HSC needs more resources, says States chief executive

He was speaking yesterday following the publication of the report into the failure of civil servants to notify HSC of a huge increase in costs for phase two of the PEH modernisation. Some comments in the report suggested that the States had erred when it did away with the role of chief officer for each committee.

Speaking solely about HSC, Mr de Garis said he could see that the committee needed more resources.

‘There is no doubt, through my eyes as head of the public service, that Health & Social Care lacks the capacity it needs to deal with the capital projects as well as a hugely demanding portfolio of acute health and community care,’ he said.

‘That’s something that I’m actively looking at, at the moment with a view to including recommendations in this year’s Budget submissions.’ His recommendations would be subject to political scrutiny before inclusion in the report.

Referring to the staff involved in the failure to provide information, Policy & Resources president Lyndon Trott said that the three people referred to in the report had been States employees.

The comments of report author Martin Thornton that no currently-employed officer had acted in a way that could be regarded as misconduct or should be subject to sanction indicated to Deputy Trott that Mr de Garis had dealt with things in the appropriate way.

‘It couldn’t be clearer that there is no evidence, nor is it in his view plausible, that there was any deliberate intent to mislead the States and the media as to the cost of the project,’ he said.

‘As the president of the Policy & Resources Committee that sort of confirmation enables me to sleep peacefully at night.’

Mr de Garis said he had spoken to his management team in the wake of the matter.

‘They are under absolutely no misunderstanding or misapprehension whatsoever that if something like this was to occur again there would be extremely swift and decisive action from my perspective,’ he said.

‘The expectations have been made very, very clear that alerting line management to cost pressures – I emphasise these were estimates, not an overspend, which has been repeatedly put forward by some – must be drawn to the earliest political attention possible.’

Mr Thornton has recommended changes to the project process, although Deputy Trott said that the reviewer had found that the process used was fit for purpose and represented good practice, with enough governance protections in place.

But no matter what processes were in place they could not prevent problems arising if someone in that process ‘deliberately, negligently or unknowingly does not properly perform their duties.’

There had been errors but they had not cost the taxpayer any money, he said.

‘It was just a forecast number. There’s no overspend. It was an error of judgment,’ he said.