From scandal to secrecy: where have Jersey's States travel expenses gone?

Jersey's government has come under fire for failing to publish the travel expenses of civil servants and politicians, despite previously promising to do so.

Back in 2016 the former chief executive John Richardson pledged twice-yearly releases of expenses over £500 in the wake of a scandal involving two senior civil servants who'd spent £13,000 on business class flights to South Africa.They were subsequently cleared of wrongdoing following an investigation, but the rules around expenses were toughened up.

A report for the final six months of 2016 was released, as were two covering the first and second half of 2017, but there's been nothing since.

It's led the chair of the Public Accounts Committee to demand answers.

Senator Ferguson added the UK parliament's approach of putting a range of data, including the salaries of senior civil servants, online automatically was a better approach.

The most recently published data, for the six months to the end of 2017 shows, among other expenses:

• The Chief Minister's Department spent £4,285 on a business class flight to the US to attend an International Monetary Fund event.

• There was £4,786 for two business class flights to Bahrain for a ministerial visit to the Middle East.

• The Bailiff's Chambers shelled out £3,604 on a business class flight to Dubai for a conference.

The States of Jersey have been approached for comment.