Budget Transfer: Department for Infrastructure to Department of the Environment (Transfer of Countryside Ranger Function)

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While there is a presumption toward publication to support of transparency and accountability, detailed information may not be published if, for example, it would constitute a breach of data protection, or disclosure would prejudice commercial interest.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 23 June 2016:

Decision Reference: MD-PE-2016-0086
Decision Summary Title :	Approve budget transfer from the Department for Infrastructure to the Department of the Environment for the Countryside Rangers Function		Date of Decision Summary:	15 June 2016
Decision Summary Author:	Director, Rural Economy & Environmental Management		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?(State clauses from Code of Practice booklet	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:
Written Report Title :	Transfer of the Country Rangers function from The Department for Infrastructure to the Department of the Environment		Date of Written Report:	15 June 2016
Written Report Author:	Director, Rural Economy & Environmental Management		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: A one off transfer pro-rated for 2016 of £64,473 and a recurring budget transfer of £128,946 for the Countryside Rangers function from the Department for Infrastructure to the Department of Environment.
Decision(s): The Minister for Environment approved a one off transfer (pro-rata) for 2016 of £64,473 and a recurring budget transfer of £128,946 for the running costs of the Countryside Ranger function from the Department for Infrastructure to the Department of the Environment.
Reason(s) for Decision: Article 18(1) (c) of the Public Finances (Jersey) 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. Delegation 1.2 delegates authority for non-contentious transfers between heads of expenditure of up to £1,000,000 to the Treasurer of the States. Financial direction 3.6 states that Departments wanting to transfer funds between heads of expenditure must obtain the approval of their Minister or Accounting Officer where a scheme of delegation exists.
Resource Implications: The Department for Infrastructure revenue head of expenditure to decrease by a recurring £128,946 from 2017 with a one off transfer pro-rated for 2016 of £64,473 and the Department of Environment revenue expenditure to increase by the same amount. The transfer of one Charge Hand post and two Ranger posts equivalent to three FTE.
Action required: The Finance Director to inform the Head of Decision Support and the Head of Financial Reporting that the Minister has approved the transfer and request that the budget and posts be transferred to the Department of Environment.
Signature:		Position: Minister for Environment
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Budget Transfer: Department for Infrastructure to Department of the Environment (Transfer of Countryside Ranger Function)

DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Transfer of the Countryside Rangers function from the Department for Infrastructure to the Department of the Environment

Purpose of the Report

For the Minister to approve the transfer of the Parks and Gardens Countryside Rangers from the Department for Infrastructure to the Department of the Environment.

A review undertaken in June 2015 identified 6 operational posts within the Countryside Rangers team. Since that time Transport and Technical Services (TTS) has merged with Property Holdings to become the Department for Infrastructure (DfI). In order to meet the Medium Term Financial Plan budget savings voluntary Redundancies have been offered to staff and as a consequence operational staff numbers within the Countryside Rangers section has been reduced to 3 posts.

Background

In 2005, 3 Rangers were transferred to the Parks and Gardens Section (P&G) of the Department for Infrastructure (DFI) from the Department of the Environment (DoE) to join their existing team of Rangers.

Whilst this was a positive move at the time, in recent years the availability of other staff within P&G to provide back up this service is no longer an option due to reduced staff numbers. In addition, workloads are now much tighter with far less room for flexibility amongst the various teams who have their own job roles that need to be completed in order to meet contract deadlines.

Discussion

The schedule of work given to the Countryside Rangers is received directly from the Environment Department. Allocation of work tasks has now become very specific as to what needs to be achieved each month, to the point that there is now very little involvement in the management of the team from DfI in terms of identifying their monthly workloads. This results in there being little or no flexibility to use this team as an additional resource if necessary within the remainder of the P&G section.

As such, the management of the team has become far more of an administrative role for the DfI line manager, who is left simply dealing with holiday requests, sickness monitoring etc. rather than being involved in staff support and daily decision making for work that is being carried out.

When analysing the working relationship through the “Lean” process it no longer makes sense to continue with the current system as there are no obvious benefits to DfI in being the employing department: the current arrangement is simply adding an unnecessary tier of line management control that is not efficient or of benefit to operational delivery.

The DoE has advised DfI that it would support the option to transfer across three already skilled and trained staff that would ensure continuity and flexibility of service delivery for the Department. This transfer is consistent with service reviews in both DfI and the Department of the Environment.

The transfer would involve a one off transfer (pro-rata) for 2016 of £64,473 and a recurring annual budget transfer of £128,946 for the Countryside Rangers Function (3 FTE) from the Department for Infrastructure to the Department of Environment.

Recommendation

That the Minister approve the budget transfer from the Department for Infrastructure to the Department of the Environment for the Countryside Rangers function

Written by:	Director for Environmental Management & Rural Economy

Approved by: