Interim Chief Officer of HCS (FOI)

​​​Request

Please provide details of the following:

A

Written confirmation from the Government of Jersey to the Jersey Appointments Commission (JAC) of the intention to run a recruitment exercise or appoint Mr. Tom Walker on an interim basis into the role of Interim Chief Officer for HCS. This is as per the JAC Recruiting Guidelines Section 7 (Notification to the Commission which requires 14 days’ notice via the secretary of the JAC).

B

List of members, where disclosable on the appointment panel, as per the requirements of Section 8 of the JAC Recruiting Guidelines for Chief Officers, particularly the following: 1) Member of Commission; 2) Relevant Minister; 3) Chief Exec; 4) Director of HR; 5) Leading expert

C

If the JAC were not involved in the appointment, please can you outline the recruitment and selection process, including the steps taken to ensure principles of equal opportunity and diversity was inherent within the process.

D

Any email correspondence from the Chief People Officer and Chief Executive in relation to the recruitment and selection process for this post.

E

Was the post offered to the wider Executive Leadership Team or Senior Government Officers on an interim basis? If yes, please provide the expression of interest / correspondence. If not, why not?

F

Who made the final decision for the appointment?

Response

A

The Jersey Appointments Commission was advised on 7 September 2024 that Chris Bown, the interim Chief Officer of Health and Community Servies (‘HCS’) would be taking some time away due to a hospital procedure and would not be returning until December 2024 / January 2025. Permission to make a temporary appointment was sought: “To steady HCS and make the necessary changes in structure, we would like to confirm Tom Walker as the interim Chief Officer of HCS. Tom’s appointment would mark the end of the period when HCS relied on a specialist turnaround team to deal with its legacy issues in governance and standards.”

B

As above, permission was provided by the Jersey Appointments Commission to appoint Mr Walker into the interim Chief Officer post. There was no need to convene an appointment panel. 

C

In addition to the Jersey Appointments Commission, other consultations also took place prior to confirming Mr Walker as the interim Chief Officer of HCS, including the Health Advisory Board, the Minister for Health and Social Services and the States Employment Board. Mr Walker was confirmed in post after consultation had taken place with the key stakeholders named above.

D

Information is exempt from publication under Articles 25 and 39 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011. 

E

There was no need to advertise the post to the wider Executive Leadership Team, as explained above.

F

The Chief Executive Officer on behalf of the States Employment Board confirmed Mr Walker’s appointment as interim Chief Officer of HCS.

Articles applied 

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

3)      In determining for the purposes of this Article whether the lawfulness principle in Article 8(1)(a) of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 would be contravened by the disclosure of information, paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 2 to that Law (legitimate interests) is to be read as if sub-paragraph (b) (which disapplies the provision where the controller is a public authority) were omitted.

Article 39 - Employment

Information is qualified exempt information if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice pay or conditions negotiations that are being held between a public authority and –

(a) an employee or prospective employee of the authority; or

(b) representatives of the employees of the authority.

Public Interest Test

The Scheduled Public Authority (SPA) is withholding this information as it believes that to release it at this time could prejudice ongoing negotiations between the employer and its recognised trade unions.

Article 39 is a qualified exemption, which means that a public interest test is required to be undertaken by the SPA. It is therefore necessary for the scheduled public authority to examine the circumstances of the case. Following assessment, the SPA has to decide whether, on balance, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. Although there is a need for transparency, accountability, and good decision making by public authorities this information relates to negotiations between the Government of Jersey and its employees. On balance, it is the view of the SPA that the public interest does not outweigh the potential prejudice of release.​