Government of Jersey

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A decision made (10/08/2009) regarding: Jersey Heritage Trust - Funds for Historical Child Abuse Enquiry.

Decision Reference: MD-TR-2009-0137
Decision Summary Title:	Transfer of Funds to ESC in Respect of Historical Child Abuse Enquiry		Date of Decision Summary:	3 August 2009
Decision Summary Author:	Finance Manager, Decision Support		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	Release of Historical Child Abuse Enquiry Funds to ESC on Behalf of JHT		Date of Written Report:	3 August 2009
Written Report Author:	Finance Manager, Decision Support		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: The Minister for Treasury and Resources authorised the transfer of £135,000 to Education, Sport and Culture for allocation to the Jersey Heritage Trust in order to cover the cost of the Historical Child Abuse Enquiry.
Decision(s): The Chief Minister, on behalf of the Minister for Treasury and Resources, agreed to approve the transfer of £135,000 to Education, Sport and Culture for allocation to the Jersey Heritage Trust to cover the costs associated with the Historical Child Abuse Enquiry.
Reason(s) for Decision: To transfer funds in accordance with the approval of P91/2008 and P83/2009 and prevent the need for the Education, Sport and Culture’s Accounting Officer to absorb the Service Level Agreement costs within existing budgets possibly requiring cutbacks in front line services.
Resource Implications: There are no financial or manpower resource implications.
Action required: Finance Manager, Decision Support to action the budget transfers and to inform the Education, Sport and Culture Department.
Signature:		Position: Senator T. A. Le Sueur, Chief Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Jersey Heritage Trust - Funds for Historical Child Abuse Enquiry.

TREASURY AND RESOURCES MINISTER

Transfer of historical child abuse enquiry funds to education, sport and culture on behalf of jersey heritage trust

Purpose of Report

To recommend to the Minister for Treasury and Resources to accept the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture’s request of approving the transfer of £135,000 from Treasury and Resources to Education, Sport and Culture, on behalf of the Jersey Heritage Trust, in order to cover the costs incurred relating to the Historical Child Abuse Enquiry.

Background

In May 2008 the Education, Sport and Culture Department established a Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the Chief Minister’s Department, States Greffe and Jersey Heritage in respect of the safeguarding of documentation for a potential Committee of Enquiry into Children’s Care Homes. The SLA states the costs to be paid to Jersey Heritage Trust for 2008, due in January 2009, are £65,000 with a further £70,000 to be paid in relation to 2009 subject States approval. The total costs identified equating to £135,000 will specifically fund a contract post at the Jersey Archive and improve storage to appraise and catalogue all departmental records potentially relating to the enquiry for a period of 2 years.

P91/2008 (Historic Child Abuse Enquiry – Funding) was approved by the States in September 2008 agreeing to allocate up to £7.5 million to the Treasury and Resources Department in order to reimburse departments, including the initial £65,000 for Jersey Heritage Trust, for actual expenditure incurred on the Enquiry. The £65,000 was not spent in 2008 as it was not due until January 2009.

P83/2009 (Funding Requests Under Article 11(8)) was approved by the States in July 2009. In accordance with Article 11(8) of the Public Finance (Jersey) Law 2005, P83/2009 asked the States to approve:-

“That funding up to a maximum of £4,250,000 should only be made available to departments from the allocation to the Treasury and Resources Department by public ministerial decision of the Minister for Treasury and Resources based on documented evidence of actual additional costs incurred as a result of the Historic Child Abuse Enquiry.”

Included in the £4.25 million was the further bid from Education Sport and Culture amounting to £70,000 relating to 2009 costs associated with the SLA. P83/2009 also permitted the Department to carry forward the original earmarked sum of £65,000.

The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture now wishes for the £135,000 to be transferred from Treasury and Resources to the Department on behalf of the Jersey Heritage Trust.

The Director of Education, Sport and Culture has confirmed that he will receive assurance that the funds forwarded to the Jersey Heritage Trust concerning the costs associated with the Historic Child Abuse Enquiry will be used appropriately and for its intended purpose. The Jersey Heritage Trust has confirmed that should the funds not be required up to the level specified in the SLA, the balance shall be returned to the Treasury and Resources Department.

Recommendation

The Minister for Treasury and Resources approves the transfer of £135,000 from Treasury and Resources to the Education, Sport and Culture Department.

Reason for Decision

To transfer funds in accordance with the approval of P91/2008 and P83/2009 and prevent the need for the Education, Sport and Culture’s Accounting Officer to absorb the SLA costs within existing budgets possibly requiring cutbacks in front line services.

States Treasury Nick Collins, Finance Manager Decision Support

4 August, 2009