Judicial Greffe transfer of budget to Non Ministerial Minor Capital Head of Expenditure

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A decision made on 17 December 2020

Decision reference: MD-TR-2020-0160
Decision Summary Title:	The transfer of budget from Judicial Greffe Department to Non Ministerial Minor Capital Head of Expenditure.		Date of Decision Summary:	16 December 2020
Decision Summary Author:	Head of Finance Business Partnering		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	The transfer of revenue budget from Judicial Greffe Department to Non Ministerial Minor Capital Head of Expenditure		Date of Written Report:	16 December 2020
Written Report Author:	Head of Finance Business Partnering		Written Report: Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: The transfer of up to £94,000 in 2020 from the Judicial Greffe Department head of expenditure to the Non Ministerial Minor Capital Head of Expenditure in order to capitalise a new Court recording and transcript system requiring immediate update to be Windows 10 compatible and mitigate cyber security risk.
Decision(s): The Minister approved a non-recurring transfer from the Judicial Greffe revenue head of expenditure to the Non Ministerial Minor Capital head of expenditure of up to £94,000.
Reason(s) for Decision: Article 18(1)(a) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 states that the Minister may direct that a specified amount appropriated under the plan for one head of expenditure be allocated to another head of expenditure that is (a) set out in the plan. Article 18(4) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 states that the Minister shall give the States Assembly at least 4 weeks’ notice before an amount is transferred under paragraph (1)(a). Article 22 of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 states that Minister may give a direction under any of Articles 18 to 21 with respect to a head of expenditure that relates to the operations of a non-Ministerial States body only with the approval of – (a) the chairman of the States’ Public Accounts Committee, in the case of the Comptroller and Auditor General; (b) the chairman of the States’ Privileges and Procedures Committee, in the case of the States Greffe; or (c) the accountable officer of the non-Ministerial States body, in any other case. The accountable officer is in agreement to the transfer.
Resource Implications: The head of expenditure of the Non Ministerial Minor Capital to increase by up to £94,000 in 2020 and the Judicial Greffe revenue head of expenditure to decrease by the same amount. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States in the Government Plan 2020-2023.
Action required: The Head of Financial Governance to advise the Head of Finance Business Partnering of Non Ministerial Departments that this decision is approved.
Signature:		Position: Deputy S J Pinel Minister for Treasury and Resources
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Judicial Greffe transfer of budget to Non Ministerial Minor Capital Head of Expenditure

Treasury and Exchequer

Ministerial Decision Report

The transfer of revenue budget from judicial greffe department to non ministerial minor capital head of expenditure.

Purpose of Report

To enable the Minister to approve the allocation of up to £94,000 in 2020 from the General Reserve to the Office of the Comptroller Auditor General for the increase in delivering Annual Audit for the year end 31 December 2021.

Background

Following the announcement by Microsoft that Windows 7 operating system would no longer receive support from 1 January 2021, and therefore increase the threat of cyber security risk to any systems still operating with Windows 7, the Judicial Greffe Department was informed by Modernisation and Digital (‘M&D’), within Chief Operating Office, of the project to replace Windows 7 with Windows 10 by the end of 2020. The existing transcript and recording system hardware ‘For the Record’ currently used within Jersey’s Courts is not Windows 10 compatible and therefore requires immediate replacement.

Due to the fact the identification of the need to replace For the Record with a newer version came after the submission deadline of the Government Plan 2021-24 the Judicial Greffe was not able to submit a formal investment bid. Funding allocated by M&D for the Windows 10 upgrade was limited to the operating system only and did not cover any replacements to separate hardware as a result.

Given the urgency, in order to find an immediate funding solution, the Accountable Officer of Judicial Greffe intends to utilise the underspend currently within the Department’s Court and Case cost budget to fund the replacement and upgrade of the For the Record system. It should be noted that Court and Case cost budgets have in the past been used to cover the costs of projects linked to the operation of Jersey’s Courts.

In order to recognise that this expenditure is not part of normal, recurring business of the Department a transfer is required to the Non Ministerial Minor Capital head of expenditure.

Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to approve the allocation of up to £94,000 from the Judicial Greffe revenue head of expenditure to Non Ministerial Minor Capital head of expenditure to allow for the capitalisation of the new Court transcript and recording system.

Reasons for Decision

Article 18(1)(a) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 states that the Minister may direct that a specified amount appropriated under the plan for one head of expenditure be allocated to another head of expenditure that is (a) set out in the plan.

Article 18(4) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 states that the Minister shall give the States Assembly at least 4 weeks’ notice before an amount is transferred under paragraph (1)(a).

Article 22 of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 states that Minister may give a direction under any of Articles 18 to 21 with respect to a head of expenditure that relates to the operations of a non-Ministerial States body only with the approval of –

(a) the chairman of the States’ Public Accounts Committee, in the case of the Comptroller and Auditor General;

(b) the chairman of the States’ Privileges and Procedures Committee, in the case of the States Greffe; or

The accountable officer is in agreement to the transfer.

5. Resource Implications

The Non Ministerial Minor Capital head of expenditure to increase by up to £94,000 in 2020 and the Judicial Greffe revenue head of expenditure to decrease by the same amount. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States in the Government Plan 2020-2023.

Report author: Head of Finance Business Partnering

Document date : 16 December 2020

Quality Assurance / Review: Group Director, Strategic Finance

File name and path: L:\Treasury\Sections\Corporate Finance\Ministerial Decisions\DS, WR and SD\2020-0160- Transfer of revenue budget from Judicial Greffe Department to Non Ministerial Minor Capital Head of Expenditure

MD sponsor: Group Director, Strategic Finance