TREASURY AND RESOURCES MINISTER
Budget Transfer – Court and Case costs
1. Purpose of Report
1.1 The Minister is asked to agree in principle to fund approximately £3m criminal case costs from the Criminal Offences Confiscation Fund (COCF).
1.2 The Minister is asked to delegate final approval to the Treasurer once the 2007 spend is known.
2. Background
2.1. Court and Case costs are demand led by nature and the budgets existing in Court Departments are not always sufficient for in year costs.
2.2. Total Court and Case budget against spend is as follows:
Year | Budget (£m) | Spend (£m) |
2002 | 4.5 | 6.2 |
2003 | 4.6 | 5.8 |
2004 | 4.7 | 3.4 |
2005 | 4.9 | 3.8 |
2006 | 5.0 | 5.5 |
2007 | 5.1 | 8.0 |
2.3 The 2007 Costs by Department are attached as Appendix A.
2.4 The significant spend in 2007 arises in the Judicial Greffe and is related to a small number of expensive cases The Finance Directors of the Departments will attend to provide details of their spend.
3. Comments
3.1 The Council of Ministers has been informed of the overspend in Court and Case costs throughout 2007 by way of the quarterly financial reports. The Council indicated that the COCF should be used to defray the 2007 overspend at the 2nd quarter report.
3.2 Another option is to fund this cost from Department underspends. It is not known what the financial positions of the Departments are, however the Departments will expect to carry forward underspends and there are other pressures on this funding if it becomes available.
3.3 The Attorney General is required to be consulted on expenditure from the COCF. He has confirmed that the COCF can be used to fund criminal case costs only. The balance on the COCF is currently £9.3m; significant income is expected in 2008.
3.4 The move toward GAAP accounting and the cessation of the COCF fund (as proposed by the C&AG) will force a review of funding methods for court and case costs.
3.5 The use of the COCF is appropriate as its income is derived from the proceeds of criminal cases.
4. Recommendation
That the Minister agrees to fund 2007 criminal case costs from the Criminal Offences Confiscation Fund (COCF) and delegate to the Treasurer the final approval once final spend was confirmed.
5. Reason for Decision
5.1. The COCF is an appropriate source of funds for this expenditure as its income is derived from the proceeds of criminal activity.
2007 Spend on Court and Case costs | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| 2007 Budget | 2007 Spend | Variance | 2007 Forecast for Civil case spend | 2007 Forecast for Criminal Spend | 2007 Forecast for Drugs cases | Drugs and Criminal |
Judicial Greffe | 1,755,500 | 3,884,000 | 2,128,500 | 1,942,000 | 1,165,200 | 776,800 | |
Law Officers | 2,341,800 | 2,252,252 | -89,548 | 108,771 | 1,324,391 | 819,090 | |
Viscounts | 302,700 | 145,000 | -157,700 | 30,000 | 110,000 | 5,000 | |
Bailiff | 205,000 | 473,441 | 268,441 | 301,695 | 139,138 | 32,608 | |
Home Affairs | 500,900 | 1,262,107 | 761,207 | 0 | 462,354 | 112,107 | 687,646 |
| 5,105,900 | 8,016,800 | 2,910,900 | 2,382,466 | 3,201,083 | 1,745,605 | 687,646 |
Total Overspend is £2.9m
Only Criminal Spend can be funded from the COCF.