At first glance, it was a simple enough question: who carries out the appraisal of the chief executive of the States of Guernsey?

The reply that Deputy Mike Hadley received, however, was the most succinct explanation of why Guernsey struggles to tick the six boxes of good governance or even why government fails to appear joined up.

And in giving that response, the chief minister also explained why none of these objectives can be achieved at the present time.

Those weren’t the words he used, of course. Instead, he explained that unlike a private business where a chief executive had a senior team reporting directly to him, here those supposedly direct reports are accountable to their departmental political boards for service delivery.

In other words, and as highlighted by the Wales Audit Office report, the island is run by 10 largely autonomous departmental executives, each with its own agenda. That, the chief minister, said was why chief officers have reviews instead of appraisals.

Again, that’s rather telling. Since appraisals are all about assessing performance against agreed targets and objectives, it is not at all clear who sets chief officers’ targets and what criteria are used in agreeing them.

The chief minister gives the impression that it is not the States chief executive, which suggests that if they are given any at all, it will be at departmental level.

Since few, if any, ministers will be actively tasking their chief officer, that means they and their staff are by definition focused on departmental priorities.

Corporate issues – as identified by the States Strategic Plan and the Budget – at best trail in second place.

That, too, was confirmed in the answers provided by the chief minister as he said that objectives were set by political boards when they approved annual departmental business plans.

As those are drafted by the chief officer for his department’s approval, the level of support for island objectives is entirely voluntary – which is why Environment was able to torpedo the States paid parking strategy.

It might suit the departments themselves, but it is not an efficient way to run government.