PEH cost cover-up is a sign of ‘broken culture’

Gavin St Pier, whose Rule 14 questions revealed the cover-up, told members of the Policy & Resources Committee they should be ‘angry and disappointed’ with senior officials who concealed a £30m. increase in the estimated costs of the project for more than two months between November last year and February this year.

It was already known that some members of staff at Health & Social Care were aware of the 25% increase in estimated costs as far back as February last year and kept it secret from committee members until December.

‘It is extremely disappointing. P&R’s replies to my Rule 14 questions are effectively confirmation of the second cover-up we all feared.

‘Officials have a duty of candour to their committees. I suspect

the fact they did not exercise it in this case evidences a broken culture, fearful of the consequences of full transparency with politicians.

‘It has been rumoured for some time that morale in the civil service was low. These behaviours are clear evidence of that state.’

The period of the second cover-up overlapped the States Assembly’s removal of the previous P&R, led by Deputy Peter Ferbrache, and the election of a replacement senior committee led by Deputy Lyndon Trott.

Members of the current P&R declined a request to be interviewed yesterday about their reaction to being kept in the dark by their own senior staff during a period when they had to lead the States through key debates on public finances and major capital projects.

‘Officials were happy to send their committee members into a critical Government Work Plan debate in January with £30m. of good news on Pillar II corporate taxation, but not give them the slightest heads-up that there might be bad news heading down the tracks. I have never experienced these behaviours before,’ said Deputy St Pier.

Some deputies are considering submitting urgent questions to P&R at the next States meeting which starts on Wednesday.

HSC has said that its officials who knew of the soaring cost estimates in February 2023 are no longer employed by the States.

The head of the public service, Mark de Garis, has said their conduct fell short of the standards expected.

But Deputy St Pier was concerned that P&R’s replies to his Rule 14 questions did not explicitly extend that criticism to the P&R officials involved and claimed that was ‘a double standard’.

He also asked P&R to provide further information about the circumstances surrounding the departure of the staff involved in the first stage of the cover-up, but the committee refused on privacy grounds.

‘The obsessive lack of transparency around the terms of employees’ termination is, under the circumstances, absurd,’ said Deputy St Pier.

‘We all know their termination would have been executed with termination payments and using non-disclosure agreements, because that is the way these things are done.

‘I was simply looking for confirmation of that fact. The very fact I had to ask these questions is testament there has been no learning on the need for transparency and accountability to win back public trust.’

He claimed more information should have been made available in March when States members first became aware of the estimated £30m. increase and the length of time over which it had been concealed by staff.