Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the BBC Four documentary Dark Secrets of a Trillion Dollar Island: Garenne, broadcast on 15 March, what assessment they have made of the government of Jersey’s handling of child abuse; and whether they will appoint an independent inquiry to investigate the handling of such abuse.

In December 2013 Jersey’s government appointed an independent inquiry to investigate allegations of the abuse of children in the island’s care system from 1945 to date. The Independent Jersey Care Inquiry (IJCI) opened on 3 April 2014. Led by an independent panel of experts, the IJCI conducted a wide-ranging investigation into all aspects of child care and protection services in Jersey, closing on 3 July 2017 with the publication of the “Final Report of the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry”.

The Inquiry’s Report made eight key recommendations for the future management of child care in Jersey, all of which were accepted by the government of Jersey. The Report also suggested that the IJCI should be invited, in 2019, to review Jersey’s progress against those recommendations. Jersey agreed; the review took place as scheduled with the follow-up report being published on 23 September 2019. It acknowledged Jersey’s commitment to implementing the recommendations of the ICJI and commended Jersey on its progress.

Jersey is not part of the United Kingdom. As a self-governing dependency of the Crown with autonomy in its domestic affairs, child care and protection matters in Jersey are the responsibility of the Jersey authorities. It would not therefore be appropriate for the UK to appoint an independent inquiry to investigate this matter.