January 15, 2025
Earlier today, the Minister for Health and Care, the Hon Gemma Arias-Vasquez published details on how the monies currently in the COVID-19 FUND will be spent. This is money that was donated by the public during the COVID-19 pandemic and which, to date, has not been spent. The fund currently holds £2,721,619.04.
A consultation process was announced last year where members of the public were encouraged to submit their ideas with a total of 83 responses received. In order to assess the responses, Minister Arias-Vasquez set up a “COVID-19 Fund Referral Panel” consisting of three Healthcare professionals and two laypersons.
The Panel first met on 11th June 2024 and commenced reviewing the detailed bids. Given the wide-ranging submissions received, the panel established the following criteria would be used to assess the bids:
The money SHOULD:
The money should NOT:
In keeping with the criteria used by the panel, the Minister for Health and Care has agreed that approximately £585,000 will be spent over the course of this year. This will be spent as follows:
In addition to the above, the Minister has asked that the panel reconvene to determine how best to spend the remaining amount of approximately £2,000,000.00 over the next few years. An announcement will be made at the start of every year explaining the expenditure envisaged for that period.
The Minister for Health and Care, the Hon Gemma Arias-Vasquez, said: “I am delighted that we are now in a position to announce how the COVID-19 fund will be spent. I am very grateful to everyone who took the time to submit very detailed claims for the panel to review. It is remarkable that, throughout the pandemic, members of the public and commercial entities donated over £2.5 million to the COVID-19 fund. It is only right and proper that we now spend this money on our health and care sector for the benefit of all Gibraltarians. I would like to thank the COVID-19 Fund Referral Panel for their work in reviewing the submissions and in formulating the criteria used to decide its expenditure.”