Budget Transfer: Geospatial Information Systems Service (GIS) from Department of Environment to Chief Minister's Department

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A decision made 25 November 2013:

Decision Reference: MD-PE-2013-0135
Decision Summary Title:	Transfer of Service and budget between the Department of the Environment and Chief Minister’s Department		Date of Decision Summary:
Decision Summary Author:	Finance Director - DoE		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	Transfer of Service and budget between the Department of the Environment and Chief Minister’s Department		Date of Written Report:	31 October 2013
Written Report Author:	Finance Director - DoE		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Transfer of Service and budget between the Department of the Environment (DoE) and Chief Minister’s Department.
Decision(s): The Minister is recommended to approve a recurring budget transfer to the Department of the Environment of £16,500 in respect of the years 2014 and 2015, and agree the transfer of the Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) Service from the Department of the Environment to the Chief Minister’s Department.
Reason(s) for Decision: With the use of shared information Jersey’s citizens and businesses will have a more holistic relationship with the States of Jersey and have access to services that recognise their local environment. It will be the norm to have location specific information built into public service applications.
Resource Implications: The Department of the Environment’s revenue head of expenditure to increase by £16,500 in 2014 and 2015 and the Chief Minister’s Department’s revenue head of expenditure to decrease by an identical amount. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States for 2013, 2014 and 2015 in the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP). This service transfer will be reflected in base budgets in the next MTFP 2016-2019.
Action required: Finance Director to amend DoE budget for 2014 and 2015 in line with the transfer.
Signature:		Position:
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Budget Transfer: Geospatial Information Systems Service (GIS) from Department of Environment to Chief Minister's Department

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Department of the Environment

Ministerial Decision Report

transfer of GIS service and budget between THE department of environment and chief minister’s department

Purpose of Report

To enable the Chief Minister to approve a service transfer of the Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) from the Department of Environment to the Chief Minister’s Department and a net revenue recurring budget of £16,500 transfer from the Chief Minister’s Department to the Department of Environment.

Background

The use of geospatial information (GI) is increasing rapidly. There is a growing recognition amongst both governments and the private sector that an understanding of location and place is a vital component of effective decision-making. Citizens with no recognised expertise in geospatial information (many of whom will be unfamiliar with the term) are also increasingly using and interacting with geospatial information (e.g. Google Maps, GPS enabled Smart phones); indeed in some cases they are contributing to the collection of GI.

The States GIS Service is a pre-requisite to improving States services provided to the citizens of Jersey. There is an investment cost to the organisation, both setting up the service, and on-going developments of the infrastructure and new applications. Since geospatial information is becoming embedded in any government information, the costs of running the GIS service should be seen as a necessary overhead, upon which further, more value-added services can be built.

The service is currently managed as a departmental service in Department of the Environment and results in a net income position to the Department of £16,500 (average over three years). The GIS Service will become a corporate service when it is transferred to the Chief Minister’s Department, and in order that the Department of Environment is not negatively affected, a recurring budget transfer of £16,500 will be made from Chief Minister’s Department (Information Services) to Department of the Environment from 2014.

The States of Jersey will have services taking advantage of GIS delivering improved services to its citizens and businesses. Digital maps incorporated with an address database will be readily available and integrated with public authority systems.

There will be a single, centralised GIS repository holding island mapping, location and address information shared across all States departments. This information will be collected from reliable sources then verified and maintained by a dedicated team to keep it accurate, up to date and available to users supporting the efficient delivery of public services.

Recommendation

The Environment Minister is recommended to approve a recurring budget transfer to the Department of the Environment of £16,500 in respect of the years, 2014 and 2015 (to compensate for loss of income), and agree the transfer of the GIS Service from the Department of the Environment to the Chief Minister’s Department.

Reason for Decision

With the use of shared information Jersey’s citizens and businesses will have a more holistic relationship with the States of Jersey and have access to services that recognise their local environment. It will be the norm to have location specific information built into public service applications.

The GIS service will continue to be updated and used by the Planning department, but will form a central role for the States of Jersey as well. The Mapping Project Board will continue to function under new Chairmanship, with representation from the Department of the Environment as a principal user of the system.

6. Resource Implications

The Chief Minister’s Department revenue head of expenditure to decrease by £16,500 in 2014 and 2015 and the Department of the Environment’s revenue head of expenditure to increase by an identical amount.

This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States for 2013, 2014 and 2015 in the Medium Term Financial Plan.

This service transfer will be reflected in base budgets in the next MTFP 2016-2019.

Report author : Finance Director	Document date :
Quality Assurance / Review : Head of Decision Support	File name and path:
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