Revealed: Ministers and civil servants get over £50,000 in freebies in five years

Wednesday 17 June 2015

Ministers and civil servants have been given more than £50,000 worth of freebies between 2010 and 2014, new figures have revealed.

The list of gifts to States departments – released under the Freedom of Information Law – runs to 24 pages, detailing well over 1,000 entries of freebies and gifts, mainly from companies who do business with the States.

The gifts range from big donations by medical companies of up to £3,000 to cover conferences for Health and Social Services staff, right through to sacks of spuds, a box of eggs or a packet of jammy dodgers.

The vast majority of the entries are for gifts of bottles of wine or lunches paid for by banks, law firms or property firms.

But around a quarter of the freebies and gifts – including all of those received by the Property Holdings department and the States Greffe – did not record the value of the gifts received.

And of all the States departments, the Health and Economic Development departments have been by far the biggest beneficiaries of corporate hospitality.

The top four recipients were:

1. Health and Social Services - £14,119.

2. Economic Development - £10,408.

3. Tax/Treasury - £6,624.

4. Ports of Jersey - £6,450.

The States Employees’ Code of Conduct says that “as a general rule of principle it is unacceptable for an employee to accept a valuable gift or money for personal reward”. It also states that holidays, hotel accommodation, free travel or meals (other than working meals) should not be accepted and notes that “the key message is that extravagance is unacceptable."