Covid-19 and 2021 Growth Allocations: Proposal to Repurpose

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A decision made on 28 January 2022

Decision Reference: MD-TR-2022-0010
Decision Summary Title:	Proposal to repurpose 2021 growth and Covid-19 allocations		Date of Decision Summary:	26th January 2021
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:	Proposal to repurpose 2021 growth and Covid-19 allocations		Date of Written Report:	26th January 2021
Written Report Author:	Specialist – Business Cases		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: To enable the non-recurring repurposing of 2021 growth and Covid-19 allocated from General Reserves to manage the pressures in Children, Young People, Education and Skills (CYPES) and Covid-19 Response (CYPES pressures) experienced in 2021.
Decision(s): The Minister decided to approve the repurposing of up to £1.9 million of 2021 growth within CYPES head of expenditure and repurposing of up to £177,608 Covid-19 pressures within the Covid-19 Response head of expenditure as described in the attached report.
Reason(s) for Decision: 2021 has continued to be an extraordinary year with the coronavirus pandemic having a major financial impact on the Government of Jersey. Departments have continued to be agile and flexible in the way in which they deliver services and, where possible, halt, defer or reduce spending to support the financial challenge. That process has included delaying activity to deliver the efficiencies targets identified in the Government Plan but it has also halted or reduced the activity to deliver the growth included in the Government Plan. To enable departments to use existing resources before calling on any additional funding to manage the financial pressures in 2021, the Minister for Treasury and Resources is approving the one-off repurposing of 2021 growth in 2021 and approving the one-off repurposing of the Covid pressures allocation to cover additional cost pressures for the Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing and Schools Catchup programmes.
Resource Implications: There are no additional resource implications arising from this decision.
Action required: The Head of Financial Governance to advise Heads of Finance Business Partnering for CYPES once approved.
Signature:		Position: Deputy Susie Pinel Minister for Treasury and Resources
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Covid-19 and 2021 Growth Allocations: Proposal to Repurpose

Treasury and Exchequer

Ministerial Decision Report

Proposal to repurpose 2021 growth and Covid-19 Allocations

Purpose of Report

To enable the Minister to approve the non-recurring repurposing of 2021 growth up to £1.9 million and Covid-19 allocations up to £177,608 from General Reserves to manage the pressures in Children, Young People, Education and Skills (CYPES) and Covid-19 Response (CYPES pressures) experienced in 2021.

Background

Growth

Growth was approved for CYPES in the GP21-24 for various workstreams for a total of £27.7 million and has underspent by £4.59 million during 2021. Two workstreams underspent are:

P82 Children’s Services Early Intervention - Health - P.82/2012 White Paper: Services for Children (Early Interventions) - underspend of £1,809,000; and

Policy/legislation service delivery - Children in need/early help - underspend of £1,294,000.

This reflects general difficulties with recruitment of professional staff to both enhanced and “business as usual” (BAU) services in the covid operating environment. Contributory factors include accommodation scarcity and cost, as well as a challenging marketplace for specialist skills and limited appetite to relocate during the pandemic. There have also been delays and setbacks with sourcing suitable premises for a Therapeutic Children’s Home. The premises are required before the service can be fully mobilised as planned.

The pressures that are being offset by growth are £2.3 million for direct schools and school support services (of which £400,000 can be met from elsewhere within the CYPES head of expenditure) - £1.8 million in school budgets and a net shortfall of around £0.5 million in the support budgets. The pressure on direct school budgets arises largely from the year-on-year increase in numbers of children with identified special or additional needs. This pressure can be funded in 2022 from the provision of Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) within the General Reserve as part of the Government Plan 2022-2025. There was also pressure on the support budget from the rising cost of cover for parental leave, following from the increase in parental leave entitlement from 2 to 12 weeks in 2020 with a further increase to 20 weeks backdated to 2020. All teacher leave requires covering and therefore increased leave entitlements result in an increased call on Supply or additional payments for staff in post.

Covid-19

MD-TR-2021-0149 approved the allocations from the General Reserve to the Covid-19 Response head of expenditure for Covid-19 additional pressures incurred by CYPES. Two previous allocations, namely Schools Catch-up (allocated within the GP21-24) and Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing (for CAMHS) allocated in MD-TR-21-0030, have experienced further pressures on those budgets and are marginally overspent in 2021 within the Covid-19 Response head of expenditure, which will be covered from this allocation.

Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to approve the repurposing of up to £1.9 million of 2021 growth and up to £177,608 from Covid-19 allocations in MD-TR-2021-049 to be used to offset other budgetary pressures and Covid-19 pressures respectively.

Reason for Decision

2021 has continued to be an extraordinary year with the coronavirus pandemic having a major financial impact on the Government of Jersey. Departments have continued to be agile and flexible in the way in which they deliver services and, where possible, halt, defer or reduce spending to support the financial challenge. That process has included delaying activity to deliver the efficiencies targets identified in the Government Plan but it has also halted or reduced the activity to deliver the growth included in the Government Plan.

To enable departments to use existing resources before calling on any additional funding to manage the financial pressures in 2021, the Minister for Treasury and Resources is approving the one-off repurposing of 2021 growth in 2021 and approving the one-off repurposing of the Covid pressures allocation to cover additional cost pressures for the Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing and Schools Catchup workstreams.

Resource Implications

This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States Assembly in the Government Plan 2021-24.

Report author: Specialist – Business Cases

Document date: 26th January 2022

Quality Assurance / Review:

Group Director, Strategic Finance and the Head of Financial Governance

File name and path: L:\Treasury\Sections\Corporate Finance\Ministerial Decisions\DS, WR and SD\2022-0010~~xxx~~ – Growth and Covid-19 Repurposing

MD sponsor: Treasurer of the States