Through the separate CPA budget, the States spent nearly £14,500 on the trip, which has taken place every four years since 2004 and is a long-standing part of the support provided to new Guernsey parliamentarians as part of their induction process and professional development.
Deputy Adrian Gabriel, chairman of the Guernsey branch of the CPA, said that it was ‘not quite correct’ to classify this as an overspend. He said it was a reoccurring expense within the parliamentary cycle that was missed off the 2024 budget round.
‘In the wider context of an Assembly term there will in fact be no unexpected increase in expenditure,’ he said.
‘On this occasion due to the timing of the General Election and the vote by the States in October 2020 to extend the term into 2025, the relevant parliamentary cycle extended into a fifth year.
‘Consequently, the Westminster visit took place at a point when the associated expenditure had not been provided for in the budget for that financial period, and this resulted in an unbudgeted expense in the CPA Guernsey accounts for 2025.
‘It was, therefore, a cyclical budgeting issue caused by the exceptional timing of the election, rather than a pattern of regular uncontrolled spending.’
Deputy Gabriel added that the local CPA budget had not been fully spent in 2023 and 2024.
The budget is typically between £60,000 and £70,000 a year and comes from taxpayer funds. About half of it is spent on Guernsey’s membership fee for the CPA.
Deputy Gabriel also defended the value of the trip.
‘It is intended to assist new members in understanding their role as parliamentarians, provide opportunities to meet parliamentary colleagues and officials and develop an understanding of working across the political spectrum,’ he said.
‘The visit is therefore, regarded as part of the induction and professional development of new States members, rather than discretionary travel.’
He added that Guernsey deputies had the opportunity to explain to UK politicians how voting from age 16 in the island was working, ahead of a UK parliamentary bill being raised on the issue.