Budget transfer from Central Contingencies to Office of the Data Protection Commissioner: Data Protection Authority (Jersey) Law 201-: Implementation

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A decision made 19 January 2018:

Decision Reference: MD-TR-2018-0010
Decision Summary Title:	Contingency funding to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner for the implementation of the Data Protection Authority (Jersey) Law 201- and the increased running costs of the new Data Protection Authority.		Date of Decision Summary:	15th January 2018
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:	Contingency funding to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner for the implementation of the Data Protection Authority (Jersey) Law 201- and the increased running costs of the new Data Protection Authority.		Date of Written Report:	15th January 2018
Written Report Author:	Head of Decision Support		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Non-recurring transfer of up to £807,533 in 2018 and up to £1,146,000 in 2019 from Central Contingencies to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner revenue head of expenditure for the implementation of the Data Protection Authority (Jersey) Law 201- and the increased running costs of the new Data Protection Authority.
Decision(s): The Minister approved a non-recurring transfer of up to £807,533 in 2018 and up to £1,146,000 in 2019 from Central Contingencies to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner revenue head of expenditure.
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. The current Contingency Allocation Policy (published as R.110/2017) sets the requirement for all allocations from Contingency over £100,000 to be considered by the Council of Ministers prior to submission to the Minister for approval. At its meeting on 8th November 2017 the Council of Ministers recognised the importance of this legislation and endorsed the Draft Data Protection (Jersey) Law 201- and the draft Data Protection Authority (Jersey) Law 201-. On 24th November 2017 the COM were requested to approve additional transitional running and implementation costs. P.117/2017 Draft Data Protection Authority (Jersey) Law 201- was agreed by the States at its sitting on 16th January 2018. The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner will be able to draw down up to the amounts set out in this decision once the Chief Minister’s Department and the Treasurer of the States have been provided with reasonable evidence that expenditure has been incurred or needs to be committed. Those drawdowns will then be effected by documented decision of the Treasurer.
Resource Implications: The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner revenue head of expenditure will increase by up to up to £807,533 in 2018 and up to £1,146,000 in 2019 and Central Contingencies will decrease by an identical amount. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States for 2017-2019 in the Medium Term Financial Plan.
Action required: Head of Decision Support to advise the Policy and Research Officer – Chief Minister’s Department 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 from Central Contingencies to Office of the Data Protection Commissioner: Data Protection Authority (Jersey) Law 201-: Implementation

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Treasury and Resources

Ministerial Decision Report

Contingency funding to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner for the implementation of the Data Protection Authority (Jersey) Law 201- and the increased running costs of the new Data Protection Authority.

Purpose of Report

To approve a non-recurring transfer of up to £807,533 in 2018 and up to £1,146,000 in 2019 from Central Contingencies to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner revenue head of expenditure for the implementation of the Data Protection Authority (Jersey) Law 201- and the increased running costs of the new Data Protection Authority.

Background

The current data protection regime in Jersey received an ‘adequacy’ decision from the EU Commission in 2008, meaning that the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005 is judged to provide an essentially equivalent level of protection as the European Union’s (‘EU’), and that data may therefore flow freely to and from the Island and EU member states.

The Government of Jersey has committed to renewing the ‘adequacy’ decision under a new European data protection regime. It has undertaken to meet the requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (‘the GDPR’) and EU Law Enforcement Directive on the protection of personal information processed for the purposes of policing and public protection (the ‘Directive’).

The Data Protection Authority (Jersey) Law 201- creates a new data protection authority that will be fit for purpose to regulate the new data protection regime and which will replace the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner. (In parallel, the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 201- has been lodged to ensure continued adequacy. It bolsters the rights of the individual in relation to their personal data in the same areas as the GDPR and the Directive).

The new Data Protection Authority (the ‘Authority’), constituted under the Data Protection Authority (Jersey) Law 201-, has an expanded role to properly regulate the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 201-

The Authority will be required to adopt a more proactive approach and to employ a wider and more robust range of regulatory powers and sanctions, with less emphasis placed on the role of courts to resolve disputes. This will place a considerably greater burden on the Authority and it is essential to provide it with additional resources commensurate with that burden, to allow it to carry out its new duties.

A revenue model has been proposed that will both meet the requirements of the new legislation in respect of industry registration fees and provide increased revenue that will help enable the office to implement and enforce that legislation, and its increased function.

There will be a transitional period during which time the Authority will roll out the operating and fees model and begin to levy increased revenue. Additional funding has been approved to support these implementation costs and to meet the Authority’s increased running costs during the transitional period.

The annual cost of the current Office of the Data Protection Commissioner will increase by an estimated £1.1 million to £1.65 million per annum.

From 2020, the costs of running the Data Protection Authority will be offset by increased revenues from business which is expected to allow government funding to return to close to current levels.

These are high levels maximum estimates and work will continue to be done in advance of the debate to create more accurate and cost effective costings.

Financial Analysis

	2018	2019
Authority Cost (Jun-Dec)	1,100,667	1,651,000
OIC Cost (Jan – May)	146,567	-
MTFP Budget	(439,700)	(505,000)
Net Cost	807,533	1,146,000

3. Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to approve a non-recurring transfer of up to £807,533 in 2018 and up to £1,146,000 in 2019 from Central Contingencies to the Chief Minister’s Department revenue head of expenditure for the implementation of the Data Protection Authority (Jersey) Law 201- and the increased running costs of the new Data Protection Authority.

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.

The current Contingency Allocation Policy (published as R.110/2017) sets the requirement for all allocations from Contingency over £100,000 to be considered by the Council of Ministers prior to submission to the Minister for approval.

At its meeting on 8th November 2017 the Council of Ministers recognised the importance of this legislation and endorsed the Draft Data Protection (Jersey) Law 201- and the draft Data Protection Authority (Jersey) Law 201-. On 24th November 2017 the COM were requested to approve additional transitional running and implementation costs.

P.117/2017 Draft Data Protection Authority (Jersey) Law 201- was agreed by the States at its sitting on 16th January 2018.

The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner will be able to draw down up to the amounts set out in this decision once the Chief Minister’s Department and the Treasurer of the States have been provided with reasonable evidence that expenditure has been incurred or needs to be committed. Those drawdowns will then be effected by documented decision of the Treasurer.

5. Resource Implications

The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner revenue head of expenditure will increase by up to £807,533 in 2018 and up to £1,146,000 in 2019 and Central Contingences will decrease by identical amounts.

The £1,953,533 in total is proposed to be drawn down as £807,533 in 2018 and £1,146,000 in 2019 but the amount for each year may be varied without exceeding the total amount for the two years.

This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States for 2017-2019 in the Medium Term Financial Plan

Report author : Head of Decision Support	Document date 15th January 2018
Quality Assurance / Review : Director of Financial Planning and Performance	File name and path: L:\Treasury\Sections\Corporate Finance\Ministerial Decisions\DS, WR and SD\2018-0010 - C6 Contingency funding to CMD for Data Protection legislation £1.953m
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