Scrutiny to put Education on spot over PR campaign
EDUCATION, Sport & Culture is to face a snap public Scrutiny hearing on Friday, as pressure grows on the remaining committee members to explain their actions over a bungled three-school model PR campaign.
The committee’s vice-president, Deputy Carl Meerveld, resigned on Saturday after news broke that up to £10,000 had been allocated to spend on a social media campaign that failed to identify who was behind it.
Education had money left from £93,000 given to it to investigate a two-school model.
Policy & Resources officers have now reviewed minutes and other documents. Its president, Deputy Gavin St Pier, said this established that the decision to appoint a PR company and spend up to £10,000 had been approved by three members of ESC on 21 November.
‘This reversed a previous decision by the committee, on 8 November, when at that time they accepted officer advice that this was not an appropriate campaign to embark on,’ he said.
The committee is yet to explain what prompted its U-turn, but is set to meet the States’ senior committee today.
Scrutiny Management president Deputy Chris Green said there were ‘key issues ... not currently in the public domain that need to be explored further’.
Full story in today's Guernsey Press
