Health and Community Services for Personal Protective Equipment Warehousing and Logistics Solutions: Covid-19: Allocation of Reserve Funding

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A decision made on 30 September 2020

Decision reference: MD-TR-2020-0127
Decision Summary Title:	Allocation of Reserve Funding to HCS for PPE Warehousing and Logistics Solution in 2020		Date of Decision Summary:	30 September 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 HCS for PPE Warehousing and Logistics Solution in 2020		Date of Written Report:	29 September 2020
Written Report Author:	Specialist – Business Cases		Written Report: Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: The allocation of up to £102,300 in 2020 from the General Reserve to HCS (Health and Community Services) for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Warehousing & Logistics Solutions as a result of the impact of COVID-19.
Decision(s): The Minister approved a non-recurring allocation from the General Reserve in 2020 of up to £102,300 to HCS for PPE Warehousing and Logistics Solutions as a result of the impact 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 (published as R.80/2020) 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 Investment Appraisal Team has recommended this request for approval and further to these reviews the Treasurer, having consulted with the Principal Accountable Officer and the Chief Minister and noting that the Council of Ministers at their meeting of the 29th July considered PPE warehousing and logistics requirements, recommends this allocation to the Minister.
Resource Implications: The HCS head of expenditure to increase by up to £102,300 in 2020 and the General Reserve to decrease by the same amount. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States in the Government Plan 2020-2023.
Action required: The Head of Financial Governance to advise the Specialist – Business Cases and the Heads of Finance Business Partnering of HCS that this decision is approved.
Signature:		Position: Deputy S J Pinel Minister for Treasury and Resources
Date Signed: 30th September 2020		Date of Decision: 30th of September 2020

Health and Community Services for Personal Protective Equipment Warehousing and Logistics Solutions:Covid-19:Allocation of Reserve Funding

Treasury and Exchequer

Ministerial Decision Report

ALLOCATION of Reserve Funding to hcs for PPE Warehousing and Logistics Solution in 2020

Purpose of Report

To enable the Minister to approve the allocation of up to £102,300 in 2020 from the General Reserve to the Health and Community Services (HCS) department for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) warehousing and logistics solutions required as a result of the impact 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 from the Treasury and Exchequer head of expenditure (MD-TR-2020-0035) and 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).

The Council of Ministers has set a requirement for PPE stockholding together with the requirement for securing additional warehouse space for storing PPE and the means to manage and distribute PPE. The Minister for Health and Social Services was delegated to act on behalf of CoM in finalising the arrangements. The PPE stockholding is not directly considered in this evaluation.

Timely and complete provision of PPE is essential to the Government’s management of COVID-19. The initial emergency response to the pandemic procured enough quantities of PPE to assure an effective island wide response. PPE stock has been held in three locations:

HCS Five Oaks Store;
Jersey Field Squadron Le Quesne Barracks; and
New North Quay Warehouse.

With effect from the end of September, Government of Jersey will no longer have use of either the Jersey Field Squadron Le Quesne Barracks or the New North Quay Warehouse. The HCS Five Oaks Store has insufficient capacity to replace the use of the other two locations. As such an alternative warehouse solution is required.

In addition to the Jersey Field Squadron having provided warehousing for PPE, they have also been integral to the provision of warehouse management and logistics support. As with the provision of their barracks for warehousing, this service arrangement comes to an end on the 30 September.

The HCS stores team has insufficient resources to manage the increased demand placed on them by the additional COVID related PPE warehousing and logistics requirements.

HCS have developed an interim warehousing and logistics solution that covers the period from 1 October 2020 to 30 March 2021, with an option to break earlier if required. This provides a temporary solution until a longer-term solution can be implemented.

Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to approve the allocation of up to £102,300 from the General Reserve to the HCS head of expenditure in 2020 for the PPE warehousing and logistics solutions required as a result of the impact of COVID-19.

The recommendation is that funding be drawdown as follows:

up to £36,300 to cover the 2020 cost associated with securing a warehouse solution and for the costs of the initial transfer of stock to the warehouse; and
up to £66,000 to cover the 2020 costs of implementing and running the logistics solution.

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 (published as R.80/2020) 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 Investment Appraisal Team has recommended this request for approval and further to these reviews the Treasurer, having consulted with the Principal Accountable Officer and the Chief Minister and noting that the Council of Ministers at their meeting of the 29th July considered PPE warehousing and logistics requirements, recommends this allocation to the Minister.

5. Resource Implications

The HCS head of expenditure to increase by up to £102,300 in 2020 and the General Reserve to decrease by the same amount. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States in the Government Plan 2020-2023.

Report author: Specialist – Business Cases	Document date : 29th September 2020
Quality Assurance / Review: Group Director, Strategic Finance	File name and path: L:\Treasury\Sections\Corporate Finance\Ministerial Decisions\DS, WR and SD\2020-0127 Reserve Funding to HCS – PPE Warehousing and Logistics Solution CV19
MD sponsor: Treasurer of the States