The St Vincent de Paul residence kitchen.

The full report on the state of the kitchen at St Vincent de Paul cannot be disclosed to the media as the parliamentary secretariat will have to pay €6,000 in consultancy fees.

In reply to a Times of Malta request for a copy of the full report, a spokesman for the Parliamentary Secretariat for the Elderly said this was not possible as it would otherwise have to foot the bill.

The report, by catering experts at the Institute for Tourism Studies, concluded the kitchen at the home was “in constant breach” of health and food hygiene regulations and it was difficult to understand how it had been given a “clean bill of health” previously.

The report served as a basis for Parliamentary Secretary for the Elderly Justyne Caruana’s announcement on Tuesday that the kitchen will be demolished and rebuilt.

The Environmental Health Directorate also carried out an inspection on May 9 in which it found the kitchen in an “appalling state”, giving it a grade F. The Institute for Tourism Studies spoke about decades of neglect, adding that it was only a matter of time before a health crisis would develop.

Secretariat will have to pay consultancy fees

When Times of Malta asked for the full report, a spokesman said the secretariat would not publish it as otherwise it would have to pay.

Opposition spokesman for the elderly, Mario Galea said, when contacted, that the kitchen at the State’s largest home “was never so bad”.

He claimed the neglect began under this government, which left the situation to worsen and blamed the previous Nationalist administration for the shortcomings.