Watchdog highlights "blatant disregard" for principles of travel expense rules

Wednesday 16 November 2016

The head of the States spending watchdog today told the States some civil servants have failed to stick to the spirit of travel and expenses rules, costing taxpayers thousands of pounds.

Deputy Andrew Lewis, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, said his findings came in the wake of the trip by two civil servants to a mining conference in South Africa, which cost £13,000 for two fully-flexible business class flights.

Deputy Lewis said: “The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) reviewed the use of public money for travel and accommodation expenditure incurred by senior officers working for the States.

“The spending of public money should require the highest levels of probity and a stringent code of conduct. The Chief Minister’s department conducted their own review in which it concluded there was no widespread mis-use of procedures, but that improvements could be made.

“The PAC agrees there has not been widespread mis-use, but it concludes that the Chief Minister’s department investigation did not go far enough to identify, or highlight, the instances of where there was a blatant disregard for the spirit of the code of conduct by certain officers.

“My committee believes the culture of some departments pushes the boundaries of what the public would consider acceptable conduct.  

“There is a belief in some departments that they do not need to adhere to the guiding principles of the code of conduct.

“A minority of officers made little or no attempt to seek the most cost-effective options. It is difficult, if not impossible, to justify the cost of certain trips, which undermines the very hard work done by other departments to always act in the best interests of the public.

“The PAC was shocked to discover there was no robust procedure in place to redeem airline loyalty bonus points accumulated by officers. It leaves officers vulnerable to accusations of impropriety.”

Deputy Sam Mezec said the "culture" of officers acting wrongly has not been helped by States Ministers.

He said: “One of the things that reinforces that culture within departments is the fact that publicly the Council of Ministers has not gone far enough to criticise them for acting in the way they have done. That has led them to believe they will simply always get away with it.”

Senator Philp Ozouf said: “As a result of things that were done, the unintended consequence is that good people working hard for the States are now frightened of travelling. Can he send a very clear and unequivocal message out that we need our officials to travel prudently. Will he give an assurance that there should be no worry about officers doing their job properly.”

Deputy Lewis said: “The PAC have no problem with the Assistant Minister and officers spreading the word throughout the world about Jersey. That does not mean they cannot follow the rules and follow the rules to the letter. That has not happened in recent times.”

Chief Minister Ian Gorst described the PAC report as “fair and balanced.”