From John Arrowsmith.
READING Helier Clement’s article (JEP, 26 April) about developing home-grown talent in the public sector was music in my ears, if you’ll pardon the rather dodgy metaphor.

I have in the past used the courtesy of your columns to voice similar sentiments. I would refer in part to the, now sadly distant, senior management courses at Templeton College, Oxford.

The courses were intended to develop existing public service managers for more senior roles but only ran for three or four years as they were abandoned on the grounds of cost. Were I to try to compare the relatively modest fees of these courses with the current expense of hiring UK ‘talent’ I would be reduced to language not suitable for a family newspaper and will therefore refrain.

The courses comprised an intensive residential programme for potential
improvers. In case the cynical reader thinks this was a jolly, think again. The day started with discussions of our project over a very early breakfast (I have to admit that the food was yummy) and ended late at night doing research and writing our report – probably hundred-hour weeks. Our year didn’t do badly – out of 12 students we ended up with two chief officers and three deputies as well as several successful senior managers.

We did fail in one respect however. Part of the course was a project to write a paper on a theme then currently of great concern. The subject? Zero job growth in the public sector (I kid you not, and I still have a copy). Although the paper
received critical acclaim from senior politicians, something seems to have gone horribly wrong since then.

What we did achieve, apart from becoming better equipped to do our jobs, was that all the participants gained a greater understanding of wider corporate issues.

This momentum seems to have been lost as, from what I hear, departments have once more become traditionally inward looking in spite of ministerial government.

May this phenomenon be partly as a result of having so many UK imports at the helm? From personal experience, public servants in that larger, and not very well managed, island somewhat to the north of us are astonishingly territorial in their attitudes.

In closing, may I once more compliment Helier Clement on his article and call for the reintroduction of a programme devoted to the cultivation of local talent in the public sector. It will be far cheaper and more effective than current practice.

May I also repeat my request made a few months ago that States departments publish on the gov.je website their organisational plans of staff, with links to the job descriptions so that we may ascertain how many non-jobs, or not-very-necessary-jobs, the ever suffering tax-payer is funding.

Zero job growth, my foot. I’m just off to eat my hat or at least my copy of our group’s report, as it was quite clearly a waste of time and effort.