MORE than £5,200 spent on ‘gold envelopes’, cards and badges for nominees at the Public Service Awards was a ‘small amount’ compared to the ‘significant achievements’ of workers, the vice-chair of the States Employment Board has said.
Constable Andy Jehan explained that the costs were budgeted for and that all other expenditure for the Our Stars event had been paid for by sponsors.
His comments came after a Freedom of Information request revealed that £5,281 of taxpayers’ money was spent on items for the awards, which were held earlier this month at the Royal Jersey Showground in Trinity.
The event aimed to celebrate excellence in public service by handing out accolades across ten categories.
According to the FOI response, the costs included:
– £2,706 spent on ‘5,150 pin badges’.
– £1,371.19 on ‘4,500 gold envelopes’.
– £884 on ‘2,700 Our Stars cards’.
– £320 on ‘reprinting’ for one department.
Mr Jehan said: ‘The States Employment Board is really proud to celebrate the achievement of our talented workforce and those who go the extra mile day in, day out.
‘The Jersey Public Services Awards had 1,401 nominations, the most of any year since the awards were introduced in 2018 – demonstrating both the breadth of great work as well as the value of the awards.
‘To congratulate the nominees, they received a handwritten card from senior directors and a gold pin badge.’
He added: ‘The total cost of this was around £5,200, with some of the materials left over able to be used in future years. We budget for this, and it is a small amount compared to the significant achievements of our workforce.
‘We thank our kind sponsor partners, who contributed to all the other costs of the event.’
The amount spent on the awards by the government was criticised by St Helier North Deputy Max Andrews, who is also a member of the Public Accounts Committee.
He questioned whether sending an email to nominees would have been a more appropriate – and cheaper – option.
While the government paid for the cards, pin badges and envelopes, the event costs were covered by many Jersey-based businesses, with sponsors including Deloitte, Dandara and EY.
