States to decide whether to give an extra £14m to the Independent Care Inquiry

If the proposition from Chief Minister Ian Gorst is approved, it will mean that the inquiry’s budget will be brought up to £20 million, using States reserves if necessary.

However, with concerns raised that the final bill for the inquiry – which has been tasked with investigating allegations of abuse in Jersey’s care system – could be as high as £50 million, the debate is expected to be a controversial one.

In the other major debate scheduled for this week, Deputy Geoff Southern is due to ask Members to force Jersey Gas to reduce its prices. The Deputy had proposed that the States take action to force the private company to lower its domestic prices by five per cent following years of above-inflation increases.

But last week Jersey Gas announced that an unprecedented fall in wholesale energy costs last year had enabled it to renegotiate its prices that were already in place for 2015, with a 3.5 per cent decrease for customers due to come into force today.

Deputy Southern, who said he is still considering whether to withdraw the proposition in the light of the announcement, said: ‘The important thing is to protect gas prices right through next year. I am tempted to push for five per cent. Jersey Gas can probably afford it, given where gas prices are.’

He added: ‘It may be that something else is required so that they don’t raise prices next year before coming to the States.’

There are 16 written and ten oral questions due to be tabled during the sitting. They include questions about the future use of Piquet House in the Royal Square, which was saved from being sold off by the States following a proposition from former Deputy John Young, and about continuing problems with JT’s Gigabit project and the people employed to install the technology.

Deputy Judy Martin is also due to ask two questions about the new police headquarters currently being built at Green Street. As well as a question about securing 40 parking spaces for the police near to the site, she plans to ask Treasury Minister Alan Maclean if the project is on schedule and on budget and if special blast-proof concrete needs to be used. If so, the Deputy wants to know whether that will increase the cost of the work, and by how much.

Two Scrutiny hearings are also due to take place this week. The Economic Affairs Scrutiny Panel was today due to hear evidence from union leaders as part of its review of plans to incorporate the Ports of Jersey.

And on Thursday External Relations Minister Sir Philip Bailhache is due to give his quarterly update to the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel at 1 pm in the Le Capelain Room of the States Building.

• 2007 – Towards the end of the year the then deputy police chief, Lenny Harper, announced that the States police were investigating alleged historical child abuse at former States children’s homes. An appeal for information was also launched and the investigation was overseen by police chief Graham Power.
• 2008 – Arrests relating to the abuse investigation began to be made at the end of January. Later, Mr Harper, the senior investigating officer, revealed that his team was excavating the former children’s home at Haut de la Garenne and that they had found what appeared to be a fragment of bone. The announcement led to a swathe of lurid headlines in national newspapers, which carried stories of child torture and possible murder. In August Mr Harper retired and was replaced by David Warcup and towards the end of the year Mr Warcup and the investigation’s new senior officer, Detective Superintendent Mick Gradwell, said that after a review of the evidence gathered, no child murders took place at Haut de la Garenne. They also concluded that no bodies had been hidden or burned. At the same time police chief Graham Power was suspended for his alleged poor handling of the abuse inquiry, but a report later found that he had been removed without proper evidence of incompetence.
• 2009 – In May, the fragment of material said to potentially have been part of a child’s skull was sent to botanists at Kew Gardens at the request of Det Supt Gradwell. The report that followed confirmed that it was, in fact, a piece of coconut. Also, Islanders arrested and convicted of abuse offences as part of the investigation began to be sentenced in 2009 as well.

• 2010 – The Wiltshire Constabulary’s report – an independent review of the handling of the Haut de la Garenne investigation into child abuse – was published in 2010. It levelled strong criticism at former police chief Graham Power and his deputy, Lenny Harper, for their handling of the investigation. The Roya l Court secured convictions against the last people involved in the abuse investigation. Following this, the victims of child abuse received a formal apology from the then Chief Minister, Terry Le Sueur, who said that they had been let down by the system. In June, 40 people who claimed they had suffered abuse while in States care made compensation claims. The year 2010 also saw a report into the financial management of the abuse investigation published in July. It found that public funds had been misspent on expensive meals, accommodation and first-class travel. It also emerged that the total police costs for the three-year investigation had reached £7.5m.
• 2011 – Following a proposition brought by Senator Francis Le Gresley, the States agreed to hold an inquiry into allegations of historical child abuse after the Haut de la Garenne investigation.

• 2012 – After a former Islander’s book was published, making claims of abuse at the former Grouville Girls’ Home, the police confirmed that six women had made complaints about the home to the force during the course of the historical child abuse investigation. However, the police said that there was too little evidence in relation to the claims to mount a prosecution. 2012 also saw Jimmy Savile linked to Haut de la Garenne after pictures of the disgraced BBC star surfaced and were published in newspapers and online.
• 2013 – It was hoped that the public inquiry into historical child abuse would get going in 2013, but half-way through the year Sally Bradley QC, the States-appointed chairman of the Committee of Inquiry, suffered a stroke. The inquiry was delayed while a new chairman was found. A few months later Frances Oldham QC, a senior lawyer with extensive experience in dealing with cases involving sexual abuse, was appointed to lead the inquiry, joined by abuse inquiry panel members Alyson Leslie, who has led serious case reviews into child abuse, and Sandy Cameron CBE, a former director of social work in Scotland. In one of the last States sittings of the year, it was revealed that 64 per cent of claims for compensation for historical abuse had been settled. Chief Minister Ian Gorst said that 131 claims had been received, 84 offers of compensation had been accepted, with 47 cases still under consideration.

• 2014 – In April, Ms Oldham opened the inquiry and set out the terms of reference for proceedings. Hearings began in September and so far the independent Jersey Care Inquiry has heard evidence from 150 former residents of States-run children’s homes including Haute de la Garenne, Sacre Coeur, La Preferance, and more recently, Les Chenes, plus family group homes and foster care. The inquiry has dealt with the evidence from the 1940s and is currently working on the period from the 1990s onwards.
• 2015 – The Chief Minister, Ian Gorst, last week lodged a proposition with the States asking for an extra £14m to bring the inquiry’s budget – which was originally £6m – up to £20m. The inquiry expects to have heard evidence from all witnesses who have so far come forward by early March. The inquiry will then move on to hear evidence from alleged abusers, those working in children’s homes, whistle-blowers, foster parents and Children’s Services. It will then hear evidence about the 2008 police investigation into child abuse at Haute de la Garenne, known as Operation Rectangle, and decisions made by the Law Department in respect of prosecutions following the investigation.

PUBLIC inquiries have a habit of costing millions more than estimated and, when all is said and done, leave few people happy with the result.

The Royal Commission in Australia into institutional child sex abuse is expected to cost at least £260 million and the Saville Inquiry into the deaths of 13 people on Bloody Sunday cost £195 million.

Some might think that those figures have little relevance in a Jersey context. Let’s hope they are right.

Today, Senator Sir Philip Bailhache is reported as saying that the cost of the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry could be at least £50 million, many times more than the estimate of £6 million put before the States when Members voted in favour of a public inquiry.

The States must now decide whether to cap the cost of this inquiry. They are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

Handing over a blank cheque could wipe out savings in the Strategic Reserve which have been built up over decades. The alternative – to borrow the money – is equally unappealing for a community with an innate dislike of public debt.

Senator Bailhache wants to hear Islanders’ views on what the States should do – and whether the cost should be capped.

This is an issue which could affect all of our futures and the voice of the community should be heard.

Former Senator Francis Le Gresley was right to call for an inquiry to give victims an opportunity to tell their stories and to give the community its best opportunity to draw a line under a dark chapter in our Island’s history.

To cut the panel’s work short could be an injustice both to victims and the accused who have yet to respond to allegations.

It would also be a gift to the national media and could cause huge reputational damage to this Island.

But with a new hospital, education and an ageing population to pay for, not to mention a huge black hole in the Island’s finances, we cannot afford a blank cheque.

A workable compromise must be found to enable the costs to be capped. There is a real danger that the inquiry’s biggest legacy will simply be to line the pockets of lawyers – and that is in no one’s interest.