Strategic assessments of efficiency savings (FOI)

​Request

I refer to a previous Freedom of Information response published at the following link:

Civil service restructuring (FOI)

With reference to the response to part B of this FOI:

"The original £30m estimate cited was based upon a consideration of anticipated achievable efficiencies of approximately 4% of total costs. This was based upon a strategic assessment before the development of a detailed Efficiency Programme which is being developed (please refer to Response C(a))."

I would like a copy of the 'strategic assessment' referenced here. If this is a report / number of reports, please provide them.

Response

Any further information in relation to any strategic assessments underlying plans to deliver £30 million of savings in 2019 is exempt from release under Article 35 (Policy under Development) and Article 36 (Information intended for future publication) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011, noting, in particular, that the initial announcement and inclusion in the 2019 Transition Report (see links below) explained the strategic issues, and that more detail around the efficiency programme will be included in the Government Plan, which is due to be lodged with the Assembly by the end of July.

Chamber of Commerce speech 10 October 2018

Transition Report 2019

Articles applied

Article 35 Formulation and development of policies

Information is qualified exempt information if it relates to the formulation or development of any proposed policy by a public authority.

Justification

Article 35 is a qualified exemption, which means that a public interest test is required to be undertaken by the Scheduled Public Authority (SPA). The SPA has reviewed the balancing arguments in relation to public interest favouring release versus public interest favouring withholding.

Although there is a need for transparency, accountability, financial and good decision making by public authorities this information relates to an ongoing situation and sensitive aspects of the ongoing transformation of the Government of Jersey, any assessment undertaken is being used to inform the efficiency programme and to drive change within the Government of Jersey.

In order to proceed effectively with the transformation process, the SPA needs a safe space in which to develop policy based on the work of officers. The SPA – and indeed good government, requires the possible impact of any proposed policy to be reviewed, and for Ministers and officials to be able to discuss and test those proposed policies in a comprehensive way, such testing including analysis of the underlying work undertaken.

Disclosure of relevant information would support transparency and promote accountability to the general public and potentially aid understanding in the methodology underlying the proposed financial savings. However the SPA needs the ability to consider and reconsider the assumptions and evaluations raised within any strategic assessment and related discussions for the purpose of good government.

Taking into account the various factors, the SPA believes that it is necessary to maintain this exemption at this time, though it is intended that a high level analysis will be included within the efficiencies programme that will form part of the government plan, explaining the strategic assessment that provides ground for planning for £30 million of savings in 2019, and building on that programme.

It should also be noted that once a policy is formulated and published, the public interest in withholding information relating to its formulation is diminished, however, the use of the exemption can be supported if it preserves sufficient freedom during the policy formulation phase to explore options without that process being hampered by some expectation of future publication.

Article 36 Information intended for future publication

(1) Information is qualified exempt information if, at the time when the request for the information is made, the information is being held by a public authority with a view to its being published within 12 weeks of the date of the request.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant –

(a) of the date when the information will be published;

(b) of the manner in which it will be published; and

(c) by whom it will be published.

(3) In this Article, “published” means published –

(a) by a public authority; or

(b) by any other person.

Internal Review Request

Article 35 - Policy under development:

The information requested did not ask for details of the Efficiency Programme itself or its development, but the methodology used to calculate the £30million estimate.

Article 35 is therefore an inappropriate exemption, as this information in and of itself does not relate to the formulation of policy. The requested information is merely a calculation of the government’s current financial position, which has already been publicly stated.

The fact that an Efficiency Programme was developed, and continues to be developed, in response to this is not relevant. The decision to implement an Efficiency Programme came after the financial position was calculated. This is admitted by the government here:

"The original £30m estimate cited was based upon a consideration of anticipated achievable efficiencies of approximately 4% of total costs. This was based upon a strategic assessment before the development of a detailed Efficiency Programme which is being developed (please refer to Response C(a))."

To repeat, the request does not seek information about the Efficiency Programme, a policy under development, but simply the methodology relating to the calculation of the publicly announced deficit figure.

Article 36 - Information intended for future publication:

The response to the request for information notes that “more detail around the efficiency programme will be included in the Government Plan, which is due to be lodged with the Assembly by the end of July.”

Again, the request is for the strategic assessment, not for details of the Efficiency Programme. This article therefore does not apply unless the strategic assessment is going to be provided in full as part of the Government Plan, as requested.

Article 36 also notes that this must be information intended for publication within 12 weeks of receipt of the request. The request was made on 7 July, meaning that the full strategic assessment, as requested, would therefore have to be published by July 30.

It also states that, in these circumstances, the applicant should be informed of the date of the information’s publication, the manner of publication and by whom it will be published. This information, relating specifically to the publication of the strategic assessment, has not been provided.

Internal Review Response

The review has been completed by two senior members of the Government of Jersey, independent of the original decision making process.

Article 35 – Policy under development

In reviewing the decision taken, the Scheduled Public Authority (the SPA) drew the review panel’s attention to the guidance issued by the UK Office of the Information Commissioner, in relation to the application of the Policy exemption.

They made particular note of the following points:

14. … the information does not itself have to be created as part of the activity. Any significant link between the information and the activity is enough. Information may ‘relate to’ the activity due to its original purpose when created, or its later use, or its subject matter. Information created before the activity started may still be covered if it was used in or affected the activity at a later date.” *

* Information Commissioner guidance note - Government Policy (section 35)

The engagement of Article 35 requires the subject matter of the withheld information to be significantly linked to the relevant policy, irrespective of when this was created. In this instance the request was not solely for the calculation of the savings required but for the methodology involved in the strategic assessment of such figure. It is considered that this methodology and assessment are used to inform and drive the design and implementation of the efficiencies programme.

The requester notes that;

The requested information is merely a calculation of the government’s current financial position, which has already been publicly stated.

There are then two issues stemming from this. If the information requested has been publicly stated, this is accessible by other means – that is, if all that is required is the calculation, then this is, as noted, approximately 4% of total costs.

Alternatively this statement of the requester does not match up to the original request which asks for the strategic assessment – the underlying methodology and decision making process of the calculation.

The panel reviewed the withheld information, the information accessible by other means, and the information within the Government plan. They discussed the format of the withheld information and the weight of the public interest test, taking into account the likely chilling effect of release and the required safe space for Government Officers to provide frank and open opinion.

It was agreed that the relevant sections within the withheld information had limited value additional to the information accessible by other means, and the information within the Government plan. It was, however, agreed that the following elements of the strategic assessment undertaken may be of use to the requester:

• whilst the States has embarked upon a number of savings programmes in the past, they have largely been based on departmental budget cuts without the development of measurable savings initiatives. These budget reductions have not been underpinned by changes to the States’ operating model which has unfortunately restricted the ability to deliver sustainable savings and improvements in service delivery and value for money

• based upon typical government and public-sector transformation programmes, assuming an annual steady-state base expenditure position of £750m from 2020 onwards (£735m for 2018 and 2019) and assuming ‘mid-range’ efficiency percentage savings per annum (4% was the basis for the calculation, as already confirmed), the States could generate savings of £30m in 2019. This would help to address the budget deficit in 2020

• several reviews have already been undertaken by the States that have indicated that efficiencies could be gained from improvements across a number of critical areas including: better commercial contract management, systems and process improvements, consolidation of assets, improvements to investment decision making and project management, more centralisation, stronger financial management, less duplication of efforts and significant enhancements through digitisation and automation; and headcount/vacancy management

• these estimates are based upon a number of underlying assumptions including a phased and managed approach to change across the States and the delivery of the savings

• further details will be provided in a number of phases, including within (a) the Transitional Report published in December 2018 **; (b) the Government Plan 2020 - 2023 which was lodged in July 2019; and (c) the efficiencies plans due to be published in October 2019

* * Transition report 2019

Article 36 - Information intended for future publication:

The Government Plan includes significant information in relation to proposed efficiencies and the calculated deficit. The intention of the original response was that this article would work in conjunction with Article 35, rather than against it, the intent being to provide as much information as possible, without impacting the obligations of the SPA to deliver best possible policy.

With regards the Requesters complaint that insufficient details were provided in relation to the forthcoming publication of the Government plan, it is acknowledged that this information was not supplied. It is therefore noted that the Proposed Government Plan is now available to view on the Gov.je website at the following link:

Proposed Government Plan 2020 - 2023