Appointment of Professor Mascie-Taylor (FOI)

Request

When the appointment of Professor Hugo Mascie-Taylor was announced, we were told that there were 50 applicants and that those had been shortlisted to five and then further shortlisted to two. My question relates to that shortlisting process.

A

Who exactly decided who is shortlisted and who is not? Is it a specific panel? If so, which panel? 

B

If it is a group of people put together solely for this purpose, who were these people - (names & positions please)? 

C

Who decided who should be on a shortlisting panel? 

D

What was the brief given to panel members? 

E

Did the panel actually meet with all of the applicants?

F

Did the Health Minister meet with any of the applicants?

G

Did the Director General of HCS meet with any of the applicants?

H

Was the head of HR for HCS involved in this process?

I

Was the head of HR for the Government of Jersey involved in this process?

J

Was the Chief Minister or Deputy Chief Minister involved in this process?

Response

A

A specialist executive search firm was appointed to identify suitable qualified candidates. They considered a total of 53 potential candidates and recommended eight for consideration by the selection panel.

B

The eight applicants recommended by the executive search agency were then considered by a selection panel put together for this purpose. The selection panel included:

• Chris Stephenson – Jersey Appointments Commission (JAC) Chair and Chair of the Panel (non-voting member) 
• Suzanne Wylie – Government of Jersey Chief Executive Officer 
• Gordon Callander – Jersey GP and member of the Primary Care Body 
• Richard Bell – Government of Jersey Assistant Chief Executive and Treasurer of the States.

The selection panel then shortlisted five of the eight applicants to meet with a representative group of Health and Community Services (HCS) staff who asked the candidates questions about their approach to improving culture in HCS, and for formal interview by the selection panel.

C

Chris Stephenson, Chair of the Jersey Appointments Commission, was responsible for deciding if the composition of the Panel accorded with Jersey Appointments Commission standards.

D

To interview potential candidates for the role of fixed-term Chair of a new Health and Community Services Board and, having done so, to recommend to the Minister, those candidates whom the panel determined had the necessary skills and experience to be appointed as Chair of the Board.  

E

The panel met the five applicants they shortlisted from the eight applicants initially recommended by the search agency.

F

Having interviewed the five candidates, the selection panel recommended two potential candidates for appointment. The two candidates met with the Health and Social Services Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister, prior to the Health and Social Services Minister making the appointment decision.

G

No. 

H

No.

I

 No, however a member of the HR team supported the process by: 

• observing the meetings between the five candidates, and
• facilitating the whole recruitment process.

J

Please see response to question 6 above.