Jersey Business: Establishment of support service intergrating Jersey Business Venture and Jersey Enterprise

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A decision made 13 December 2011:

Decision Reference: MD-E-2011-0198
Decision Summary Title :	Establishment of Jersey Business and commencement of recruitment for a Chair & Board Members		Date of Decision Summary:	9th December 2011
Decision Summary Author:	Strategic Policy Manager		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	n/a
Written Report Title :	Establishment of Jersey Business the proposed new business support service for Jersey, arising from the integration of Jersey Business Venture with Jersey Enterprise’s on-island support team		Date of Written Report:	9th December 2011
Written Report Author:	Strategic Policy Manager		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Establishment of Jersey Business, the proposed new business support service for Jersey which integrates Jersey Business Venture with Jersey Enterprise’s on-island resources, to form a new independent and confidential business information, advisory and support service in early 2012.
Decision(s): The Minister decided to establish Jersey Business and commence recruitment of the Board.
Reason(s) for Decision: In the States Annual Business Plan 2012, as part of the Department’s CSR savings, the ED Minister indicated his decision to integrate Jersey Business Venture with Jersey Enterprise’s on-island resource to form a new independent and confidential business information, advisory and support service - Jersey Business - offering a single point of entry. A joint Working Group has been operating throughout 2011 to create a new entity, governance structure and to scope new proposed service levels, that will create a new delivery organisation early in 2012 capable of providing local businesses with a leading edge business advisory and support service. This decision will allow the immediate recruitment of a new Chair and Board Members for Jersey Business to begin, and for future recruitment with the Board’s assistance, of an appropriate organisation and management structure.
Resource Implications: The Chair of Jersey Business will receive an honorarium of £10, 000 in return for a commitment of around 20 working days per annum. Other Directors will be paid a daily rate of £450, paid pro-rata for attendance by half day or part thereof. For Jersey Business as a whole, initial savings will be secured along with the elimination of potential duplication of services, premises and clients. The overall cost saving to the States is likely to be in the region of £150,000 per annum.
Action required: The Minister will instruct the Strategic Policy Manager to establish Jersey Business and commence recruitment.
Signature: Senator Alan Maclean		Position: Minister for Economic Development
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Jersey Business: Establishment of support service intergrating Jersey Business Venture and Jersey Enterprise

Establishing Jersey Business

- A single source of on-island business support

In the States Annual Business Plan 2012, as part of the Department’s contribution towards the Comprehensive Spending Review, the ED Minister indicated his decision to integrate Jersey Business Venture with Jersey Enterprise’s on-island team, to form a new independent and confidential business information, advisory and support service for local businesses.

Following several months of negotiation, in September 2011, the Minister and the Board of Jersey Business Venture both signed a binding Agreement setting out the terms under which resources from both organisations would be brought together, to form the foundations of the new business support organisation – Jersey Business – due to start operation in early 2012.

A joint ED/JBV Working Group has been meeting regularly to create a new entity, governance structure and to scope new proposed service levels for the new delivery organisation, in order to provide local businesses with a leading edge business advisory and support service. Throughout the process, the Appointments Commission have been kept abreast of developments and will play an active part in the recruitment process.

The legal paperwork establishing both a Non-Charitable Purpose Trust and legal entity (Jersey Business Limited) was signed by the Trustees on Monday 28th November 2011, with proposed recruitment of a new Chair and Board Members for Jersey Business to begin very shortly.

The intention is to recruit a Chair, plus six non-executive Directors - one of whom to be appointed by the Minister to represent the Department’s interests – who would have the responsibility for service delivery via an ongoing Service Level Agreement supported by an Annual Business Plan, clearly setting out Departmental priorities, targets and outputs.

A copy of the initial draft Annual Business Plan for Jersey Business is attached and is subject to confirmation by the Jersey Business Board once appointed. It must be noted that as Jersey Business will not be launched until the second quarter of 2012, the level of products and services offered, will be reduced accordingly.

Implementation

The following implementation outlines the next steps that will lead to the launch of Jersey Business

Resource Implications:

Recruitment for the Jersey Business staff will begin in early January 2012 with the full complement of 6 full-time staff in place by the second quarter of 2012.

The following table outlines both the capital cost for setting up Jersey Business as well as the indicative annual operational costs for 2012.

	Capital Cost	Revenue Cost	Indicative Comparable 2011 Costs (JE & JBV)
Item	£	£	£
Professional fees re-set up	9,500
Recruitment	11,000		8,000
Accommodation fit out	50,000
Branding & Web Development	40,000		30
IT & Telephony (one off costs in 2012)	100,000	50,000	1,750
Rent		28,000	60,000
Insurance		3,000	7,000
Heat & Light		2,000	9,000
Sundry		5,000	8,000
Staff		450,000	566,406
Honorarium		23,500
HR and Finance Support		2,000
Contingency	21,050		8,500
Total	231,550	563,500	668,686

As Jersey Business will not be fully operational until the second quarter of 2012, funds will need to be ring-fenced to cover the operation of Jersey Business Venture for the first three months at a cost of £32,500. Following the launch of Jersey Business, it will need to be determined what will be done with any Jersey Business Venture surplus funding.

The Chair of Jersey Business will receive an honorarium of £10, 000 in return for a commitment of around 20 working days per annum. Other Directors will be paid a daily rate of £450, paid pro-rata for attendance by half day or part thereof. These sums are included

For Jersey Business as a whole, initial savings will be secured along with the elimination of potential duplication of services, premises and clients.

The overall cost saving to the States is likely to be in the region of £150,000 per annum.