Budget transfer from Central Contingencies to Education Department

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A decision made 9 December 2016:

Decision Reference: MD ED-2016-0029
Decision Summary Title:	EPGDP Funding Allocation EDU 01 -Skills Strategy		Date of Decision Summary:	01 December 2016
Decision Summary Author:	Head of Careers and Student Finance		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:
Written Report Title:	EPGDP Funding Allocation EDU 01 -Skills Strategy		Date of Written Report:	01 December 2016
Written Report Author:	Head of Careers and Student Finance		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: A non-recurring budget transfer of £40,000 in 2017 and 1.0 FTE in 2017 for 1 year to the Education Department revenue head of expenditure from the Economic and Productivity Growth Drawdown Provision (EPGDP) within Central Contingencies.
Decision(s): The Minister is recommended to receive a non-recurring budget transfer £40,000 in 2017 and 1.0 FTE in 2017 for 1 year to the Education Department revenue head of expenditure from the Economic and Productivity Growth Drawdown Provision (EPGDP) within Central Contingencies.
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 to heads of expenditure of amounts not exceeding, in total, the amount available for contingency expenditure in a financial year. Article 18(3A) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005 states that the Minister may approve the withdrawal from the consolidated fund, after the end of the relevant financial year, of all or part of the amount appropriated by a revenue head of expenditure.
Resource Implications: The Education Department revenue head of expenditure to increase by £40,000 in 2017 and 1.0 FTE in 2017 for 1 year. The Economic and Productivity Growth Drawdown Provision (EPGDP) within Central Contingencies to decrease by an identical amount. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States for 2016 in the Medium Term Financial Plan.
Action required: Head of Decision Support to advise the Finance Officer – Corporate Group once this decision has been approved.
Signature:		Position: Deputy R. Bryans Minister for Education
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Budget transfer from Central Contingencies to Education Department

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Education

Ministerial Decision Report

EPGDP funding allocation EDU 01 – Skills strategy

Purpose of Report

To enable the Minister for Education to receive a non-recurring budget transfer of up to £40,000 in 2017 and 1.0 FTE to the Education Department revenue head of expenditure from the Economic and Productivity Growth Drawdown Provision (EPGDP) within Central Contingencies.

Background

Following review and recommendation by the EPGDP Officer Group, the Economic Policy Political Oversight Group recommended that the Treasury Minister should approve funding for proposal EDU 01 Skills Strategy from the EPGDP.

EPGDP funding will be utilised as follows:

- Skills Post – a temporary post will be established to coordinate the development and implementation of the Skills Strategy, outputs from this post include:

liaise with independent researchers for the Skills Strategy and provide support to minimise external costs;
translate the Skills Strategy, in conjunction with the Education leadership, into an action plan and then monitor and quality assure the results
undertake ongoing research, analysis and regular monitoring of the changing working environment and therefore the skills needs of the environment to keep the skills strategy updated
design and coordinate a range of targeted skills initiatives, in line with the finalised Skills Strategy
develop a programme for the timely review of skills gaps including a process and timetable for effective consultation with relevant industry and employer organisations.

	2016	2017	2018	2019	Total
Skills Post	-	40,000	-	-	40,000

Total	-	40,000	-	-	40,000

The original business case for EPGDP funding included provision for independent specialist research to identify the Island’s future skills requirements and determine the current gap between available skills and employer requirements. This element of the project will now be funded from available underspends within Education

Once the Skills Strategy has been developed the Education Department will bring forward further funding requests for skills initiatives to implement the Strategy.

The skills post will be employed on a temporary contract and the FTE will expire at the end of 2017.

Any underspends will be assumed to return to the EPGDP unless the Treasury Minister identifies a more beneficial use for the funding.

3. Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to receive a non-recurring budget transfer of up to £40,000 in 2017 and 1.0 FTE to the Education Department revenue head of expenditure revenue head of expenditure from the EPGDP within Central Contingencies.

4. Reason 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 to heads of expenditure of amounts not exceeding, in total, the amount available for contingency expenditure in a financial year.

5. Resource Implications

The Education Department revenue head of expenditure will increase by non-recurring budget transfer of up to £40,000 in 2017 and 1.0 FTE.

The EPGDP within Central Contingences will decrease by the same amount.

This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States in the Medium Term Financial Plan.

Report author : Head of Careers and Student Finance	Document date 1 December 2016
Quality Assurance / Review : Head of Decision Support	File name and path: L:\Treasury\Sections\Corporate Finance\Ministerial Decisions\DS, WR and SD\2016-0074 - EDGDP Funding allocation ER
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