Budget transfer to Judicial Greffe for administration of Appeals Tribunal in 2016

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A decision made 1 August 2016:

Decision Reference: MD-PE-2016-0109
Decision Summary Title :	Budget transfer in 2016 to Judicial Greffe re Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 Appeals Tribunal funding		Date of Decision Summary:	28 July 2016
Decision Summary Author:	Finance Manager		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:
Written Report Title :	Budget transfer in 2016 to Judicial Greffe re Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 Appeals Tribunal funding		Date of Written Report:	28 July 2016
Written Report Author:	Finance Manager		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: The transfer of £84,200 budget in 2016 from the Department of the Environment revenue head of expenditure to the Judicial Greffe revenue head of expenditure towards the administration and inspectors’ costs incurred by the Judicial Greffe for the running of the Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 Appeals Tribunal in 2016.
Decision(s): The Minister approved the transfer of budgets in 2016 between the Department of the Environment revenue head of expenditure and the Judicial Greffe revenue head of expenditure.
Reason(s) for Decision: Article 18 of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005 (the Law) and Finance Direction No.3.6 ‘Variations to Heads of Expenditure’ (the FD) set out the procedures for transfers between heads of expenditure. Paragraph 5.1 of the FD and Article 18(2) (c) of the Law require departments wanting to transfer funds between heads of expenditure to obtain the approval of the Minister responsible for their administration. Article 18(1) (c) of the Law requires the approval of the Minister for Treasury and Resources for any budget transfers between heads of expenditure. Paragraph 5.2 of the FD delegates non-contentious transfers between heads of expenditure up to £1,000,000 to the Treasurer of the States. Paragraph 5.3 of the FD states that, in all other instances, the approval of the Minister for Treasury and Resources must be obtained. This budget transfer provides funding towards the administration and inspectors’ costs incurred by the Judicial Greffe for the running of the Planning Appeals Tribunal in 2016.
Resource Implications: The DOE revenue head of expenditure will decrease in 2016 by £84,200, and the Judicial Greffe revenue head of expenditure will increase by an identical amount. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States in the Medium Term Financial Plan.
Action required: The Finance Director to request the approval of the Treasurer of the States and the Accounting Officer of the Judicial Greffe for this budget transfer.
Signature: Deputy S Luce		Position: Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Budget transfer to Judicial Greffe for administration of Appeals Tribunal in 2016

Department of the Environment

Ministerial Decision Report

Budget transfer in 2016 to Judicial Greffe re Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 APPEALS Tribunal funding

Purpose of Report

To enable the Minister to approve a non-recurring budget transfer in 2016 of £84,200 between the Department of the Environment (DOE) revenue head of expenditure and the Judicial Greffe (JG) revenue head of expenditure, in relation to funding in 2016 of the Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 Appeals Tribunal (PAT).

Background

In September 2013 the States Assembly approved P.87/2013 Planning Appeals: Revised System. The Proposition set out a new merits based planning appeals system. The Minister for Planning and Environment was requested to bring forward for approval a detailed proposal. The proposition included estimated inspectors costs of approximately £148,000, plus staff implications for the Judicial Greffe yet to be identified, minus the fee income to be determined. The proposition referred to requesting from the Minister for Treasury and Resources a total of £148,000 per year in the first instance and a further figure yet to be identified. In his comments on P.87/2013, the Minister for Treasury and Resources supported the proposition and confirmed estimated costs of £192,200 (£148,000 per year inspector costs, plus £44,200 for the Judicial Greffe management and administration), sourced from an allocation from Central Contingency for 2014 and 2015, offset by the introduction of a fee, subject to a States decision.

In 2014 the States Assembly approved P.94/2014 Draft Planning and Building (Amendment No.6) (Jersey) Law 201-. The proposition identified estimated costs of £192,200 (£148,000 inspector costs, plus £44,200 for the Judicial Greffe management and administration). The report accompanying P.94/2014 states: “A fee is proposed to make an appeal, but as indicated above this structure has not yet been settled upon. There will be a fee income to offset the costs, but it will not be full cost recovery, probably 25% at this stage. This may change in the future depending on the level of take-up of appeals. Funding for 2015 would come from Central Contingency. Funding beyond 2015 would be included as a potential growth bid in the upcoming MTFP.”

P.3/2015 set the fees at £100 and £300 for 2015 depending on the type of appeal, with future fees to be set by Order

In March 2015 a potential MTFP growth bid in relation to the Independent PAT was removed from the growth bid list by CMB with the request that this be absorbed or covered through user pays. It was noted at that time that the proposed removal of this bid to be funded as a “user pays” charge meant that fees for an appeal would have to increase substantially, and a review would be required in order to establish an appropriate scale of fees, which are likely to be at least 4x higher than currently proposed (but still considerably less than the potential cost under the previous system in which appeals were heard in the Royal Court). It was further noted that the new appeals system differed significantly from that previously in operation and the costs and numbers of appeals expected was difficult to estimate with any certainty.

In October 2015 the Department for the Environment, as part of reviewing its annual fees, considered changes to the planning appeal fees following the removal of the MTFP growth bid. In the absence of any updated financial information the 2016 fees were proposed to the Minister based on the original costs and assumptions included in previous propositions. It was determined that the funding should be split, with the fixed administration costs to be incurred by JG being covered through increases in the normal application fees levied by Planning & Building, and the variable inspectors costs to be covered through an increase in the appeal fees. These fees were approved by the Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Treasury and Resources, and were introduced by Order on the 1st Jan 2016. The increase in the appeal fees was subsequently amended by the Planning and Building (Fees) (Amendment) (Jersey) Order 2016, which reversed the increase in fees with effect from 1st March 2016.

Following the decision to reduce the new Planning Appeal fees back to 2015 levels, it was necessary to make some provision for additional costs that were not currently part of the base budget. As such DOE made a bid for carry forward budget totalling £40,000, which would seek to offset some of the potential costs in 2016.

As a result of the above, DOE are seeking to transfer budgets in 2016 totalling £84,200, being £44,200 for the administration, management and premises costs incurred by JG, and the £40,000 carry forward, towards the inspectors’ costs in 2016. The JG are in agreement with this arrangement for 2016.

The appeal fees will be reviewed in Q4 2016 ahead of any fee changes from 1 January 2017.

3. Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to approve a non-recurring budget transfer in 2016 of £84,200 from the DOE revenue had of expenditure to the Judicial Greffe revenue head of expenditure.

4. Reason(s) for Decision

Article 18 of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005 (the Law) and Finance Direction No.3.6 ‘Variations to Heads of Expenditure’ (the FD) set out the procedures for transfers between heads of expenditure. Paragraph 5.1 of the FD and Article 18(2) (c) of the Law require departments wanting to transfer funds between heads of expenditure to obtain the approval of the Minister responsible for their administration. Article 18(1) (c) of the Law requires the approval of the Minister for Treasury and Resources for any budget transfers between heads of expenditure. Paragraph 5.2 of the FD delegates non-contentious transfers between heads of expenditure up to £1,000,000 to the Treasurer of the States. Paragraph 5.3 of the FD states that, in all other instances, the approval of the Minister for Treasury and Resources must be obtained.

This budget transfer provides funding towards the administration and inspectors’ costs incurred by the Judicial Greffe for the running of the PAT in 2016.

Resource Implications

The DOE revenue head of expenditure will decrease in 2016 by £84,200, and the Judicial Greffe revenue head of expenditure will increase by an identical amount. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States in the Medium Term Financial Plan.

Report author : Finance Manager	Document date : 27/07/2016
Quality Assurance / Review :	File name and path: I:\FINANCE\Ministerial Decisions\DOE\2016\2016-06 MD Budget transfer in 2016 to Judicial Greffe re Planning & Building Tribunal\MR - Budget transfer in 2016 to Judicial Greffe re Planning Appeals Tribunal v4.docx