Chair appointed to lead £500k independent covid inquiry

Friday 04 March 2022

The former Lead Commissioner for Rotherham Council has been appointed to lead an independent review of Jersey’s response to the pandemic.

Sir Derek Myers will lead the independent panel, which will be tasked with providing recommendations and guidelines based on lessons learned for any future pandemic or emergency.

The £500,000 inquiry, which will cover December 2019 to January 2022, is the result of a proposition brought by St. Brelade Constable Mike Jackson, which States Members voted to support last year.

A report will be delivered by 29 July 2022, with a fuller version to follow in the autumn. 

Sir Derek was the Lead Commissioner for Rotherham Council from 2015 to 2017. He was appointed by the UK Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government following the Jay Inquiry into child exploitation in that borough.   

Before this, Sir Derek was a non-executive director at the UK Department of Health, and from 2011 to 2013 was joint Chief Executive of two London Borough councils, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Kensington and Chelsea.

Pictured: Sir Derek Myers, who is leading the review.

He was also previously a board member of the housing charity Shelter, but resigned after the fatal 2017 fire at Grenfell Tower, which is owned by Kensington and Chelsea Council. 

Sir Derek will be supported by Professor Margaret Rae, who is the President of the Faculty of Public Health, which sets standards for public health specialists in the UK. A third panel member is due to be appointed. 

Chair of the Jersey Appointments Commission, Dame Janet Paraskeva, was consulted on the appointments.

Sir Derek said he wanted to hear about the public’s experiences, as well as those of private organisations. 

“I look forward to progressing this review and supporting Jersey becoming more resilient to the potential impacts of future pandemics or other similarly disruptive events,” he said. 

“Alongside receiving written submissions and interviewing those who took part in managing the Jersey’s response, I will want the panel to focus on hearing directly from islanders.

“Lockdowns, restrictions and mitigations affected us all differently, even in a small place like Jersey.

“I will also take advice on the machinery of government in Jersey from the Law Officers Department.” 

The review's terms of reference...

• Carry out an impartial, independent, and comprehensive evaluation of the Government of Jersey Covid-19 pandemic response to identify lessons learned and areas for improvement to inform future strategies and operational plans. 

• The review will examine the effectiveness of the strategic elements of the handling of the pandemic response, related to: 

1. Governance 

   1. Suitability of governance arrangements
   2. Role of States Assembly/Scrutiny/Interventions by Individual Assembly Members
   3. Role of Parishes 
   4. Legislative implications
   5. Clarity/timeliness of Ministerial decisions
   6. Overall Communications
   7. Public Health duties and interventions
      1. Protection of Islanders – impact of restrictions and guidance put in place which impacted on daily life, such as : lockdowns, physical distancing,  shielding
      2. High-level evaluation of the efficacy of decision making and how it was informed by learning from evidence and actions of other jurisdictions
      3. Outcome for Islanders including international comparators
   8. Logistical and operational decision making
      1. Emergency Planning processes and preparation 
      2. Procurement, including of supplies and infrastructure (Personal Protective Equipment, testing equipment and facilities, Nightingale Hospital, etc)
      3. The delivery of healthcare and social care services during the pandemic response
      4. The delivery of education during the pandemic response
      5. Resilience of the Public Sector and the consequences for usual business
      6. Strategies and systems of testing, outbreak management (including in schools, care homes, etc) and self-isolation
      7. Connectivity and border control
      8. Strategies and systems for vaccination 
   9. The balance of public health and harm with regard to wider societal impacts, including the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on certain sectors of the population and diverse communities. For example, mental health impacts on children, young people and vulnerable adults. 
   10. Assessment of the impact on the Jersey economy:
       1. Livelihoods 
       2. Island prosperity 
       3. Impact and effectiveness of mitigations such as Support to individuals, businesses, and other organisations
       4. Connectivity  

• The aim of the review is to provide evidence-based recommendations for the future: it will not seek to re-run or critique clinical decisions or individual strategic decisions, rather it will seek to identify lessons learned and areas for improvement to inform future strategies and operational plans.  

• The review will make recommendations to improve capacity and effectiveness for pandemic preparedness in the context of an Island environment.

• The review will take account of information and circumstances prevailing at the time of such decisions

• Notwithstanding the current lifting of covid-19 restrictions, it is accepted that widespread transmission of a novel virus and successive variants is not over and further reviews may be necessary.