.

But this process was stopped in January following the vote of no confidence in former Chief Minister Kristina Moore.

Following questions from Express, it emerged that the recruitment drive for a permanent Government CEO was never officially restarted. 

And it has now been revealed that the total cost of this two-month recruitment bid was £62,400.

The 2021 process to recruit Suzanne Wylie cost £66,970 – with £60,000 spent on professional recruitment fees, £3,070 on advertising, and £3,900 to her assessor.

Pictured: Over £66,000 was spent on recruiting former Government CEO Suzanne Wylie – with £60,000 spent on professional recruitment fees, £3,070 on advertising, and £3,900 paid to her assessor.

Express previously reported that £95,000 was paid to to recruitment company Odgers Berndston during the recruitment process for former interim Government CEO Paul Martin. The same company was appointed to lead the UK and international search for Dr McLaughlin's successor in November 2023.

But whilst the money spent on Mr Martin and Ms Wylie's recruitment processes successfully yielded new candidates, it was announced last month that Dr McLaughlin was to stay in post.

He was appointed as the substantive Government CEO from 1 July 2024.

Dr McLaughlin's initial contract is fixed-term for six months, with an option to extend if both the Government and the CEO agree.

When concerns were raised about the stability of such a short-term contract, Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham said he hoped Dr McLaughlin would remain in post “as long as possible” and at least until the next election in mid-2026.

Pictured: “I fully expect the CEO to remain in post until after the next election," said Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham.

The States Employment Board also granted permission for Dr McLaughlin to honour a previous commitment to undertake a non-executive role as Chair of the Board of the Bank of Gibraltar – despite a second job being the unraveling of a previous CEO.

In October 2020, it emerged that then-Government CEO Charlie Parker had accepted a £50,000 non-executive role with New River, having received verbal consent from Chief Minister John Le Fondré.

But this consent was overruled by other members of the Council of Ministers, who instructed him to tell Mr Parker that his NED role was "not compatible" with his local duties. Mr Parker declined to voluntarily resign from the second job.

The saga prompted several Ministerial resignations and an unsuccessful vote of no confidence in Deputy Le Fondré – just hours after which Mr Parker agreed to resign.

It later emerged that Mr Parker had received a pay-off of £500,000.