ONE of the benefits of the Tribal Helm fundamental expenditure survey has been to throw light not only on how the States is manifestly not ‘joined up’ but also on how individual departments can actively damage the efforts of their colleagues – and drive up costs.

The operation of the Housing Department is cited by the report as a classic example.

The ability of departments such as Health and Social Services effectively to recruit staff does not appear to enter into Housing’s thinking when granting or refusing licences.

Equally, says the report, even when suitable off-island people are located, Housing imposes licence or property rating conditions that make it difficult for employees to relocate here.

That isolationist approach would be questionable enough but the consequence is that one department – in this case Housing – can materially damage another’s ability to deliver public services.

It was a nonsense pointed out by Deputy Mike Hadley and one of the reasons why he was pressured to resign from HSSD. In other words, while the deficiencies are obvious and damaging, it’s not something to draw attention to.

What that has meant over the years is that Housing, no doubt with the best of intentions and an eye on its mandate, has cost the States and the taxpayer millions. The reason is that to work around the lack of full-time permanent staff, locums, contract and part-time staff are brought in, all of which adds to the departments’ staffing costs and, as Deputy Hadley also sought to establish, potentially compromise patient safety to a greater or lesser extent.

As if that wasn’t enough, the States own negotiator, the Public Sector Remuneration Committee, is also singled out by Tribal Helm for making this bad mix even worse by its salary policies.

The only consolation in this most withering of reports – it can be downloaded here – is that it is so truly and damagingly critical that it cannot be ignored.

How enthusiastically departments adopt its findings is, however, a different matter.

What is needed now is for every minister so far reviewed to say that they accept the findings and set out what they intend to do to make amends for years of wasting islanders’ money.