Historical Child Abuse: Central Contingency Funding: Acceptance of budget transfer for costs associated with Committee of Inquiry to-date

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A decision made 27 January 2015:

Decision Reference: MD-ESC-2015-0002
Decision Summary Title:	Central Contingency funding request for Committee of Inquiry into Historical Child Abuse Departmental Costs		Date of Decision Summary:	26 November 2014
Decision Summary Author:	Finance Manager		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	Central Contingency funding request for Committee of Inquiry into Historical Child Abuse Departmental Costs		Date of Written Report:	26 November 2014
Written Report Author:	Finance Manager		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Central Contingency funding request in order to fund the costs incurred to date by the Education, Sport and Culture Department (ESC) associated with the Committee of Inquiry into Historical Child Abuse.
Decision(s): The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture agreed to accept a non-recurring budget transfer of £300,000 from Central Contingency as approved by the Council of Ministers on 30th July 2014 in order to fund the costs incurred to date by ESC associated with the Committee of Inquiry into Historical Child Abuse.
Reason(s) for Decision: Article 17(2) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005 states that the Minister for Treasury and Resources is authorised to approve the transfer from contingency expenditure or the insurance fund of amounts not exceeding, in total, the amount available for contingency expenditure in a financial year. The Council of Ministers at its meeting on the 30th July 2014 concluded that it was content to agree an increase of funding into the Committee of Inquiry into Historical Child Abuse to £9million after consultation had been carried out with departmental accounting officers to identify the expected cost of the work to be undertaken in respect of the Inquiry and considered that it was appropriate for accounting officers to manage the expenditure in the manner agreed.
Resource Implications: Central Contingency will decrease by £300,000 in 2014 and the ESC revenue head of expenditure will increase by an identical amount. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States for the period of the current MTFP 2013 to 2015.
Action required: The Minister for ESC to request the approval of the Minister for Treasury and Resources for this budget transfer.
Signature:		Position: Deputy Rod Bryans, Minister for Education, Sport and Culture
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Historical Child Abuse: Central Contingency Funding: Acceptance of budget transfer for costs associated with Committee of Inquiry to-date

Education, Sport and Culture

Ministerial Decision Report

Central contingency Funding Request for Committee of Inquiry into Historical CHILD Abuse Departmental costs

Purpose of Report

To enable the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture to request a transfer of £300,000 in 2014 of the approved allocation from Central Contingency in order to fund the costs incurred to date by the Education, Sport and Culture Department (ESC) associated with the Committee of Inquiry into Historical Child Abuse.

Background

The States at its meeting on 6th March 2013 adopted as amended, the proposition in P.118/2012, Committee of Inquiry: Historical Child Abuse. This approved the establishment of the Committee of Inquiry and its Terms of Reference.

The Minister for T&R presented his comments to the States on 4th March 2013, Committee of Inquiry: Historical Child Abuse (P.118/2012) – Comments. These provided estimates of the detailed costs of the Inquiry which would operate over two financial years – 2013 and 2014 (now 2014 and 2015).

The Comments also stated,

“Should the States approve P.118/2012, it is recommended that up to £6,000,000 be allocated from the Central Contingency that Members approved in the Medium Term Financial Plan. Such an allocation would be required to follow the approved and published procedures for Central Contingencies (R.10/2012).”

The Council of Ministers at its meeting on 30th July 2014 were advised that it had become apparent that members of the Committee of Inquiry (CoI) into Historical Child Abuse had not received a detailed breakdown of what was to be included within its allocated budget. The CoI, whilst mindful of the need to exercise careful management and control of expenditure, wished to be able to operate freely to ensure the Inquiry’s independence and to fulfil its terms of reference. In its published protocols the CoI had made it clear that it was not for the CoI to meet and monitor costs associated with the payment of legal representatives of States bodies, which was out of the control of the CoI and the CoI had requested that it was able to work to a realistic budget.

Consultation had been carried out with departmental accounting officers to identify the expected cost of the work to be undertaken in respect of the Inquiry and Members were provided with a summary of the updated estimate of costs and it was noted that the Council was being asked to review the current estimate of £6 million and to agree an increase in funding to £9 million.

The Council, having noted the current funding proposals, concluded that it was content to agree an increase of funding to £9million and considered that it was appropriate for accounting officers to manage the expenditure in the manner agreed.

Recommendation

The Minister for ESC is recommended to request a non-recurring budget transfer of £300,000 in 2014 from Central Contingency to cover the costs incurred to date within ESC associated with the Committee of Inquiry into Historical Child Abuse.

Reason for Decision

Article 17(2) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005 states that the Minister for Treasury and Resources (T&R) is authorised to approve the transfer from contingency expenditure to heads of expenditure of amounts not exceeding, in total, the amount available for contingency expenditure in a financial year.

Resource Implications

Central Contingency will decrease by £300,000 in 2014 and the ESC revenue head of expenditure will increase by an identical amount. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States for the period of the current MTFP 2013 to 2015.

Report author: Finance Manager	Document date : 26th November 2014
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