The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will closely scrutinise the former Chief Executive Officer’s termination contract, including the decision to settle on £500,000 severance pay, following today’s publication of the States Annual Report and Accounts 2020 and the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (C&AG) report on the States Employment Board.
The Government’s ability to sign off the 2020 Annual Report and Accounts has been complicated by several factors, including:
- The significant impact of the pandemic on service delivery, spending forecast and income;
- The interim Chief Executive signing off the Performance Report despite only being in post since the beginning of March 2021;
- Complexities in accounting for and disclosing any payment regarding the former Chief Executive’s termination agreement; and
- The Independent Auditor’s Qualified Opinion on the regularity of that payment
The States Employment Board negotiated a ‘termination of contract’ agreement with the former Chief Executive to 31 December 2020 and issued a new contract extension for 8 January to 31 March 2021.
Chair of the PAC, Deputy Inna Gardiner, commented:
“The public should be aware of how its money is spent by those entrusted to spend it, expect the Government to demonstrate value for money and deserve accurate, timely, high-quality annual reports and accounts.
The PAC will hold public hearings on all matters relating to the presentation of the Accounts and the States Employment Board’s role in agreeing the former Chief Executive’s termination of contract. We expect the Government to prioritise the necessary changes to SEB and implement all of the C&AG’s recommendations as a matter of urgency.
We currently welcome the public to submit their questions in advance of our public hearing with the interim Chief Executive and Treasurer of the States on 7 June 2021”
The public can share their views with the PAC by:
- Completing the ‘Get Involved’ form on the States Assembly website
- Emailing [email protected]
- Messaging the States Assembly social media pages
Scrutiny Press Release.