Jersey’s public spending watchdog has said the collapse of Blue Islands has “underscored” its concerns over the need to strengthen resilience planning and ensure critical transport routes “are understood and protected”.
The Public Accounts Committee has urged the government to “accelerate work that is essential to the island’s infrastructure resilience” in the wake of ministers’ executive response to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
PAC’s comments come less than a week after Blue Islands decided to cease trading and enter liquidation.
The committee’s chair, Deputy Inna Gardiner, has also asked States of Jersey treasurer Richard Bell to provide the total amount of loans, grants or other funding for specific projects provided to Blue Islands over the past five years.
Published in August, C&AG Lynn Pamment put forward a number of findings and recommendations regarding the Island’s critical infrastructure resilience – focussing on transport links.
Deputy Gardiner said the committee welcomed the government’s agreement with many of the recommendations, including that a definition of ‘island critical infrastructure’ should be agreed.
Ms Pamment had stated that this should include “critical transport infrastructure for sea, air and on-island transport and the routes which fall within this definition”.
Other accepted recommendations included calls to agree a timeline and publication process for developing a public facing ‘Jersey Emergency Risk Register’, to ensure that “all Islanders are informed about emergency risk preparedness and management and also understand how they can act to improve individual and community resilience”.
Ms Pamment also recommended that a clear decision be made on progressing work to draft a ‘Resilience Law’, including a timetable and action plan.
The recent collapse of Blue Islands has underscored the importance of strengthening Jersey’s resilience planning, ensuring clear monitoring of financial support, and ensuring critical transport routes are understood and protected
Deputy Inna gardiner
This was “agreed but deferred”, with government stating that: “This legal framework is necessary to formalise resilience standards and clarify roles and responsibilities.
“Whilst it is anticipated that the drafting of a Resilience Law will be prioritised in 2026, reflecting its strategic importance to Jersey’s future preparedness, the prioritisation of the legislative programme is a matter for the Council of Ministers.”
PAC has highlighted concerns about “the proposed timeframe, allocated risk profile and missing actions of some of the response”, as well as the government’s rejection of the recommendation to develop a formal process for a post-implementation review.
Deputy Gardiner said that: “We remain concerned that key risks have been underestimated, and some actions lack the urgency required.”
The Committee’s statement explained that this included questions around why “essential” work – such as defining critical infrastructure – will not be completed until mid-2026.
It argued that “many components should already be identifiable, including critical transport routes”.
Deputy Gardiner added: “The recent collapse of Blue Islands has underscored the importance of strengthening Jersey’s resilience planning, ensuring clear monitoring of financial support, and ensuring critical transport routes are understood and protected.”