Budget transfer from Central Contingencies to Treasury and Resources Department: Tax Policy Unit: Capacity and Capability Increase

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A decision made 6 April 2018:

Decision reference: MD-TR-2018-0052
Decision Summary Title:	Contingency Funding to increase the Capacity and Capability of the Tax Policy Unit in light of additional commitments made in 2018 Budget		Date of Decision Summary:	6th April 2018
Decision Summary Author:	Head of Decision Support		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	Contingency Funding to increase the Capacity and Capability of the Tax Policy Unit in light of additional commitments made in 2018 Budget		Date of Written Report:	6th April 2018
Written Report Author:	Head of Decision Support		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: The transfer of up to £200,000 in 2018 and up to £201,000 in 2019 from Central Contingencies to the Treasury and Resources Department revenue head of expenditure for the Taxes Office to increase the Capacity and Capability of the Tax Policy Unit in light of additional commitments made in 2018 Budget.
Decision(s): The Treasury and Resources Minister approved the transfer of £200,000 in 2018 and £201,000 in 2019 from Central Contingencies to the Treasury and Resources Department revenue head of expenditure for the Taxes Office to increase the Capacity and Capability of the Tax Policy Unit in light of additional commitments made in 2018 Budget. The Minister also approved an increase of 2.0 FTE within the Treasury and Resources Taxes Office for the period to 31st December 2020.
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 current Contingency Allocation Policy (published as R.110/2017) sets the requirement for all allocations from Contingency over £100,000 to be considered by the Council of Ministers prior to submission to the Minister for approval. The Council of Ministers approved this allocation at its meeting of 28th March 2018. To comply with P67/1999 which charges the Minister for Treasury and Resources to regulate the number of persons that may be employed by the States.
Resource Implications: The Treasury and Resources revenue head of expenditure to increase by up to £200,000 in 2018 and up to £201,000 in 2019. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States in the Medium Term Financial Plan 2016 to 2019. The £401,000 in total is proposed to be drawn down in 2018 and 2019 but the amount for each year may be varied without exceeding the total amount for the two years A temporary increase of 2 FTE in Treasury and Resources (Taxes Office), for the period to 31st December 2020. The Council of Ministers noted that the increase in cost for 2020 would be included in a separate growth bid for 2020 onwards.
Action required: The Head of Decision Support to advise the Comptroller of Taxes and the Finance Director of the Corporate Group that this decision is approved.
Signature:		Position: Senator A J H Maclean Minister for Treasury and Resources
Date Signed:		Date of Decision: