‘Internal review did not ask the big questions’

‘For me the opportunity has been missed to have the challenge and scrutiny of having an independent third party conduct the report,’ said Gavin St Pier.

‘This report has been internally made. The conclusions reaffirm decisions rather than question them.’

Deputy St Pier, who was Policy & Resources president, and also Civil Contingencies Authority chairman, during the early pivotal days of the pandemic, said the review should have looked at big issues, including whether lockdown was too late or too early, and whether the island waited too long to come out.

‘With hindsight we could have lifted restrictions in June 2020 slightly earlier, and this had a financial impact,’ he said.

‘These questions are not probed.’

Deputy St Pier said that he was surprised not to have been asked for his thoughts – he took no part in the review and had not been invited to be involved.

He described the early months of the pandemic as ‘the most stressful period of my working life’.

He said that the early days had a leadership issue between the CCA and Health & Social Care. The CCA took direct responsibility later on.

‘That meant that early on many more people had to be involved when delays were critical. What was the initial legal advice and why did it change? The report doesn’t ask about that.’

At the start of the pandemic Guernsey was reliant on the UK for its Covid-testing capacity, and Deputy St Pier said there was a great deal of discussion between the Bailiwick and the UK at a political level.

‘We had to deal with Number 10, and manage that relationship, there was a lot of stress between us and the UK. At a high level these politics had an impact on our decision-making and that should also be in the review.

‘Possibly if the report had been done by a third party, and if politicians had been involved, these questions would have been asked.’