Transfer of funding from Economic Development Department and Harbour Office to Home Affairs.

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A decision made (17/05/2007) regarding: Transfer of funding from Economic Development Department and Harbour Office to Home Affairs.

Subject:	Transfer of funding from Economic Development Department and Harbour Office to Home Affairs.
Decision Reference:	MD-HA-2007-0037		Exempt clause(s):	N/A
Type of Report: (oral or written)	Written		Person Giving Report (if oral):
Telephone or e-mail Meeting?			Report File ref:	HAD/CST 1
Written report – Title	Costs for on-board Immigration controls
Written report – Author (name and job title)	Mike Robinson Head of Customs and Immigration Service
Decision(s): The Minister approved the transfer of £13,000 from the Economic Development Department and a transfer of £13,000 from the Harbour Office.
Reason(s) for decision: The Customs and Immigration Service were not informed of the additional shipping movements agreed by the Harbour Office for the 2007 summer season in time for any adjustment of their budget or resources to fully meet the extra costs that they will incur.
Resource Implications: The total extra cost of the Service providing on board immigration costs for the 2007 season is estimated to be £39,000. A three way partnership has been agreed with the Economic Development Department and Jersey Harbours resulting in a net additional cost to the Home Affairs Department of £13,000 to be met from the Customs and Immigration budget.
Action required: The Head of the Customs and Immigration Service to inform the Chief Officer of the Economic Development Department and the Chief Executive of the Harbour Office of this Ministerial Decision and request the implementation of the transfer of the funds. Finance Director to notify the Treasurer of the States of the forthcoming transfer of budget in accordance with Financial Direction 3.6 – Variations to Heads of Expenditure.
Signature: (Minister/ Assistant Minister)		Date of Decision: 17 May 2007

Transfer of funding from Economic Development Department and Harbour Office to Home Affairs.

Customs and Immigration Service

Costs for on-board Immigration controls

Introduction

This Minister will recall being previously advised of resourcing difficulties for the operation of Immigration controls on inward shipping in 2007, which are summarised below.

Agreement has now been reached between the Chief Officer of Home Affairs, the Chief Officer of the Economic Development Department and the Chief Executive of the Harbour Office for some of the extra costs of the resourcing to be shared three ways.

Resourcing difficulties

There are three inter-connected pressures that have created the resourcing difficulties this year.

i) There will be an increase of operators providing more scheduled services;

ii) some scheduled arrivals will be outside of our core shift hours; and

iii) the clearance of in-transit passengers is conducted on board the vessels.

The Customs and Immigration Service were not informed of the new schedules until after they had been agreed and published and thus there was no opportunity to address the resourcing issues when they were being set. The cost of providing the extra resources required is not included in the Home Affairs Business Plan or budget.

It should also be noted that the extra workload is compounded by the fact that Customs and Immigration lost posts in the 2005 FSR and corporate efficiency exercises.

i) Increase in operators

In 2006 there were two operators providing scheduled sea passenger services arriving from a foreign port and of these only one was a car ferry. In 2007 there will be four operators including two car ferries. The majority of the arrivals will be at the Elizabeth and Albert terminals but there will also be increased activity at Gorey. Whilst it is not possible to predict if passenger numbers will actually increase the pressure on resources will arrive due to more movements and in particular extra car ferries. The actual increases from 2006 to 2007 are shown in the table below.

	Apr-Sep 2006	Predicted Apr-Sep 2007	Actual Increase	% Increase
Total French Arrivals	821	1520	699	85
Car Ferries	468	822	354	75
Albert Pier	348	688	340	97
Gorey	8	49	41	500
In-Transit	101	402	301	298

ii) Arrivals out of core hours

The present shift system for Customs and Immigration Officers covers the hours from 0600 to 2200. The new car ferry is scheduled to arrive at 2200 hours every day from 15 March to 30 September. Extending the shift hours for our officers obviously spreads the amount of cover that has to be in place even thinner. There will also have to be Customs coverage on passengers and freight for these movements.

iii) On board controls for in-transit passengers

A number of movements in 2007 will carry passengers that are in-transit from France to Guernsey or the UK. As Jersey is the first port of call in the Common Travel Area for these arrivals we have an obligation to conduct Immigration controls on all the passengers. It has been the practice for a number of years for these Immigration controls to take place on board the vessels simultaneously with the Immigration controls in the Terminal building. The extra movements this year will make it impossible to continue to provide the on-board controls within existing resources. The only way that it can be managed is by offering overtime to officers.

The total extra cost to the Service of providing this on-board facility for the 2007 season will therefore be £39,000 and it is this cost that it has been agreed will be shared with the Economic Development Department and Jersey Harbours.

A draft letter formally requesting the transfer has been prepared and is attached.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Minister agrees to receive a transfer of £13,000 from the Economic Development Department and £13,000 from Jersey Harbours.

Mike Robinson

Head of Service

18 April 2007

[Home Affairs / Customs and Immigration Service letterhead]

Draft Letter to Mr. Mike King, Chief Officer, Economic Development Department and Mr. Howard Le Cornu, Chief Executive Officer, Jersey Harbours

Dear

Transfer of funds

I am writing following the agreement that you reached with Steven Austin-Vautier for the transfer of £13,000 from your budget to the Customs and Immigration Service, via the Home Affairs Department, to help meet the costs of providing Immigration Controls for the 2007 summer season.

I attach a copy of the Ministerial decision by the Minister for Home Affairs agreeing to accept the transfer.

I would be grateful if you could now arrange for the transfer to take place.

Yours sincerely

Mike Robinson

Head of Service