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A decision made 12 January 2010 regarding: Economic stimulus plan - budget allocation to Housing relating to heating replacement programme.

Decision Reference: MD-TR-2009-0221
Decision Summary Title:	Fiscal Stimulus Budget Allocation to Housing Department – Project Management Spend		Date of Decision Summary:	30 December 2009
Decision Summary Author:	Treasurer of the States		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	Allocation of fiscal stimulus funding to the Housing Department for project management of the Heating Replacement Programme in 2010		Date of Written Report:	21 December 2009
Written Report Author:	Fiscal Stimulus Programme Manager Fiscal Stimulus		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Economic Stimulus Plan: budget allocation to Housing department, for project management resource in respect of its Heating Replacement Programme.
Decision(s): The Minister approved the allocation of £70,000 to the Housing Department for project management within the Housing Department which will be transferred to the department budget as soon as possible. This will enable project management activities to be carried out in accordance for the critical path for the Heating Replacement project. He further instructed the Construction and Maintenance project group to report on spend of all stimulus monies, and project progress/performance, on a monthly basis in accordance with guidelines set by the Treasury.
Reason(s) for Decision: A discretionary fiscal stimulus allocation from the Stabilisation Fund of £44m has already been approved. The project meets the key criteria for fiscal stimulus being timely, targeted and temporary and will benefit local business and individuals. The £70,000 allocation to the project will enable the construction and maintenance project group to let the contract and deliver the scheme in accordance with the critical path.
Resource Implications: No financial resource implications other than those explained above and in the accompanying report. No manpower resource implications.
Action required: Treasury to be informed of decision to release necessary funds to the Housing Department budget.
Signature:		Position: Senator P F C Ozouf, Minister for Treasury and Resources
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Economic stimulus plan - budget allocation to Housing relating to heating replacement programme

Allocation of fiscal stimulus funding to the Housing Department for project management of the Heating Replacement Programme in 2010

21 st December 2009

Background

The Housing Department’s backlog maintenance programme includes the replacement of all the ageing and diverse heating systems across the social housing stock with compatible and energy saving electrical heating systems.

This is a 3 year programme of which the first 2 years are provisionally included in the Treasury and Resources Minister’s “amber light” programme of fiscal stimulus projects. The remainder will be funded from Housing Department revenue budgets for maintenance and repair. The work was already planned but without the Discretionary Fiscal Stimulus, it would have had to be delivered over a longer time period in order to meet funding constraints.

There are 2 main parts to the work:

mains and substation work which will be funded through Housing’s revenue budgets
installation work which is provisionally agreed to be funded in part from the Discretionary Fiscal Stimulus

The portion of the project supported by the Discretionary Fiscal Stimulus will provide work for local business and labour, and is programmed to be undertaken in 2010, and 2011 significantly increasing public sector spending and investment in Jersey’s infrastructure.

The planning and design work began in 2009 and £37,000 has already been allocated from the Discretionary Fiscal Stimulus by Ministerial Decision (MD-TR-2009-0161) to backfill a member of Housing’s team in 2009.

Proposal

The project is now ready to mobilise. There is a significant amount of work involved in preparing tenders, agreeing routes for cable runs in multi occupancy buildings and coordinating installation work with the Mains work in priority order. This will require a full time member of staff. The Department has a member of staff who can do this work but cannot release him from his normal duties. This position will need to be backfilled for the whole year at a cost of £70,000 as shown in the table below.

Housing Heating Replacement Project

Target date for

Start on site

“Amber light” project value

Total project mgt sum required

Planning sum approved 2009

Planning sum requested for 2010

Revenue Projects

HS3 – Heating Installations

01/03/10

£4,800,000

£107,000

£37,000 Green light already received

£70,000

Recommendation

The Fiscal Stimulus Steering Group reviewed the Housing Department’s request for this additional funding at its meeting of 21 December 2009. It recommended that the Treasury and Resources Minister approve the allocation of £70,000 from the Discretionary Fiscal Stimulus to release internal Housing Department resources to manage the heating replacement programme, in order to ensure that best value is obtained for the tax payer and that the process meets the Fiscal Stimulus Procurement principles.