The Weekly Briefing from The Quarry

The Weekly Briefing from The Quarry

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• Up to £2m in additional costs required to fix fire safety issues at Guernsey Hospital's new Critical Care Unit and Post Anaesthetic Care Unit due to failings in the original fire strategy
• Contractor Rihoy & Sons is covering costs of initial construction defects but the States of Guernsey must fund additional fire protection work
• New units will not open before the end of 2026, significantly delayed from original autumn 2024 completion date
• Phase 1 will exceed its original £34m budget, with final costs to be confirmed after work completion
• Phase 2A of hospital modernisation now projected to cost very significantly more than the approved £130m budget

• The Quarry launches The Guernsey Record, a searchable database of planning applications, FOI disclosures, public notices, and journalism to make fragmented public information more accessible
• Free tier users can search the archive by parish and set up email alerts for freedom of information requests
• Paid subscribers gain access to planning application tracking, FOI drafting tools, keyword watches, and document summaries depending on membership level
• The project aims to democratise access to civic information, giving the public the same research tools used by journalists
• The initiative addresses a growing crisis: 37 UK local authority districts now have no dedicated news outlet, leaving 4.4 million people in 'news deserts'

• Princess Elizabeth Hospital has declared a critical incident due to overcapacity, forcing postponement of elective surgeries
• Two surgeries cancelled on 26th May with at least one more postponed for the following day; further disruption expected
• All cancer and emergency surgeries continue as planned and remain priority procedures
• Additional temporary flex beds and ward beds opened to manage demand; community teams taking increased caseloads
• Emergency Department experiencing high attendances with longer waiting times for non-urgent cases

• Combined Substance Use Strategy achieved 89% overall progress by end of 2025, with 56% of actions completed, whilst alcohol identified as substance causing greatest harm in Bailiwick
• Approximately nine alcohol-specific deaths occur annually, with rate of 12.7 per 100,000; 23.7% of adults drank more than recommended 14 units weekly in 2023
• Comprehensive vaping legislation introduced including ban on sales to under-18s, disposable vapes and advertising restrictions; adult smoking prevalence fell to 9.1%, below 10% target
• QuitVape service launched for 12-18 year olds with 54% of Quitline clients successfully quitting at four-week follow-up; over 700 hours of substance use education delivered in schools
• Up to two-thirds of cannabis used without prescription consists of diverted medicinal cannabis; Community Drug and Alcohol Team received 236 referrals with 78% alcohol-related

• Action for Children increased accommodation capacity by 70% through MSP House development as youth housing referrals rose over 40%
• The charity received 99 new referrals in 2025, with 57 relating to housing and homelessness and 34 concerning substance use issues
• A new website attracted 325 unique visitors in 40 days whilst social media expansion increased reach by over 40%
• Education programmes delivered 749 hours of PSHE lessons including new vaping support responding to emerging youth trends
• Action Mentoring service launched with 10 trained volunteers, with plans to extend to younger age groups in 2026

• Independence reports 77% planned treatment exit rate in 2025, significantly exceeding UK's 46% completion rate, with 109 clients supported through treatment across alcohol, drug and gambling issues
• Clinical outcomes show 63% of eligible clients achieved successful exits, with case studies demonstrating clients moving from high-risk to low-risk categories through evidence-based interventions
• Criminal Justice Substance Service achieved 82% success rate with 18 successful completions from 22 recorded outcomes, with 90% of clients reporting reduced likelihood of reoffending
• Needle exchange service records lowest usage in 10 years with ageing user population and no new injectors identified, though confidentiality concerns in small community remain a barrier to access
• Organisation secures Social Investment Fund backing for gambling services 2026-2029 but highlights resource constraints limiting ability to support all who may benefit, whilst raising concerns over absence of THC public health messaging

• Community group representing 600 Guernsey families hosting free event on childhood smartphone use on 20 June at Les Beaucamps High School
• London headteacher David Smith, who banned smartphones at his school after 97% of pupils received 50+ daily notifications, will speak
• Event follows England making phone-free schools legally mandatory with Ofsted inspection compliance, whilst France and Australia introduce bans
• Data protection expert Emma Martins will explain how technology companies engineer addiction in children and outline harm-reduction strategies
• Organisers say gathering will bring together parents, teachers, healthcare professionals and States Deputies to shape island's response to issue

• Liberate Guernsey calculates the island would rank 32nd out of 50 European jurisdictions for LGBTQ+ rights using ILGA-Europe criteria
• The charity has launched the first comprehensive survey of Channel Islands LGBTQ+ lives, with over 120 responses so far
• An estimated 6,000 LGBTQ+ people may live in the Channel Islands based on UK statistics
• Two writing competitions are running during Pride Month, including one offering a £100 prize
• A UK Government petition will open calling for a public inquiry into Section 28's lasting impact

• Ten Guernsey representatives attended Buckingham Palace for The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Gold Award Ceremony and 70th anniversary celebrations
• The delegation included DofE coordinators, trainers and champions from schools across Guernsey
• Prince Edward presented at the event, which featured speeches from Angela Hartnett OBE, Tasha Ghouri and Ash Dykes, plus a surprise appearance by Billy Monger
• The ceremony recognised Gold Award participants and celebrated staff and volunteers supporting the programme
• The Guernsey DofE team is inviting local participants to share stories and photos from across the decades as part of anniversary celebrations

• Guernsey Post is installing heritage plates on 27 decommissioned post boxes across the island to preserve their historical stories
• The post boxes will remain blue, whilst brown heritage plates will identify them as part of a heritage trail
• Each plate features a QR code linking to webpages with historical details about each box and other heritage locations
• Box 89 on Fort Road still shows visible damage from a 1944 RAF raid on Fort George during the Occupation
• The initiative coincides with a new stamp issue launching on 27 May celebrating the island's post box heritage

• Adult cycle training sessions return on Sunday 7 June, running every two weeks until end of September
• Sessions delivered by Traffic & Highway Services' Bikeability instructors cater to all experience levels
• Training includes both Bikeability Adult and Cycle Confidence opportunities in supportive settings
• Previous participants have progressed from traffic-free environments at their own pace
• Initiative forms part of ongoing work to encourage active travel across the island

• CIFO awarded £1,979,865 in compensation after closing 403 cases from 405 opened during the period
• Banking sector accounted for 64% of complaints, with current accounts the top product at 52%
• Poor administration and delay was the leading issue, cited in 23% of cases
• 60% of cases were settled informally, with total settlements exceeding reported compensation figures
• The ombudsman received 571 complaints across five main sectors including banking, insurance and pensions

• The Big Geekend returns to Guernsey Museum on 30-31 May after a four-year break, featuring activities ranging from fossils and archaeology to K-Pop cosplay and Bridgerton crafts
• Visitors in full costume receive free admission, with attractions including a karting competition, puppets, fantasy encampment and living history displays
• Well-Geeking Week runs 25-29 May during half term, offering wellbeing-focused activities including photography walks, Japanese tea ceremony and guided nature walks
• Adult admission costs £7, with reduced rates for students and children aged 7-17, and free entry for under-sevens and Discovery Pass holders
• Most Well-Geeking Week events are free but require advance booking via Eventbrite due to limited capacity

• Guernsey included in UK-Gulf Cooperation Council free trade agreement covering goods and financial services
• Agreement strengthens trading position with six Gulf states: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE
• States of Guernsey worked closely with UK to secure island's interests in negotiations
• Expected to support growth in financial and professional services sectors and create new business opportunities
• Part of wider strategy to reduce barriers and enable Guernsey businesses to access global markets

• Guernsey Chamber of Commerce welcomes Government's revised approach to social security changes within GST+ package
• Employer social security rates to rise to 7.6 per cent rather than originally proposed 8 per cent, it says, with more gradual phasing
• Social security for employees and self-employed will apply only on earned income, with aligned treatment between both groups
• Chamber secured key business needs including transparency, manageable phasing, fairness and simplicity in implementation
• Changes come alongside GST, secondary pensions, minimum wage changes and wider tax reform landing simultaneously

ICMYI - Dig This

Guernsey Gazette

Torteval Parish is seeking court approval to collect £91,441 in owner's rates and £61,000 in refuse rates for the year July 2026 to June 2027.

Hawthorn Leisure Holdings No. 7 Limited is entering voluntary liquidation with joint liquidators Matthew Wright and Sophie Smith appointed.

RVL Aviation Limited has applied for a licence to operate cargo-only flights between Guernsey and Jersey.

GFSC notices

Guernsey performs well in global peer review of reinsurance and risk transfer

The Guernsey Financial Services Commission welcomes inclusion of Guernsey in UK-Gulf Free Trade Agreement

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