Professor Ashok Handa's contract and expenses (FOI)

Request

Please advise the following concerning Professor Ashok Handa's contract to act as Clinical Lead for the 'Our Hospital' project.

It is stated that we are paying Professor Handa £1,000 per day. Can you therefore please advise the following:

A

On the days when Professor Handa is not actually in Jersey but attending meetings by Zoom from the UK. Are we paying £1,000 for the Professor to attend a meeting which may only last one or two hours?

B

Is £1,000 the going rate for eight hours work? Therefore would a day which is only taken up with one (say) two hour meeting only charged at £250?

C

If not, is there anyone who is actively monitoring expenditure to the extent that meetings are arranged in the most cost effective way? ie Attempt to ensure that the Professor is able to attend (say) three meetings in one day, by clever scheduling, therefore saving a couple of thousand pounds each time.

D

How can we be assured that the Professor is actually working on behalf of the 'Our Hospital' project unless he is completing some kind of diary with a list of meetings held and / or attended and who those meetings were with?

E

Are minutes of the Professor's meetings kept and signed off by attendees? If not, why not?

F

Please advise how much we have actually paid Professor Handa since he was employed in July 2019 to date?

G

Please advise how much we have spent on behalf of the Professor for the following:

i) Flights

ii) Hotel accommodation

iii) Food and other travel (ie taxis) expenses

iv) All other expenses (please itemise into groups)

H

If Hotel accommodation includes another person (as in possibly Professor Handa's partner) has that part of the accommodation been paid by him himself or has the SOJ also paid for the additional person(s)?

I

If food expenses include restaurant bookings, please advise who else was in attendance and the purpose of the meeting?

J

When is the Professor expected to be able to finish his contract?

Response

A

Regardless of whether the Clinical Director is in the Island or not, remuneration is in respect of the specific days and hours completed working on behalf of the Government of Jersey. Therefore, if he works a full eight-hour day he is paid £1,000.00 and this sum is adjusted pro-rata should he work less than eight hours on a specific day.

B

£1,000.00 per eight-hour day is the remuneration deemed appropriate by the Government of Jersey for the nature of the work undertaken by the Clinical Director. With regard to part day payments, please refer to the answer to question A above.

C

Not applicable. See the answers to questions A and B above.

D

This aspect of this request poses a question and is not a request for information held in recorded form. In any event, this information is not held, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has therefore been applied.

E

The Clinical Director participates in a wide range of project related interactions including formal meetings of Our Hospital governance groups, other meetings and discussions with the Project team and key stakeholders, primarily clinicians. Formal governance group meetings are recorded with formal minutes, reviewed and signed off by meeting attendees. Other meetings and informal discussions are not, as this is not required for good governance. Depending upon the nature of the discussion or informal meeting, outputs are taken by the appropriate team to be progressed.

F

From joining the Our Hospital Project in July 2019 until 31 August 2021, the Clinical Director has been paid £278,375.00.

G

With regard to expenses:

i) Air fares in the sum of £4,116.93 have been paid by the Government of Jersey.

ii) Accommodation costs in the sum of £5,969.81 have been paid by the Government of Jersey.

iii) There is no allowance for subsistence or for travel to and from a port of entry.

iv) There are no other expenses paid to the Clinical Director.

H

Accommodation costs are paid by the Government of Jersey solely in respect of the Clinical Director.

I

As stated in G(iii) above, there is no allowance for subsistence.

J

The Clinical Director’s contract expires in July 2022.

Article applied

Article 3 -Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a) it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b) it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.