Sark civil servant post to be discussed again

Sark's government is to reconsider whether to hire a full-time civil servant at a special sitting.

At its Easter meeting, Chief Pleas rejected a call to create the island's first full-time administrator role by a vote of 14-13.

Conseiller Andrew Cook, from the General Purposes and Advisory Committee, said the committee was asked to explain why the post was needed.

He said administration was currently piecemeal and needed to be united.

Currently the work is done by the conseillers, who are all unpaid, and some part-time secretaries.

Revisit the decision

The move to create a civil service was recommended by Belinda Crowe, a former UK senior civil servant, in the independent review of Sark's government.

It was also supported by Colin Kniveton, an Isle of Man senior civil servant, who worked in the island for four months to progress the review's recommendation.

Mr Cook said he hoped the debate would "help the island to have a better understanding" of why the role was needed.

He said it being debated again showed how important reforming administration was to the island.

Lord McNally, the UK minister responsible for Britain's Crown Dependencies, said he hoped the decision would be revisited when he was in the island last month.

At the meeting on Thursday elections are also due to be held for the two vacant seats on the General Purposes and Advisory Committee.