Minister signed hospital deal despite concerns

Jersey's health minister signed a multimillion-pound contract to build a new hospital at Overdale before work to review the deal concluded, and despite concerns of officials and a fellow minister.

The government announced on 5 June it had agreed a deal with building firm Bouygues UK.

When it was confirmed as preferred bidder in November 2025, Tom Binet said a contract would be signed in "early" 2026. But in April he said "detailed consideration" was still required.

It has emerged that, on 3 June - four days before 2026's election - Binet told his senior civil servants to finalise the deal "in advance of internal sign-offs" as "on a balance of risks" he was worried about project cost increases.

Binet confirmed his decision by writing a letter of instruction to the chief officer of Health and Care Jersey, Tom Walker.

A letter of instruction is a rarely used procedure under Jersey's Public Finances Manual, through which a minister can formally tell an accountable officer (senior civil servant) to take a certain course of action.

Usually, this happens after an accountable officer has written to the minister to express concerns about what is being asked of them, and to request written instructions.

Sometimes a minister will unilaterally write a letter of instruction if they are aware their wishes contradict previous advice from the accountable officer.

In each case, copies must be sent to the Comptroller and Auditor General.

After this process, the Public Accounts Committee is expected to recognise the accountable officer bears no personal responsibility for the action taken.

To that end, in his letter to Walker dated 3 June 2026, Binet said he would "assume and acknowledge responsibility and accountability" for the decision to sign the hospital construction contract "in advance of any further internal confirmations, approvals and reviews".

He noted that this course of action was contrary to the wishes of the Government of Jersey's Principal Accounting Officer and Chief Executive Andrew McLaughlin, Treasurer Richard Bell and then Treasury Minister Elaine Millar.

"In deciding to formally instruct the preparation of a contract for my signature, I acknowledge the wishes of the Treasury Minister, the Principal Accountable Officer and Treasurer to undertake additional internal activity to provide further assurance of the regularity, economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed contract," he wrote.

"However, I am prepared to rely on the significant levels of assurance provided to me already, and consider that on a balance of risks the benefits that may be obtained from further work prior to contracting and consequent delay are considerably outweighed by the potential for costs to increase further if I do not sign the contract imminently."

He continued: "I do, of course, expect and welcome further work and audit post signing, and expect all usual levels of diligence to continue to be applied by you and your staff once the contract is signed."

Just days after the deal was made public, Binet retained his seat in Jersey's States Assembly, finishing sixth in the senatorial polls with 12,584 votes island-wide.

It was later confirmed he would continue as health minister.

On 19 June, a fortnight after the government had announced the contract with Bouygues UK had been signed, Walker sent Binet a letter in response.

"Although your letter was necessary at the time to expedite the contracting process," Walker wrote, "my understanding is that, over the last two weeks, all necessary assurance activity has now been completed to the point where I have been able to fulfil my accountabilities under the Public Finances Law.

"This includes meeting the requirements of the Treasury and Resources Minister and the completion of outstanding Commercial Services approvals.

"It has been agreed that internal audit assurance work will now be undertaken over the coming weeks."

The signing of a contract with a construction company in June 2026 represented a significant development in Jersey's hospital project, which has been ongoing since 2012.

In November 2025, figures released by the treasury minister showed the total cost of developing Jersey's new hospital and related healthcare facilities had at that point reached £204.2m.

The contract with Bouygues UK is within the £710m budget agreed by the States Assembly for an acute hospital at Overdale, including an emergency department, radiology and maternity services.

The expected total cost of building additional planned facilities, including a proposed outpatient unit on Kensington Place and a health village at St Saviour's Hospital, has not yet been made public.

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