Our Hospital: Allocation of Pre-feasibility Vote and General Reserve funding

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A decision made on 13 July 2020

Decision Reference: MD-TR-2020-0087
Decision Summary Title:	Allocation of Pre-feasibility Vote and General Reserve funding to the Our Hospital head of expenditure		Date of Decision Summary:	24th June 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 Pre-feasibility Vote and General Reserve funding to the Our Hospital head of expenditure		Date of Written Report:	24th June 2020
Written Report Author:	Specialist – Business Cases		Written Report: Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: The non-recurring allocation of up to £5 million in 2020 from the Pre-feasibility Vote (PFV) and up to £6.7 million from the General Reserve to the Our Hospital head of expenditure
Decision(s): The Minister approved a non-recurring allocation of up to £5 million in 2020 from the Pre-feasibility Vote (PFV) and up to £6.7 million from the General Reserve (DEL) to the Our Hospital head of expenditure.
Reason(s) for Decision: Pre-feasibility vote Article 18(1)(a) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 states that a specified amount appropriated for one head of expenditure may, with the approval of the Minister for Treasury and Resources, be used for the purposes of another head of expenditure that is set out in the government plan. Article 18(4) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 states that the Minister shall give the States Assembly at least 4 weeks’ notice before an amount is transferred under paragraph (1)(a). P.28/2020 Draft Public Finances (Amendment of Law) (Jersey) Regulations 202-, approved by the States Assembly on 24th March 2020, agreed a number of temporary modifications to the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 one of which stated; to remove the requirement in Article 18 that if the Minister proposes to give a direction to re-allocate a head of expenditure, the Minister gives the States at least 4 weeks’ notice. Article 18(5) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 states that if a direction under this Article would affect a head of expenditure that relates to the responsibilities of any Minister, that Minister must be consulted before the direction is made. Allocation from the Reserve 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 Procedures on Allocations from the Reserve (published as R.23/2020) sets the requirement for allocations from the Reserve to be considered by the Investment Appraisal Board, Principal Accountable Officer and States Treasurer prior to submission to the Minister for approval. For requests over £100,000, the Minister of Treasury & Resources will provide the One Government Political Oversight Group (OneGovPOG) with a schedule of all funding decisions she is minded to make before making a final decision, seeking that Group’s comments. If the Minister is minded to approve a funding allocation, the draft Ministerial Decision will be circulated to the Council of Ministers five working days before a Ministerial Decision is signed and published. The Investment Appraisal Board has recommended this request for approval. The Principal Accountable Officer, OneGovPOG and the Council of Ministers have also been consulted.
Resource Implications: The PFV head of expenditure will decrease by up to £5 million, the General Reserve head of expenditure will decrease by up to £6.7 million and the new Our Hospital head of expenditure will increase by identical amounts. At this stage of the project that head of expenditure is the responsibility of Health and Community Services (HCS). This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States in the Government Plan 2020-2023. MD-TR-2019-0065 approved £845,000 to HCS for 2019 of which there is a remaining balance of £345,021. This decision supersedes that previous decision and the remaining balance will be released back into the General Reserve available balance. Funding that has been drawn down and is unspent at the end of the financial year will return to the PFV. Where unspent balances are required for the same purpose in the following year, the Minister for Treasury and Resources may approve a Ministerial Decision to reissue the funding without a need to repeat the funding application process. Any amounts that remain unspent once the pre-feasibility work has been completed will be returned to the PFV or to the Reserve. Funding should be held in the Reserve and the PFV until there is evidence that it is required by the Department. Evidence will be provided to the Minister for drawdowns and the Treasurer will approve these drawdowns, with the written agreement of the Minister, in tranches of up to £1.5 million.
Action required: The Head of Financial Governance to advise the Specialist – Business Cases and the Head of Finance Business Partnering of the department that this decision is approved.
Signature:		Position: Deputy Susie Pinel Minister for Treasury and Resources
Date Signed:		Date of Decision: