Two Cabinet ministers appear at odds over whether the six-figure salaries earned by hospital executives should be made public.

Home affairs minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin told The Royal Gazette she stood by a statement she made as health minister in 2013 that the wages and other perks should be disclosed.

But health minister Jeanne Atherden said she was satisfied the Bermuda Hospitals Board had been transparent and “provided the appropriate information” with the release of broad salary bands.

As well as the salary bands, the board has revealed how much its chief executive officer earns but has not released the salaries for the rest of its executive team, despite a public access to information request from The Royal Gazette. And BHB chairman Peter Everson this week maintained that releasing the individual information is not mandated and violates their employees’ privacy.

Weighing in as former Minister of Health, Opposition MP Zane DeSilva revealed how he was persuaded to “keep a lid” on the salary details in 2011 but personally believed such information “should be posted” when taxpayers’ cash was involved.

He noted the BHB received more than $145 million annually from the public purse — the largest payout to any public authority by the Government — and said: “The subsidy they get is large. I don’t have any problem with publishing any wage.”

The salaries paid to the executives who run King Edward VII Memorial Hospital have long been the subject of speculation and, while in Opposition, the One Bermuda Alliance pledged to reveal them.

Ms Gordon-Pamplin said in January 2013, as Minister of Health, that the “BHB legislation requires full disclosure”.

She conceded that “there are some things that may need to be relatively confidential” but added: “When we are spending public money, we have an obligation to let the public know where that money is going.”

She stood by her statement this week, telling this newspaper: “I’ve not changed my opinion.

“On the financial statements, they have listed specifically the salary of the CEO but they also indicated that there were ten positions above that, that had not been specifically listed.

“It is still my contention that auditing practices and best accounting practices should require disclosure and it should require detailed disclosure.

“I think this is a matter for the new Minister and also a matter for the Auditor-General. But that’s the position I took then and, in the absence of any new information to the contrary, it’s the position I still hold.”

Ms Atherden said according to the Bermuda Hospitals Act 1970 the “scales of salaries and wages paid to officers and servants of the board” should be released as part of BHB’s annual financial statements.

“I believe that this is a matter of public accountability and transparency,” she added. “I am also acutely aware that one must balance personal privacy with transparency.

“I am satisfied that BHB has provided appropriate information in the salary bands released on May 16 of this year, well in advance of the recently released annual report 2011/2012.

“BHB’s reporting is consistent with or exceeds similar information from other quangos and includes the CEO salary as part of the information released.”

In 2011, Mr DeSilva refused to divulge the salaries in the House of Assembly. He told MPs that publicly-funded quangos were under no obligation to share individual salary information and said claims by Louise Jackson, his counterpart on the Opposition benches, that executives earned up to $800,000 were “pie in the sky”.

Mr DeSilva said this week: “My personal view is that when you have taxpayers’ money [involved] ... everybody’s wage should be posted.”

He claimed he was persuaded by the hospitals board and his Ministry of Health advisers that the salaries should be kept secret.

“The reason I supported the advice I was given was because it was the hospital. The advice I was given was that, in terms of health, they convinced me that this is not something that you want to put out there.”

Asked who convinced him, Mr DeSilva replied: “The board, the technical people, my permanent secretary. I said ‘look, let’s just put it out there’. They said ‘listen, Zane, you have spent a lot of time in the private sector. This is very delicate and confidential information. Our advice to you is that it shouldn’t be put out there’. I took that advice.

“They said it could very well harm any negotiations in the future with regards to replacements of executive staff. I said ‘OK’. Sometimes you look at information that’s given to you and you have to make a decision based on the information received.”

The Progressive Labour Party backbencher said the hospitals board was “adamant” the salaries shouldn’t be disclosed, naming former CEO David Hill, former chief of staff Donald Thomas and current CEO Venetta Symonds as among those who persuaded him of their view.

“They said ‘it’s best to keep a lid on it’. I said, ‘OK’.”

He suggested Ms Atherden should ask questions of the hospital and her Ministry team about why full details of the executive team’s compensation packages have still not been revealed and whether they now ought to be.

“I think the public wants to know,” he added.

Mr DeSilva, who was Minister of Health from 2010 to 2012, said he was a businessman who was always able to make his own decisions when in Cabinet but was also a person “who takes advice”.

Given the same advice again, he added, he might still decide not to disclose the information.

BHB’s disclosure in May revealed that Ms Symonds, a Bermudian, received annual total compensation of $469,979, compared to the $650,536 package given five years ago to Mr Hill, a guest worker. As well as the CEO, there are six other members of the executive team at BHB.

This newspaper’s Pati request asked for details of all their salaries. We have appealed the BHB’s failure to release the information to the independent information commissioner.

Mr Everson maintained this week that releasing the individual information is not in the public’s interest and violates their employees’ privacy.

“The public disclosure of individual salaries for BHB’s staff members is not mandated by the Act, does not serve the public interest and violates our employees’ privacy.”

He said the release of salary data, which included information for each of the salary bands and also included details of the CEO’s annual salary, in May, was “in accordance with the Bermuda Hospitals Board Act 1970”.

He said this “states ‘the scales of salaries and wages paid to officers and servants of the Board’ should be released as part of our annual financial statements”.

“BHB’s release of banded salary information puts the organisation in line with, or ahead of, other local quangos,” he added. “The Minister of Health and Seniors has approved this format.”