Consent of 'J' category for finance industry post at Economic Development

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A decision made 22 January 2010 regarding: Consent of 'J' category for finance industry post at Economic Development.

Decision Reference: MD-E-2010-0009
Decision Summary Title:	Approval of J Category for Assistant, Finance Industry Development		Date of Decision Summary:	20th January 2010
Decision Summary Author:	Senior HR Business Partner		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	Request for 1 (1) j Category Licence Approval – Assistant, Finance Industry EDD		Date of Written Report:	20th January 2010
Written Report Author:	Senior HR Business Partner		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Application for a J Category Consent for Assistant, Finance Industry post at Economic Development
Decision(s): The Minister approved the application for a permanent J category consent for the above post.
Reason(s) for Decision: Considerable effort has been made to recruit to this post from on Island through the media, recruitment agencies and direct contact with law firms hence the need to advertise off island.
Resource Implications: There are no financial or manpower implications.
Action required: The Senior HR Business Partner to apply to the Population Office for a permanent 1 (1) J Category for the above post.
Signature:		Position: Minister for Economic Development
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Consent of 'J' category for finance industry post at Economic Development

Request for 1 (1) j Category Licence approval

Assistant, Finance Industry Development, Economic Development Department

Purpose of the Report

The Chief Executive Officer, Economic Development Department is asked to support a request for the approval of a permanent "J" category licence for the post Assistant, Finance Industry Development at the Economic Development Department.

Background and Discussion

EDD currently has a vacancy for a new post titled Assistant, Finance Industry Development. This is a permanently funded post. The job description is evaluated as a Civil Service Grade 14 with a market supplement of £15,000.

The finance industry is critical to the island’s economic interests and generates over 50% of the island’s GVA. The role plays a key part in the work of EDD in safeguarding the public finances by devising and implementing the finance industry’s legislative product development strategies.
The post was advertised in the JEP and Working for Jersey website for 3 weeks in July 2009. Two applicants applied advert but neither had suitable experience of financial services law or strong academics.
In July two recruitment consultants were contacted about suitable candidates. Three were identified, two did not have the required level of experience in financial services law and only one of these was locally qualified.
A recruitment consultant ran a similar advert twice in the J.E.P in August for a post requiring at least 5 years experience. Five people applied none were residentially qualified. All were referred to EDD and an offer was made to an individual who is a spouse of a J category employee in the private sector. This person has now rejected the offer.
Law firms were contacted during July and August for potential applicants. All stated they were busy. At least one law firm started to recruit again in September.
An application for J category consent was going to be applied for prior to advert it was thought prudent to test the local market in the first instance. It has proved impossible to recruit a locally qualified applicant. One person was identified in December 2009 but following the offer being made they were made a better offer and retained by their firm. This shows the difficulty of recruiting in the current tight market.
The job specification requires extremely high levels of qualifications, including a degree in law, professional qualifications as a lawyer together with at least 5 years experience in the specialist area of financial services.
Other than the individual who is carrying out the role of Director’ role and who has a J category licence, no-one currently within the organisation possesses the required experience. Due to the specifics of the qualifications and experience needed for this role it is not possible to train existing employees up into the roles.
The post requires a very high skill set involving both in-depth knowledge and experience of financial services law but also an understanding of the offshore market. In view of the need to deliver key operational objectives in this critical area on an ongoing basis and the lack of suitably qualified local applicants for this post, it is considered reasonable to ask for consent for the award of a permanent “J” category licence.

Recommendation

The Chief Executive Officer, EDD supports the proposal to secure the necessary approvals to enable the appointment of a suitably qualified, experienced and skilled person from outside the Island under the auspices of the Housing (General Provisions)(Jersey) Regulations 1979, Regulation 1(1) j for the post of Assistant, Finance Industry Development at the Economic Development Department on the basis of permanent “J” category housing licence.

Madeline Davies

21 January 2010