Children's Mental Health and Wellbeing: Reserve Funding

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[THIS DECISION HAS BEEN RESCINDED BY MD-TR-2021-0045] A decision made on 26 March 2021

Decision Reference: MD-TR-2021-0030
Decision Summary Title:	Reserve Funding for Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing		Date of Decision Summary:	26th March 2021
Decision Summary Author:	Head of Investment Appraisal		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	n/a
Written Report Title:	Reserve Funding for Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing		Date of Written Report:	26th March 2021
Written Report Author:	Head of Investment Appraisal		Written Report: Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Approval of Reserve funding to the Department for Children, Young People, Education and Skills (CYPES) for children’s mental health and wellbeing
Decision(s): The Minister decided to approve an allocation of up to £955,000 to the CYPES Head of Expenditure to enable investment in the children’s mental health and wellbeing via an expansion in capacity within the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.
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 for all allocations from the General Reserve (Covid-19) once approved by the States Treasurer to be referred for review to either the Council of Ministers or the relevant Competent Authorities Ministers and to seek comments from the Principal Accountable Officer (PAO) prior to submission to the Minister for approval. The Investment Appraisal Team has recommended this request for approval and, following this review, the Treasurer, having consulted the PAO and CAM, recommends that the Minister allocates funding from the Covid-19 Reserve within the General Reserve.
Resource Implications: The CYPES Head of Expenditure to increase by £955,000 and the Covid-19 Reserve within the General Reserve to decrease by an equivalent amount. CYPES’s established headcount will increase by 12.5 FTE until the end of 2021.
Action required: Head of Financial Governance to ensure this decision is published on www.gov.je and notify the Head of Finance Business Partnering for CYPES.
Signature:		Position: Deputy S J Pinel, Minister for Treasury and Resources
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Children's Mental Health and Wellbeing: Reserve Funding

Treasury and Exchequer

Ministerial Decision Report

Reserve Funding for Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing

Purpose of Report

Approval of Reserve funding to the Department for Children, Young People, Education and Skills (CYPES) for children’s mental health and wellbeing.

Background

The Government Plan 2021-2024 provides £40 million as a Covid-19 Reserve within the General Reserve for Covid-19-related funding needs that cannot be met from existing heads of expenditure in 2021.

Covid-19 has substantially increased demand for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). This has impacted on the size of the waiting list for services and the average waiting time for non-emergency treatment. In order to respond to this surge in demand it is necessary to temporarily expand the service’s capacity.

A system-wide solution is proposed that aims to both increase treatment capacity and prevent further impacts on waiting times through an emphasis on early intervention and enhanced resources for assessment.

The proposed response encompasses the following components:

- A 12.5 FTE increase in clinical capacity

- Online counselling and support service that provides an out of hours solution until 10pm, 24/7 access to online resources and further treatment capacity.

- External expert support for specialist treatment needs.

- Support for schools including provision of training in routine interventions, a review of policies and procedures, and the development of young people mental health champions.

- Communications to promote early intervention services in order to avert further growth in demand for more acute services by enabling treatment before conditions become more complex.

- Training for parents and carers who are essential part of the successful management of children’s mental health treatment.

This expansion in services will come to an end by 31 December 2021.

Recommendation

The Treasurer recommends that the Minister approves an allocation of £955,000 to the CYPES Head of Expenditure to enable investment in children’s mental health and wellbeing via an expansion of capacity within CAMHS.

Reason 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 for all allocations from the General Reserve (Covid-19) once approved by the States Treasurer to be referred for review to either the Council of Ministers or the relevant Competent Authorities Ministers and to seek comments from the Principal Accountable Officer (PAO) prior to submission to the Minister for approval.

The Investment Appraisal Team has recommended this request for approval and, following this review, the Treasurer, having consulted the PAO and CAM, recommends that the Minister allocates funding from the Covid-19 Reserve within the General Reserve.

Resource Implications

The CYPES Head of Expenditure to increase by £955,000 and the Covid-19 Reserve within the General Reserve to decrease by an equivalent amount.

CYPES’s established headcount will increase by 12.5 FTE until the end of 2021.

Report author: Head of Investment Appraisal	Document date: 26th March 2021
Quality Assurance / Review : Head of Financial Governance	File name and path: L:\Treasury\Sections\Corporate Finance\Ministerial Decisions\DS, WR and SD\2021-0030 - Reserve Funding for Children's Mental Health and Wellbeing
MD sponsor : Treasurer of the States