Ministers spending more than £3,000 on flights every month

Friday 05 June 2015

Jersey’s ministers have racked up almost £55,814 in taxpayer-funded flights since January 2014.

The total expenses range from a high of £16,546 for Assistant Chief Minister Philip Ozouf, right down to just £75 for Home Affairs Minister Kristina Moore.

The figures were revealed on Tuesday when Deputy Sam Mezec tabled a written question in the States to Chief Minister Ian Gorst.

He revealed that the top spender - Senator Ozouf - was racking up almost £1,000 in publicly-funded flight expenses every month.

The figures compiled the amount that the States have spent on flights for 26 politicians who have served as ministers or assistant ministers in either the current Council of Ministers, or the previous version that was in place up until the end of last year.

The top five claimers for the period from 1 January 2014 to the end of May this year were:

• Assistant Chief Minister Philip Ozouf - £16,546.
• Chief Minister Ian Gorst - £12,154.
• Treasury Minister Alan Maclean - £8,238.
• External Relations Minister Philip Bailhache - £6,046.
• Assistant Chief Minister Paul Routier - £2,483.

Senator Ozouf was the only Member to have claimed expenses for flights every single month since January 2014, but it was Senator Maclean who had the biggest individual claim in a single month: £5,994 for May 2014.