Health minister defends work outside his portfolio

Jersey's health minister has defended his role leading a new project to build infrastructure projects in Jersey, despite it being outside his ministerial portfolio.

Deputy Tom Binet said the island regeneration programme, which was previously known as Project Breakwater, would lead to schemes which attracted people to the island.

The minister said a third of funding from the project would go into improving the health service.

However, Binet was not able to say how the island regeneration programme would be funded.

The health minister described the island regeneration programme as an initiative that would see "investment in the town centre, sports facilities, connectivity with Europe, and a good health service".

He denied that being involved in the new infrastructure project would compromise his work in health.

Binet said: "When I came into this job I said I wanted as much responsibility as I could have. I do carry, I hope, a reasonable amount of experience, I don't think health is a suffering as a result of this."

Binet said a third of the money from island regeneration would be spent on health.

"Nearly a third of that money is for health. That includes proper digitisation, we rank very low in terms of our connectivity," he said.

He continued: "The other side is preventative health work, trying to change our health model from a reactive model to a proactive model, where we try and keep people well for longer."

"It is about what fits into the jigsaw puzzle to make Jersey complete."

But the health minister was unable to say how the island regeneration programme would be funded.

He said: "I can't make any firm statements about that that. As soon as its properly formulated then I will talk about it, I don't want to make any off-the-cuff comments at this stage."

Chief Minister Deputy Lyndon Farnham previously told the BBC that more details of the project would be made available in March.

Asked whether he felt the health minister was treading on his toes, Infrastructure Minister Constable Andy Jehan said: "Project Breakwater has changed and evolved and I'm working with fellow ministers to find solutions to invest in our infrastructure."

"And I'm delighted that fellow ministers are interested in us investing in our infrastructure, whether that's sport facilities, public realm and island roads."

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