Government of Jersey

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A decision made 11 May 2011:

Decision Reference: MD-C-2011-0053
Decision Summary Title:	Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) – Transfer of additional resources from Treasury and Resources Department		Date of Decision Summary:	6th May 2011
Decision Summary Author:	Finance Director – Corporate Group		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) – Transfer of additional resources from Treasury and Resources Department		Date of Written Report:	6th May 2011
Written Report Author:	Finance Director – Corporate Group		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) – Transfer of budget from the restructuring provision to the Law Draftsman’s Office in Chief Minister’s Department.
Decision(s): The Minister approved the budget transfer from the T&R Restructuring Provision to Chief Ministers Department in the sum of £79,000 with immediate effect. The Minister confirmed that this sum will be used to enable other Departments to achieve CSR savings dependent on law changes and further confirmed that the targeted CMD savings will also be achieved. The Minister approved the ongoing commitment of £93,000 in 2012 and £29,000 in 2013.
Reason(s) for Decision: (a) One additional Law Draftsman post is required to support all CSR proposals with law drafting implications. This request was approved by the Treasury and Resources Minister in MD-TR-2011-0039 as part of a number of invest-to-save proposals subject to confirmation by the Chief Minister that departmental savings targets will be achieved. (b) The total cost of new post will be £201,000 over three years, including cost of £93,000 in 2012 and £29,000 in 2013. Costs will be offset by £35,000 in 2012 and 2013 being current budget for hired services. This request is considered as urgent. The Law Draftsman’s Office has already started work on drafting CSR-related projects, although the Office currently does not have the capacity to absorb additional work without it having a disadvantageous impact on other, not CSR-related drafting work. (d) Article 15(1) (a) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005 states that all or any part of the amount appropriated by a head of expenditure may, with the approval of the Minister for Treasury and Resources, be used for the purposes of another head of expenditure. FD 3.6 section 5.1 specifies that both Ministers party to transfers in budget must agree. This decision records the Chief Minister’s agreement to the transfer
Resource Implications: The T&R revenue head of expenditure to decrease by £79,000 in 2011 and the Chief Minister’s Department revenue head of expenditure to increase by an identical amount. The ongoing commitment is 1 additional FTE for the duration of the engagement, £93,000 in 2012 and £29,000 in 2013. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States for 2011.
Action required: Finance Director – Corporate Group to communicate the Chief’s Ministers Ministerial Decision to the Treasurer of the States. Finance Director – Corporate Group to prepare a Treasurer’s Decision for 1 additional temporary FTE. The Head of Financial Performance and Planning to action the budget transfer.
Signature:		Position: Senator T.A Le Sueur, Chief Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Comprehensive Spending Review: Law Draftman's Office - Budget transfer from restructing provision

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Chief Minister’s Department

Ministerial Decision Report

Comprehensive spending review (CSR)- Transfer Of additional resources from Treasury and resources department

Purpose of Report

To transfer funding of £79,000 from the Restructuring Provision within the Treasury and Resources Dept to the Law Draftsman’s Office in the Chief Minister’s Department with immediate effect. To confirm on-going commitment to the 2012 and 2013 costs of the role.

Background

The 2011 Business Plan included a Restructuring Provision of £6 million, allocated to the Treasury and Resources (T&R) revenue head of expenditure, to support the CSR process. It was envisaged that this provision would provide funding for ‘invest to save’ initiatives, where departments required ‘up front’ funds to achieve a longer term saving (for example, voluntary redundancy payments,) as well as some central support to assist departments in delivering their savings and the corporate savings targets for procurement and terms and conditions.

The CSR programme has identified a number of areas where changes in legislation are needed to realize the savings across several Departments. The Law Draftsman identified that one additional Law Draftsman post is required to support all the CSR proposals with law drafting implications over three years.

This request was approved by the Treasury and Resources Minister in MD-TR-2011-0039 as part of a number of invest-to-save proposals subject to confirmation by the Chief Minister that departmental savings targets will be achieved.

Main Content / Subject matter

The total cost of new post will be £201,000 over three years:

2011 £79,000

2012 £93,000

2013 £29,000

Costs will be offset by £35,000 in 2012, being the current budget for hired services.

This transfer is considered urgent. The Law Draftsman’s Office has already started work on drafting CSR-related projects, although the Office currently does not have the capacity to absorb additional work without it having a disadvantageous impact on other, non CSR-related drafting work.

Recommendation

That the Minister approves a budget transfer from Treasury and Resources of £79,000 with immediate effect and an on-going commitment to the 2012 and 2013 costs of the role. That the Minister confirms that this temporary resource will enable other departments to take forward their saving schemes with law drafting implications and will deliver the savings targets within the Chief Minister’s Department.

Reason for Decision

Under Financial Direction 3.6 “Variations to Heads of Expenditure”, transfers between heads of expenditure arising from the transfer of responsibility and administration of a service require both the relevant ministers party to the transfer to agree the associated financial and manpower transfers and to notify such transfers to the Treasurer of the States.

The Treasury Minister’s decision MD-TR-2011-0039 requires Ministers receiving funding from the restructuring provision to confirm that departmental savings targets will be achieved.

Resource Implications

In addition to the funding requirement, 1 temporary additional FTE is required with immediate effect until 31 December 2013.

Report author :Finance Director – Corporate Group	Document date : 6/5/11
Quality Assurance / Review : position	File name and path: document2
MD sponsor : Chief Executive	File name and path: document2