Water Resources (Charges) Order: Drafting instructions

Information about the publication of Ministerial Decisions

A formal published “Ministerial Decision” is required as a record of the decision of a Minister (or an Assistant Minister where they have delegated authority) as they exercise their responsibilities and powers.

Ministers are elected by the States Assembly and have legal responsibilities and powers as “corporation sole” under the States of Jersey Law 2005 by virtue of their office and in their areas of responsibility, including entering into agreements, and under any legislation conferring on them powers.

An accurate record of “Ministerial Decisions” is vital to effective governance, including:

demonstrating that good governance, and clear lines of accountability and authority, are in place around decisions-making – including the reasons and basis on which a decision is made, and the action required to implement a decision
providing a record of decisions and actions that will be available for examination by States Members, and Panels and Committees of the States Assembly; the public, organisations, and the media; and as a historical record and point of reference for the conduct of public affairs

Ministers are individually accountable to the States Assembly, including for the actions of the departments and agencies which discharge their responsibilities.

The Freedom of Information Law (Jersey) Law 2011 is used as a guide when determining what information is be published. While there is a presumption toward publication to support of transparency and accountability, detailed information may not be published if, for example, it would constitute a breach of data protection, or disclosure would prejudice commercial interest.

A decision made on 29 July 2011:

Decision Reference: MD-PE-2011-0072
Decision Summary Title:	Draft Water Resources (Charges) Order 2011		Date of Decision Summary:	07-07-2011
Decision Summary Author (Job Title):	Hydrogeologist		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	n/a
Written Report Title:	Approve the drafting of a Water Resources (Charges) Order		Date of Written Report:	07-07-2011
Written Report Author (Job Title):	Hydrogeologist		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: The Minister approved the schedule of revised charges for water abstraction licences as detailed in Table 1 within the appended report and requested that a suitably revised draft Water Resources (Charges)(Jersey) Order be drafted by the Law Draftsman.
Decision(s): To approve the drafting of an up-dated Water Resources (Charges) Order by the Law Draftsman.
Reason(s) for Decision: The Water Resources (Jersey) Law 2007 requires that the overall cost needed to meet the regulator’s expenditure in carrying out functions under this Law is recovered by charges that can be prescribed under the Law. A new Order containing details of revised charges which can be levied for Water Resources licences in 2012 needs to be drafted by the Law Draftsman, for subsequent approval by the Minister.
Resource Implications: The Order will permit the levy of revised charges in respect of Water Resources licences to abstract water, which will provide funds to support the implementation and enforcement of the Water Resources (Jersey) Law 2007, as required under Article 25 of that Law.
Action required: To submit the decision and an appropriate law drafting brief to the Law Draftsman.
Signature:		Position:
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Water Resources (Charges) Order: Drafting instructions

DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT

APPROVE THE DRAFTING OF A WATER RESOURCES (CHARGES) ORDER 2011

Public Item

Purpose of the Report

The purpose of this report is to request that the Minister approve the drafting of a revised Water Resources (Charges) Order 2011 by the Law Draftsman.

Background

Under Article 25 of the Water Resources (Jersey) Law 2007 (The Law), the regulator (defined under Article 1 as the Minister of Planning and Environment) may prescribe;

Article 25(1)(a) - ‘charges that shall be payable to the regulator by applicants, licensees and proposed transferees, in respect of applications for the grant, variation, transfer and revocation of licences’.

Article 25(1)(b) - ‘charges that shall be payable to the regulator periodically by licensees’.

In addition, Article 25(2) states that ‘in prescribing charges under this Article, the regulator shall have regard to the amounts that are needed to meet the regulator’s expenditure in carrying out functions under this Law’. The user pays principle was therefore already accepted by The States under this legislation. This principle is reiterated in Article 5(1)(c) of the Law which requires that in carrying out functions under this Law the regulator shall have regard to a cost principle by which the costs of managing and regulating the abstraction or impounding of water are borne by the persons who abstract or impound it.‘

Water Resources registrations apply predominantly to the abstraction of water for the domestic supplies of households, which are totally exempt from the licensing provisions of the Law and hence there are no charges associated with registrations. Charges are only levied on Water Resources abstraction licences.

The Water Resources (Charges) (Jersey) Order 2009 came into force on 21 September 2009. The charges specified in this order are banded according to the maximum volume of water that is licensed for abstraction in any 24 hour period. This allowed the licence charges to be invoiced and collected in preparation for the Water Resources (Jersey) Law 2007 to come fully into force on 1 January 2010.

Discussion

The Water Resources (Jersey) Law 2007 requires that the overall cost needed to meet the regulator’s expenditure in carrying out functions under this Law will be borne by the user. This principal has been adhered to since the Law came fully into force.

It had been anticipated that there would be about 120 licences when the law came into force, but a total of 150 licences were applied for during 2009 and charges were set accordingly at an appropriate rate to cover the estimated 2010 expenditure. By the end of 2010, mainly due to a very dry spring prompting a significant number of additional applications, an additional 50 licences had been issued bringing the total to 200 licences. The additional licence charge income was sufficient to meet increased expenditure in 2011 and it was not necessary to increase the licence charges for that year.

Eleven additional abstraction licence applications have been submitted in 2011 but the increased income from these licences will not be sufficient match the estimated 2.5% increase in expenditure for managing and regulating the Island’s water resources under the Law. It is therefore proposed that water abstraction licence charges be increased by 2.5%, in keeping with all other fees and charges administered by the Department of the Environment.

The proposed revised Water Resources abstraction licence charges to be levied for 2012 are shown in Table 1, together with the 2009/2010 charge rates for comparison. It is estimated that the revised charges will result in a total potential income of £116,706.

Conclusion

It is necessary to bring this Order into force by 30 September 2011, in order that invoices for charges payable under the Order can be issued by the end of October 2011 and paid by applicants by 31 December 2011.

Recommendation

That the Minister agrees the revised charges for water abstraction licences as detailed in Table 1 and requests that a Water Resources (Charges)(Jersey) Order 2011 be drafted by the Law Draftsman.

Written by:	Hydrogeologist, Department of the Environment

Approved by:	Assistant Director, Environmental Protection

Attachments:

Table 1. Proposed licence water abstraction licence charges for 2010

21 June 2011

Table 1. Water abstraction licence bands and charges

Charge band	Licensed abstraction volume range (m3 per 24 hour period)	2010/2011 licence charge	Revised 2012 licence charge
Jersey Water	Not applicable	£99,040	£101,516.00
A	between than 15 and 100	£40.00	£41.00
B	between 101 to 250	£80.00	£82.00
C	More than 250	£120.00	£123.00

L:\WRS\Water Resources Law\Ministerial decisions\WR MD-PE-2009-xxxx Draft Water Resources (Licence Fees) Order v2.doc