Senator Mike Vibert , the president of Education, Sport and Culture, defended his committee’s decision to commission another report on the cost of the strategy in the States yesterday, saying the Jersey Arts Trust refused to share their cost report or its terms of reference with them.
And he strongly denied that their report – written by a member of the same faculty at the same university as that of the trust – had been commissioned specifically to find a cost-neutral conclusion.
He was quizzed during question time by Deputy Maurice Dubras, who was unhappy with what he called an incomplete answer about the cost of developing the strategy.
Senator Vibert said it had cost just under £20,000 to consultants, but Deputy Dubras said this did not take into account time spent by civil servants.
Senator Vibert added that the Arts Trust had also refused to discuss the report with the Education Committee member sitting on their board, Deputy Julian Bernstein.
He said they intended to verify the Arts Trust’s report to save money on a second one, but that the trust had refused to co-operate.
However, the trust deny that this was the case.
In a document e-mailed to all States Members this morning, they say that at no time did they withhold their report, which they did not have it in their possession until mid-August.
