Who wined and who dined? Gifts to politicians and civil servants revealed

Tuesday 10 November 2020

A gingerbread man for the External Relations Minister, a bottle of Madeira wine for the Chief Minister and a £1 bag of Jersey Royals for Charlie Parker are just some of the gifts given to States Members and civil servants since the last election.

A Freedom of Information Request has revealed who got what, and from where, since the start of 2018, which politicians and public servants are duty-bound to record in an official register.

The construction industry, for instance, picked up a transport, dinner and refreshments tab worth £2,300 for around 15 civil servants at events between 7 and 26 February this year. Guests included the Chief Nurse and the Clinical Director of the new hospital project.

In April, one senior civil servant in Justice and Home Affairs was gifted 36 bottles of wine worth £264 by a corporate body.

Pictured: One civil servant was gifted 36 bottles of wine.

Other gifts in this Council of Minister’s term include a £20 silk scarf, given to a senior civil servant by an individual in February, a £60 wooden boat given by an Indian academic to a Minister last November, and a baseball cap, sweets and pen, worth £10, given to the External Relations Minister by Texan university students in May last year.

Senator Gorst’s crunchy man-shaped biscuit, worth £10, was given to him by a local law firm for International Women’s Day last year, and Senator Le Fondré’s £110 bottle of fortified wine, together with an ornament, was given to him by the President of Madeira. 

Chief civil servant Charlie Parker’s bag of spuds was a gift from D’Auvergne School in May 2018.

Since May 2018, the most valuable single gift or offer of hospitality was £500 paid by a corporate body to pay for a senior civil servant and two colleagues to attend a scientific conference, which included flights and a night in a hotel.

The most common 'freebie' are lunches or corporate functions, such as the IoD annual debate, sports awards evenings and networking dinners.

The full list of gifts can be read HERE.