Public Finances Law amendments proposed

24 May 2013

The Treasury has been working on amendments to the Public Finances Law, which are intended to improve financial management in the States and extend the concept of Accounting Officer to all areas of the organisation’s income and expenditure.

These amendments include:

putting the Fiscal Policy Panel onto a statutory basis
establishing the existing States Insurance arrangements formally into a special fund
re-instating the provision that enables Council of Ministers to take requests for additional funding to the States (previously referred to as an Article 11(8) funding request)
allowing more flexibility to transfer funds between different areas of expenditure, after approval by Ministers involved and Treasury Minister
extending the Accounting Officer role
strengthening the role and remit of the Treasurer

Scrutiny

The Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel is scrutinising the draft legislation before it is formally lodged. It is hoped that after lodging, the amendments will be scheduled for debate at the last States sitting before the summer break.

The Assistant Treasury Minister, Deputy Eddie Noel, said “We have forwarded a draft of the legislation to Members now as we thought it would be helpful for them to see it in advance of formal lodging.

“The Minister and I will be attending a formal Scrutiny hearing on the legislation next week and it seems sensible to publish the legislation to ensure that as many people as possible have the opportunity to consider the amendments in good time.

“I have also enclosed a consolidated version of the Public Finance Law highlighting how the Law would look if the amendments were approved.”

There will be opportunities to amend the legislation within the lodging period and Members will be invited to briefings on the new Finance Law Provisions when it is lodged.

Download proposed amendments to Public Finances Law (size 206Kb)

Download Public Finances Law as if amended with proposed amendments (size 352Kb)

Download presentation on proposed amendments to Public Finances Law (size 683Kb)