Growth, Housing & Environment, Health & Community Services and Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance: Allocation of Reserve Funding in 2020 for the Test and Tracing Programme

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A decision made on 12 May 2020

Decision reference: MD-TR-2020-0053
Decision Summary Title:	Allocation of Reserve Funding to GHE, HCS and SPPP in 2020 for the Test and Tracing Programme		Date of Decision Summary:	12th May 2020
Decision Summary Author:	Specialist – Business Cases		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	Allocation of Reserve Funding to GHE, HCS and SPPP in 2020 for the Test and Tracing Programme		Date of Written Report:	12th May 2020
Written Report Author:	Specialist – Business Cases		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Exempt (Article 33)
Subject: The allocation of up to £5.5 million in 2020 from the General Reserve to GHE (Growth, Housing & Environment), HCS (Health & Community Services) and SPPP (Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance) as detailed in the attached report, to fund the Test & Tracing Programme (T&TP).
Decision(s): The Minister approved the allocation of up to £5.5 million in 2020 from the General Reserve to GHE (Growth, Housing & Environment), HCS (Health & Community Services) and SPPP (Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance) as detailed in the attached report, to fund the Test & Tracing Programme and to delegate drawdowns against the T&TP to the Treasurer of the States.
Reason(s) for Decision: Article 15(3) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 states that the approval by the States of a government plan authorises the Minister to direct how an approved appropriation for a reserve head of expenditure in the plan may be spent (including on another head of expenditure) in the first financial year covered by the plan. The current Contingency Allocation Policy (published as R.23/2020) sets the requirement for all allocations from contingency to be considered by the Investment Appraisal Board, Principal Accountable Officer and States Treasurer prior to submission to the Minister for approval, however it also states that ‘Where a request is made for £100,000 or less, or where the Minister is satisfied that there is an urgent need to provide funding in the public interest, an allocation may be made by the Minister on the recommendation of the Treasurer.’ A business case for the programme has been prepared and reviewed. On that basis the Treasurer has recommended that the Minister makes this allocation. The Minister had agreed the allocation in principle on 2nd May 2020. The Minister previously signed MD-TR-2020-0033 to purchase Serology Testing Kits for up to £1.7 million and MD-TR-2020-0039 for Healgen Rapid Test Cassettes for up to £718,000. Business Cases have now been received for the complete T&TP, of which the 2 previous decisions are a part. To date commitments are £718,000 for the Healgen Rapid Test Cassettes and only £628,075 for immediate purchase of the 50,000 Serology Testing Kits leaving a balance of £1,022,525 against MD-TR-2020-0033 no longer required. Individual drawdowns against the £5.5 million will be made by documented Treasurer decisions following confirmation of requirements from the relevant departments and approval of any required procurement exemptions by the Group Director, Commercial Services where necessary.
Resource Implications: The General Reserve head of expenditure to decrease by up to £5.5 million and the GHE, HCS and SPPP heads of expenditure to increase by indicative amounts of up to £1.85 million, £3.36 million and £300,000 respectively in 2020.
Action required: The Head of Financial Governance to advise the Specialist – Business Cases and the Head of Finance Business Partnering of GHE, HCS and SPPP that this decision is approved.
Signature:		Position: Deputy S J Pinel Minister for Treasury and Resources
Date Signed:		Date of Decision: