Treasury and Resources Minister
Report
aLLOCATION OF FISCAL STIMULUS FUNDING TO EDUCATION, SPORT AND CULTURE – CAREERS SERVICE STRENGTHENING SCHEME
- Background
The Department for Education, Sport and Culture was given provisional approval (“amber light”) for £474,000 for the Careers Service Strengthening Scheme.
The purpose of putting additional resources into the Careers Service was:
“to provide adults with access to Careers and Employment advice and guidance and access to short term retraining /learning opportunities if appropriate:
- as a means of keeping them motivated during periods of unemployment;
- developing or honing their skills to ensure that they are able to take up jobs required in sectors less affected by the recession;
- ensuring that they are available and suitably skilled to meet the emerging needs of employers as the economic situation improves.”
All of there objectives are consistent with the objectives of the economic stimulus plan, one of which is to assist individuals affected by the economic downturn. Recent unemployment statistics show that the number of Jersey people seeking work is continuing to grow and this scheme is intended to provide direct assistance in the form of an expanded service offering by the careers service.
An initial ‘green light’ was allocated through Ministerial Decision MD-TR-2009-0131 on 30 July 2009 in the amount of £80,000 to Education, Sport and Culture in order to initiate the scheme. This sum was sufficient in 2009 to fund 2 part time posts and the purchase of training courses for clients.
As the project has developed, it has been identified that an additional staff resource is required to ensure that the training and development spend is targeted to achieve the best outcomes, particularly in terms of procuring training for individual careers service clients that is relevant for the requirements of Jersey employers, and focusing on areas where there are skills shortages.
Financial resources
The total of £474,000 included in the provisional fiscal stimulus programme comprised £74,000 for additional advisory staff in the careers service for two years, together with a budget of £200,000 per annum, for two years, to provide training for the increased number of clients that the service is dealing with during the economic downturn. The Careers Service has proposed to reallocate part of the £400,000 amber light related to the procurement of training to funding this new temporary job role, which has no impact on the overall project costs.
Further to the £80,000 already allocated to the project to enable it to commence, approval is requested from the Minister for Treasury and Resources for a further amount of £134,900, which is forecast to enable the scheme to continue until 31 August 2010, as set out in the table below. This allocation is endorsed by the Fiscal Stimulus Steering Group, which discussed the proposal at a meeting held on 6th January 2010.
Analysis of green light budget allocation request:
Component | Period of revenue spend | Amount £ |
Staff costs | 1 January – 31 August 2010 | 18,400 |
Training | 1 January – 31 August 2010 | 115,300 |
Other | 1 January – 31 August 2010 | 1,200 |
TOTAL | | 134,900 |
In relation to the £80,000 already allocated, part of the funds are unutilised as at 31 December 2009, and there will be a carry forward which will fund staff costs in relation to the project over and above those included in the table above, which have been estimated by the project team and submitted to the Fiscal Stimulus Programme Manager and Steering Group for review.
Manpower resources
In addition to the financial resources relating to this decision, there are further temporary manpower resources, over and above those requested and approved on 8th October 2009 via Treasurer’s Delegated Decision.
A further 1 FTE and 1 headcount is required for the continuation of this project, and for which approval is also sought in this decision.
- Comments
The discussion of the budget allocation request by the Fiscal Stimulus Steering Group necessarily considered the evidence that there was an ongoing requirement for the scheme.
Since the initial budget allocation of £80,000, the Careers Service has appointed an additional temporary part-time Careers Advisor and Information Project Manager. The additional resource has enabled the service to deal with a higher number of visitors seeking advice as well as hold in-house courses such as confidence building, dealing with redundancy and job seeker advice. These courses have been well attended to date.
Another strand of the strengthening project was the creation of a Jobs Fair, which was held in July and again in October. The earlier event attracted a large number of school leavers and adults researching local employment opportunities. The intention is that the fair will be organised on a quarterly basis, the next event scheduled for January 2010. Redundancy announcements from two major local employers Jersey Telecom (115) and Jersey Water (20) will inevitably impact on the usage of this service and the need to provide employment advice and retraining.
A recent review of unemployment figures continues to demonstrate a need for this scheme.
Unemployment figures have continued to rise – 1089 in November, 997 in October 2009 and 910 in September. Around 40% of all those seeking work are under 24, compared with 35% for the same period in 2008.
- Recommendation
Further to consideration of the Skills and Training Group’s request, the allocation of £134,900 to Education, Sport and Culture is recommended to the Minister for Treasury and Resources by the Fiscal Stimulus Steering Group. The Minister’s approval will enable continuance of the scheme which is delivering direct support to individuals affected by the economic downturn.
Accordingly, the approval of 1 FTE headcount for the period from 1 January to 31 August 2010 is also recommended.
- Reason for Decision
A discretionary fiscal stimulus allocation from the Stabilisation Fund of £44m has already been approved.
This allocation of £134,900 to the Careers Service Strengthening Scheme will enable the skills and training project group to continue the Careers Service Strengthening Scheme until 31 August 2010 and deliver support to individuals affected by the downturn through redundancy or the changing job market.
Report author : Acting Fiscal Stimulus Programme Manager | Document date : 12/01/2010 |
Quality Assurance / Review : Acting Finance Director, Corporate Group Treasury & Resources | File name and path: l:\treasury\sections\corporate finance\ministerial decisions\dss, wrs and sds\2010-0004 -\written report - decision on fiscal stimulus esc careers strengtheing.doc |
MD sponsor : Treasurer of the States |
Page of 3 Printed: 1/12/2010
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