General Reserve allocation to CYPES (Children, Young People, Education and Skills): Refund of School Trips

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A decision made 30 July 2020:

Decision reference: MD-TR-2020-0096
Decision Summary Title:	Allocation of Reserve Funding to CYPES to enable funding to be provided to schools for refunding parents and guardians for cancelled school trips.		Date of Decision Summary:	29th July 2020
Decision Summary Author:	Specialist – Business Cases		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	Allocation of Reserve Funding to CYPES to enable funding to be provided to schools for refunding parents and guardians for cancelled school trips.		Date of Written Report:	29th July 2020
Written Report Author:	Specialist – Business Cases		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: The allocation of up to £108,000 in 2020 from the General Reserve to CYPES (Children, Young People, Education and Skills) to enable funding to be provided to government schools for refunding parents and guardians for school trips cancelled during the 2019/20 academic school year as a result of COVID-19.
Decision(s): The Minister approved the allocation of up to £108,000 in 2020 from the General Reserve to CYPES to enable funding to be provided to government schools for refunding parents and guardians for school trips cancelled during the 2019/20 academic school year as a result of COVID-19.
Reason(s) for Decision: Article 15(3) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 states that the approval by the States of a government plan authorises the Minister to direct how an approved appropriation for a reserve head of expenditure in the plan may be spent (including on another head of expenditure) in the first financial year covered by the plan. The current Policy for Allocations from the Reserve agreed by the Minister for Treasury and Resources on Friday 17th July 2020 sets the requirement that all proposed allocations from the General Reserve (Covid-19), once recommended for approval by the States Treasurer (taking into account comments from the Principal Accountable Office), are referred for review to either the Council of Ministers or the relevant Competent Authorities Ministers prior to submission to the Minister for approval. The Treasurer noted that he had a potential conflict of interest in respect to this proposed allocation. Under Treasurer’s Decision TR-2020-TD051, the Treasurer has agreed a permanent delegation of his function, where the Treasurer considers that he has a conflict of interest, to make recommendations for the approval of allocations from the Reserve to the Minister to the Group Director Strategic Finance. The Investment Appraisal Team has recommended this request for approval and further to these reviews the Group Director Strategic Finance, having consulted with the Principal Accountable Officer and the Council of Ministers, recommends this allocation to the Minister for approval subject to the following conditions: CYPES to review and update as appropriate the governance and procedures for the booking of school trips and the terms and conditions of school trips entered into between schools and parents and guardians. The Accountable Officer for CYPES to confirm in writing that the expenditure meets the requirements of propriety, regularity, value for money and feasibility.
Resource Implications: The General Reserve head of expenditure to decrease by up to £108,000 and the CYPES head of expenditure to increase by the identical amount in 2020.
Action required: The Head of Financial Governance to advise the Specialist – Business Cases and the Head of Finance Business Partnering of CYPES that this decision is approved.
Signature:		Position: Deputy S J Pinel Minister for Treasury and Resources
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

General Reserve allocation to CYPES (Children, Young People, Education and Skills): Refund of School Trips

Treasury and Exchequer

Ministerial Decision Report

Allocation of Reserve Funding to CYPES to enable funding to be provided to schools for refunding parents and guardians for cancelled school trips

Purpose of Report

To enable the Minister to approve the allocation of up to £108,000 in 2020 from the General Reserve to Children, Young People, Education and Skills (CYPES) to enable funding to be provided to government schools for refunding parents and guardians for school trips cancelled during the 2019/20 academic school year as a result of COVID-19.

Background

Funding provisions were made in the Government Plan 2020-2023 in the General Reserve for funding needs that cannot be met from existing heads of expenditure in 2020. The Minister has increased the amount available in the General Reserve by transferring £65.3 million for the Treasury and Exchequer head of expenditure (MD-TR-2020-0035); approving an additional £99.99 million of expenditure (MD-TR-2020-0047) and approving the transfer of £28 million from the Stabilisation Fund, with associated authority to spend from the General Reserve (MD-TR-2020-0055).

As a result of COVID-19 multiple school trips have been cancelled by schools either under advice provided by Government or because of Government restrictions on travel. Whilst much of the cost of those trips will be recovered through supplier refunds, purchase cards, insurance and the receipt of supplier credit notes and the benefit of deferred school trips, there remain amounts that are irrecoverable either due to the timings of cancellations, specific terms and conditions of bookings or terms of insurance. Furthermore, the timing of the receipt of all refunds or the monetary equivalent (in the case of credit notes and trip deferrals) will not be immediate.

The Minister for Education and the Accountable Office for CYPES are desirous, having considered the circumstances and advice received (including from Law Officers), to enable the refunding in full of the trip costs paid by parents and guardians, of children attending Government schools, for school trips that have been cancelled during the 2019/20 academic school year as a result of COVID-19. CYPES do not currently have the budget allocation available to make these refunds and as such are seeking an additional allocation of funding to enable their desired course of action.

Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to approve the allocation of up to £108,000 in 2020 from the General Reserve to CYPES to enable funding to be provided to government schools for refunding parents and guardians for school trips cancelled during the 2019/20 academic school year as a result of COVID-19.

Reasons for Decision

Article 15(3) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 states that the approval by the States of a government plan authorises the Minister to direct how an approved appropriation for a reserve head of expenditure in the plan may be spent (including on another head of expenditure) in the first financial year covered by the plan.

The current Policy for Allocations from the Reserve agreed by the Minister for Treasury and Resources on Friday 17th July 2020 sets the requirement that all proposed allocations from the General Reserve (Covid-19), once recommended for approval by the States Treasurer (taking into account comments from the Principal Accountable Office), are referred for review to either the Council of Ministers or the relevant Competent Authorities Ministers prior to submission to the Minister for approval.

The Treasurer noted that he had a potential conflict of interest in respect to this proposed allocation. Under Treasurer’s Decision TR-2020-TD051, the Treasurer has agreed a permanent delegation of his function, where the Treasurer considers that he has a conflict of interest, to make recommendations for the approval of allocations from the Reserve to the Minister to the Group Director Strategic Finance.

The Investment Appraisal Team has recommended this request for approval and further to these reviews the Group Director Strategic Finance, having consulted with the Principal Accountable Officer and the Council of Ministers, recommends this allocation to the Minister for approval subject to the following conditions:

CYPES to review and update as appropriate the governance and procedures for the booking of school trips and the terms and conditions of school trips entered into between schools and parents and guardians.
The Accountable Officer for CYPES to confirm in writing that the expenditure meets the requirements of propriety, regularity, value for money and feasibility.

5. Resource Implications

The General Reserve head of expenditure to decrease by £108,000 and the CYPES head of expenditure to increase by an identical amount in 2020.

Report author: Specialist – Business Cases	Document date : 29th July 2020
Quality Assurance / Review: Group Director, Strategic Finance	File name and path: L:\Treasury\Sections\Corporate Finance\Ministerial Decisions\DS, WR and SD\2020-0096 - Reserve funding to CYPES for school trips
MD sponsor: Treasurer of the States