Bid for "transparency" over new hospital facilities' budgets falls short

Friday 29 November 2024

A bid to reveal the funding breakdown for projects within the New Healthcare Facilities Programme was defeated yesterday as States Members continued to debate the Government’s proposed spending plans.

The Hospital Review Panel, chaired by Deputy Jonathan Renouf, had brought an amendment asking Ministers to provide a breakdown of expenditure within the New Healthcare Facilities Programme, which involves building over several sites.

The Government has so far described the programme’s £710m price tag as encompassing the cost of delivering an acute facility at Overdale and making “meaningful progress” on development of the future phases, including an outpatient unit at Kensington Place and a 'Health Village' in St Saviour.

A question of "transparency"

But Deputy Renouf and his panel had raised concerns over the lack of information about these aspects of the New Healthcare Facilities Programme despite being "significant capital projects in their own right".

Their amendment pushed for the public disclosure of the separate budgets for each project.

Pictured: Hospital facilities programme scrutineer Deputy Jonathan Renouf had pushed for a breakdown of budgets for the projects involved.

Deputy Renouf argued that the amendment was essentially about “transparency”.

“Without that transparency, neither we in this Assembly, nor the public, can know whether or not what is being proposed represents good value for money, whether it is part of a coherent strategy and whether the various projects are being properly funded,” he said.

A "major risk" to taxpayers

But Health Minister Tom Binet countered that the New Healthcare Facilities Programme team needed to maintain a “strong negotiating position”.

He warned that putting the requested figures in the public domain – and therefore in the sight of potential contractors – would pose "a major risk to getting the best value for taxpayers money".

Pictured: Health Minister Tom Binet said that revealing the individual budgets for each project could compromise the team's "negotiating position".

Deputy Binet said: "From my experience, the public now want two things: one, for us to hurry up and build a new hospital, the other, for us to make the best possible use of their money."

He concluded: "I would simply ask Members to continue to support the course of action that we've adopted since the last election and reject this amendment, which if adopted would undoubtedly make it more difficult for us to minimise our expenditure on this vitally important project."

The amendment was defeated with 17 votes for, 28 votes against, and one abstention.