Jersey Competition Regulation Authority (JCRA) arrangements for sharing a Board with the Office of Utility Regulation (OUR) in Guernsey

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A decision made 10 November 2011:

Decision Reference: MD-E-2011-0192
Decision Summary Title :	Jersey Competition Regulation Authority arrangements for sharing a Board with the Office of Utility Regulation.		Date of Decision Summary:	1st November 2011
Decision Summary Author:	Performance and operations manager		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (If exempt State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	Written
Written Report Title :	Performance and operations manager		Date of Written Report:	1st November 2011
Written Report Author:	Jersey Competition Regulation Authority arrangements for sharing a Board with the Office of Utility Regulation.		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Jersey Competition Regulation Authority (JCRA) arrangements for sharing a Board with the Office of Utility Regulation (OUR) in Guernsey.
Decision(s): The Minister agreed that: - From 1st January 2012, to effect the changes for the JCRA to share a Board with the OUR in Guernsey - For the recruitment of a non-executive director with relavent knowledge of the Guernsey market, meaning an additional non-executive director for up to seven months - To split the costs 50:50 between the JCRA and OUR - To the fee increase of the Board by 25% to cover increasing each Board member’s commitment from 24 days per annum to approximately 30 days per annum to take account of the additional responsibilities resulting from the operation of a joint board with Guernsey.
Reason(s) for Decision: - Sharing a Board between the JCRA and OUR will significantly reduce costs for the States and improve working practises given the economies of scale. - It is important that there is knowledge and understanding of the Guernsey context from the outset, which is why it is proposed that a new Board member is appointed as soon as possible. This will increase the size of the Board by one member for a maximum of seven months as the next vacancy will arise on 1st August 2012. - The costs of the shared Board, across the two Islands, should be split equally given their role. - The decision to share a Board between the JCRA and Guernsey’s Office of Utility Regulation (OUR) will mean additional workload for the Board members necessitating an increase in their fees. However, as costs will be shared equally with Guernsey from 1st January 2012, the overall costs of the JCRA will reduce by around £50,000.
Resource Implications: The fees charged by the Board will increase by 25% to a total of £126,800, but as overall costs will be shared between Jersey and Guernsey which will result in overall savings of around £50,000 in a full year for the JCRA. The fees paid to the Chairman and Non-Executive Directors of the JCRA are drawn from a combination of the grant made by the Economic Development Department to the JCRA to administer the Competition (Jersey) Law and from the licence fees paid by the regulated companies in the telecoms and postal sectors, and so the increase in fees has no direct resource implications for the States.
Action required: The necessary steps will be taken so that: - from 1st January 2012, the JCRA and OUR share a Board - a non-executive director with relavent knowledge of the Guernsey market is recruited - the costs are split 50:50 between the JCRA and OUR from 1st January 2012 - the fees to the JCRA Board can increase by 25%.
Signature: Senator AJH Maclean		Position: Economic Development Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):