As part of plans unveiled in the draft Budget for 2014, the Treasury is proposing using £297m from the Strategic Reserve to remodel the existing hospital and add buildings at Overdale in a bid to rejuvenate the Island’s facilities and improve the way people are cared for.
The last time money was taken from the fund – which in July this year stood at around £720 million – was in 1998, when £10m was withdrawn to pay for information technology initiatives.
Islanders have repeatedly been told that the fund is a permanent reserve which is only to be used in exceptional circumstances, such as the collapse of an important Island industry or a major natural disaster.
Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf told the Corporate Affairs Scrutiny panel tht such rules would continue, despite the proposed withdrawal for the Hospital.
