ON PAGE 32 today (see Business section ‘Three reasons why States is slow to change’), we record a senior civil servant’s views as to why the island’s public sector is so slow to react to the need to modernise itself.

The reasons are simple: inertia, blurred boundaries between officials and politicians, and departments working for themselves rather than the greater good.

Few will disagree with his assessment – or his conclusion that these obstacles need to be removed so a public service emerges fit to deal with the issues of the 21st century.

What is significant, however, is who was making the incisive comments: Simon Elliott, head of the Policy Council’s HR unit. The important thing in the context of his views is that not only is he head of HR but also of organisational development.

What this means is there is an awareness at the centre of government that the public sector has to modernise and it has gone off island and recruited a hands-on professional from the oil industry – not one of the cuddliest of sectors – to come in and do a particular job.

Turning a job-for-life, gold-plated-pension culture into an outcome-orientated operation that embraces change and strives for continual improvement and taxpayer value is a tall order at any time. Achieving this when there are, as Mr Elliott himself observes, political difficulties suggests an almost impossible task.

That said, key elements of the civil service understand the need for change and support it. Prospect the union also supports modernisation.

Where, however, is the political support for what is a difficult job. Is helping to make it happen a key task for the chief minister? For the deputy chief minister?

If the Policy Council is backing it, ministers should say so, for as things stand, the silo mentality of the departments they head is one of the biggest obstacles to change.

So is the very unclear lines between what ministers do and what their paid staff should do, between setting policy and interfering.

Organisational development isn’t just about modernisation – it’s also about making government fit for purpose.