Chief minister defends 'without portfolio' role

Alfred Cannan announced a major reshuffle of his cabinet in November

A newly created minister "without portfolio" post has been created to help oversee government efficiency savings, the Chief Minister has said.

Tim Crookall MHK took on the new role as part of a major reshuffle of the Isle of Man government's cabinet last month.

Alfred Cannan said Crookall would assist with a push to make £10m of savings and tackle a £16.8m predicted overspend by Manx Care.

But questions were raised about the remit of the position and why the responsibilities could not have been delegated without the creation of the new post.

The cabinet shake-up saw Claire Christian MHK take up the position of health minister after the resignation of Lawrie Hooper from the post in a dispute over cuts to address Manx Care's expected deficit.

Michelle Haywood MHK became the new infrastructure minister, with her predecessor Tim Crookall moving to the new ministerial role.

'Sustainability'

During the December sitting of Tynwald, Hooper called for more information on the position and questioned how Cannan had "managed without this support in place" previously.

Defending the decision, the chief minister said dealing with the £16m health deficit had "required me to devote considerable personal attention to the matter".

He said the additional support was "absolutely necessary to tackle this overspend".

"If we can get this down by millions of pounds then we will have made a significant contribution to helping the sustainability of our reserves," he said.

Cannan said it was "a very serious matter which is why we are devoting so many resources to it", but said the role came with no additional budget of or staff of its own.

He confirmed Crookall would also be supporting external relations and helping to deliver and develop the government's roadmap, the Island Plan.