Budget Transfer: Contingency Funding for initiatives that support vulnerable children

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[THIS DECISION HAS BEEN RESCINDED BY MD-TR-2018-0107] A decision made on 5 July 2017:

Decision Reference: MD-TR-2017-0090

Decision Summary Title:

Contingency Funding - Initiatives that support vulnerable children

Date of Decision Summary:

5th July 2017

Decision Summary Author:

Head of Decision Support

Decision Summary:

Public or Exempt?

Public

Type of Report:

Oral or Written?

Written

Person Giving

Oral Report:

Written Report

Title:

Contingency Funding - Initiatives that support vulnerable children

Date of Written Report:

5th July 2017

Written Report Author:

Head of Decision Support

Written Report :

Public or Exempt?

Public

Subject: Contingency Funding - Initiatives that support vulnerable children

Decision(s): The Minister approved allocations from Central Contingency of up to £1,793,250 over the years 2017, 2018 and 2019. The funding will be used to support a number of initiatives detailed in the resource implications section below.

The Minister also approved an increase in staffing levels for the years 2017-2019 as detailed in resource implications.

Reason(s) for Decision:

Article 17(2) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005 states that the Minister for Treasury and Resources is authorised to approve the transfer from contingency expenditure of amounts not exceeding, in total, the amount available for contingency expenditure in a financial year.

The current Contingency Allocation Policy (published as R.10/2012) sets the requirement for all allocations from Contingency to be considered by the Council of Ministers prior to submission to the Minister for approval.

The MTFP2, as adopted by the States Assembly, included the allocation of £1.65million per year from Central Contingencies for initiatives that support vulnerable children (£4,950,000 in total over the period from 2017 to 2019). On 9th November 2016, the Council of Ministers collectively agreed nine projects to be allocated a proportion of those contingencies monies (totalling up to £2,260,650 over the period from 2017 to 2019). The Council of Ministers also collectively agreed to delegate to the Chief Minister the decision to request the Treasury and Resources Minister to fund other initiatives that support vulnerable children from the remaining contingency allocation.

The Chief Minister signed decision MD-C-2017-0038 requesting allocation of funding for Family Support Workers and the Baby Steps universal antenatal programme. This request was agreed by the Minister for Treasury and Resources in MD0TR02017-0051.

The Chief Minister has now signed a further decision requesting the current allocation, which represents the remainder of the funding agreed in the MTFP2.

To comply with P67/1999 which charges the Minister for Treasury and Resources to regulate the number of persons that may be employed by the States.

Resource Implications: The revenue heads of expenditure for the Law Officers, Community and Constitutional Affairs (CCA), Education and Health and Social Services (H&SS) departments will increase in 2017, 2018 and 2019 by the amounts set out in the table below. Central Contingencies will decrease by corresponding amounts.

Initiative	Department	2017 (amount up to)	2018 (amount up to)	2019 (amount up to)	Total (amount up to)	FTE increase for 2017-2019
Legal advisers (children and family)	Law officers Department	£168,000	£350,000	£350,000	£868,000	3.0
Pilot Parent/Infant Psychotherapy Service	Community and Constitutional Affairs Department	£35,000	£70,500	£70,500	£176,000	1.0
Children's Change Programme	Community and Constitutional Affairs Department	£79,550	£16,500	£0	£96,050	1.0
Youth Enquiry Service (YES)	Education Department	£91,200	£95,000	£95,000	£281,200	3.0
Nursery SEND	Education Department	£57,600	£60,000	£60,000	£177,600	0
On-Island social work training	Health and Social Services Department	£14,400	£90,000	£90,000	£194,400	0
Total per year (up to)		£445,750	£710,000	£637,500
Total over 3 year period (up to)					£1,793,250	8.0

The £1,793,250 in total is proposed to be drawn down across the years 2017, 2018 and 2019. The amount for each year may be varied without exceeding the total amount for the three years.

This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States for 2017 and 2018 in the Medium Term Financial Plan.

Staffing levels will increase by for the years 2017-2019 in accordance with the above table.

Action required: The Head of Decision Support to advise the Finance Directors of the Education, CCA and H&SS Departments, the accounting officer of the Law Officers’ Department and the Director, Social Policy - Constitutional Affairs Department once this decision has been approved.

Signature:

Position: Senator A J H Maclean

Minister for Treasury and Resources

Date Signed:

Date of Decision: