Budget Transfer to Education Department for Skills Strategy

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A decision made on 13 January 2017:

Decision Reference: MD-TR-2017-0004
Decision Summary Title:	EPGDP Funding Allocation EDU 01 -Skills Strategy		Date of Decision Summary:	9th January 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:	EPGDP Funding Allocation EDU 01 -Skills Strategy		Date of Written Report:	9th January 2017
Written Report Author:	Head of Decision Support		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: A non-recurring budget transfer of up to £40,000 in 2017 to the Education Department revenue head of expenditure from the Economic and Productivity Growth Drawdown Provision (EPGDP) within Central Contingencies and an increase of 1.0 FTE for 1 year.
Decision(s): The Minister approved a non-recurring budget transfer £40,000 in 2017 to the Education Department revenue head of expenditure from the Economic and Productivity Growth Drawdown Provision (EPGDP) within Central Contingencies and an increase of 1.0 FTE for 1 year.
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 to heads of expenditure of amounts not exceeding, in total, the amount available for contingency expenditure in a financial year. 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 and delegation 2.3 in which authority is delegated to the Treasurer of the States for agreeing non-contentious increases to States staffing levels. On 8th August 2016 the EDGDP Officer Group reviewed and recommended the proposal from the Education Department to fund a skills strategy. A business case was supported politically by the Economic Policy Political Oversight Group on 24th August 2016. The Council of Ministers approved the request at its meeting of 7th September 2016. A decision (MD-ED-2016-0029) was signed by the Minister for Education on 9th December 2016.
Resource Implications: The Education Department revenue head of expenditure to increase by £40,000 in 2017 and 1.0 FTE in 2017 for 1 year. The Economic and Productivity Growth Drawdown Provision (EPGDP) within Central Contingencies to decrease by an identical amount. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States for 2017 in the Medium Term Financial Plan.
Action required: Head of Decision Support to advise the Finance Officer – Corporate Group once this decision has been approved.
Signature:		Position: Senator A J H Maclean, Minister for Treasury and Resources
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Budget Transfer to Education Department for Skills Strategy

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Treasury and Resources

Ministerial Decision Report

EPGDP funding allocation EDU 01 – Skills strategy

Purpose of Report

To approve a non-recurring budget transfer of up to £40,000 in 2017 to the Education Department revenue head of expenditure from the Economic and Productivity Growth Drawdown Provision (EPGDP) within Central Contingencies and an increase of 1.0 FTE for 1 year.

Background

Following review and recommendation by the EPGDP Officer Group, the Economic Policy Political Oversight Group recommended that the Minister for Treasury and Resources should approve funding for proposal EDU 01 Skills Strategy from the EPGDP.

EPGDP funding will be utilised as follows:

- Research – independent specialist research will be commissioned to identify the Island’s future skills requirements and determine the current gap between available skills and employer requirements; -.

- Skills Post – a temporary post will be established to coordinate the development and implementation of the Skills Strategy, outputs from this post include:

liaise with the independent researcher for the Skills Strategy and provide support minimise external costs;
translate the Skills Strategy, in conjunction with the Education leadership, into an action plan and then monitor and quality assure the results
undertake ongoing research, analysis and regular monitoring of the changing working environment and therefore the skills needs of the environment to keep the skills strategy updated
design and coordinate a range of targeted skills initiatives, in line with the finalised Skills Strategy
develop a programme for the timely review of skills gaps including a process and timetable for effective consultation with relevant industry and employer organisations.

	2016	2017	2018	2019	Total
Skills Post		40,000	-	-	40,000
Specialist Research		-	-	-
Total		40,000	-	-	40,000

Once the Skills Strategy has been developed the Education Department will bring forward further funding requests for skills initiatives to implement the Strategy.

The skills post will be employed on a temporary contract and the FTE will expire at the end of 2017.

Any underspends will be assumed to return to the EPGDP unless the Minister for Treasury and Resources identifies an alternative use for the funding.

3. Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to approve a non-recurring budget transfer £40,000 in 2017 to the Education Department revenue head of expenditure from the Economic and Productivity Growth Drawdown Provision (EPGDP) within Central Contingencies and an increase of 1.0 FTE for 1 year.

4. Reason 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 to heads of expenditure of amounts not exceeding, in total, the amount available for contingency expenditure in a financial year.

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 and delegation 2.3 in which authority is delegated to the Treasurer of the States for agreeing non-contentious increases to States staffing levels.

On 8th August 2016 the EDGDP Officer Group reviewed and recommended the proposal from the Education Department to fund a skills strategy. A business case was supported politically by the Economic Policy Political Oversight Group on 24th August 2016. The Council of Ministers approved the request at its meeting of 7th September 2016.

A decision (MD-ED-2016-0029) was signed by the Minister for Education on 9th December 2016.

5. Resource Implications

The Education Department revenue head of expenditure will increase by non-recurring budget transfer of up to £40,000 in 2017 and 1.0 FTE.

The EPGDP within Central Contingences will decrease by the same amount.

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

Report author : Head of Decision Support	Document date 9th January 2017
Quality Assurance / Review : Head of Decision Support	File name and path: L:\Treasury\Sections\Corporate Finance\Ministerial Decisions\DS, WR and SD\2017-00xx - EPGDP Funding Allocation - Skills Strategy
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