Social Security
Ministerial Decision Report
Application of new Population Office Fees to Skills Expenditure
- Purpose
The purpose of this report is to seek the Minister’s agreement to request that the Treasurer of the States approves the use of additional income in 2017 of £300,000 from the new fee for registered permissions approved in P.53/2017. As set out in the proposition, this money would be used to support additional investment in skills and training.
- Background
P.53/2017 – Draft Control of Housing and Work (amendment of law – annual charges) (Jersey) regulations 201- set out proposed changes to fees levied by the Population Office, and was approved on 19 July 2017. This included an annual charge for each permission held by businesses to employ a registered member of staff. This revenue is to be used to support additional investment in skills and training.
The proposition also included other income measures, and referred to additional income generated as a result of changes to orders. This additional income was included in the cash limits presented in the MTFP 2016-2019, and as a result, no additional approval is required for these amounts.
The department is also requesting an additional 2.0 FTE to support the implementation of P.53/2017.
- Recommendation
It is recommended that the Minister for Social Security agrees to request that the Treasurer of the States approves the use of additional income in 2017 of £300,000 from the new fee for registered permissions as approved in P.53/2017 on a recurring basis. As set out in the proposition, this money would be used to support additional investment in skills and training.
It is also recommended that the Minister for Social Security agrees to request that the Treasurer of the States approves an additional 2.0 FTE to support implementation of P.53/2017.
- Reason for Decision
Article 19 (1) (a) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005 states that if, during a financial year, the Minister is satisfied that the income of a States funded body which has a revenue head of expenditure for the year is likely to exceed its estimated income taken into account in approving that head of expenditure –
(a) the Minister may authorise the body to withdraw from the consolidated fund during that year an amount not exceeding the likely excess of income.
Delegation 1.3 authorises the Treasurer of the States to approve the use of additional income in excess of increased expenditure (i.e. additional surplus income) required to generate that income but the excess income is more than 10% (up to a maximum of £500,000 for a States trading operation and £100,000 for all other States funded bodies) of the estimated income notified to the States for that particular service area.
To comply with P.67/1999 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.
- Resource Implications
The Social Security revenue head of expenditure will show an additional income budget of £300,000 and an additional expenditure budget of £300,000 during 2017 and in future years.
The Social Security budgeted FTE to increase by 2.0 from 2017.