The Independent Jersey Care Inquiry was initially granted a budget of £6 million to investigate claims of child abuse dating back as far as the end of the Second World War.
£344,135 on office costs including rent, IT costs and stationery.
£6,724,134 on inquiry team fees and expenses.
£1,000,533 on hotel, travel and subsistence
£706,500 on witness and hearing costs.
£809,833 on other costs.
Cumulative totals:
2014 costs: £5,224,880
January 2015: £5,917,845
February 2015: £6,778,461
March 2015: £7,322,480
April 2015: £7,909,027
May 2015: £8,468,734
June 2015: £9,064,626
However, in March, the States agreed to provide an additional £14 million to ensure that the inquiry could continue its work.
By the time of the States debate into additional funding, the inquiry has already surpassed its initial budget.
According to figures released yesterday, up until July, the inquiry had cost more than £9.5 million.
The majority of funds was spent on fees for the inquiry team which accounts for more than £6.5 million of the total spend.
Meanwhile, a total of £1,000,533 has been spent on hotel, travel and subsistence, which include all costs for people working on ‘inquiry matters while in Jersey’.
The inquiry is currently on a break from public hearings to prepare for the next phase of evidence. The most recent phase, which concluded earlier this month, related to former members of staff within the Jersey care system, including several who have been accused of abuse.
In the first phase, the inquiry heard from more than 200 witnesses who spent time in Jersey care homes – many of whom gave accounts of abuse they suffered.
Hearings will begin again in early September, when several States employees, including former politicians, are expected to give evidence before the inquiry begins looking into the 2008 police investigation into abuse – codenamed Operation Rectangle.
Nick Montague, secretary of the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry, said that the ‘forecast costs for the inquiry through to the completion remain with the agreed budget’.
Treasury Minister Alan Maclean welcomed the forecast costs and said that he ‘would expect the inquiry to remain within the revised budget’.
He added: ‘It is a significant cost already and I do no expect the issue of funding to go back to the States.
‘The spending history is thoroughly unsatisfactory. When the States signed up to undertake this inquiry there was a budget set and that was exceeded by some margin.
‘It cannot simply have a blank cheque. It has been granted a very generous budget and I expect there to be a tight control of costs.’
The inquiry is due to restart the week beginning Monday 8 September for four days, before it will take another break to prepare for the investigation into Operation Rectangle, which is expected to begin in early October.
