Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law: Request of funding from central contingency fund to Chief Minister's Department to support shortfall in administration

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A decision made 3 November 2014:

Decision reference: MD-TR-2014-0130
Decision Summary Title:	Central Contingency (one-off) funding allocation to CMD for Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 2012		Date of Decision Summary:	27th October 2014
Decision Summary Author:	Interim Treasurer of the States		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	Central Contingency (one-off) funding allocation to CMD for Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 2012		Date of Written Report:	27th October 2014
Written Report Author:	Interim Treasurer of the States		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Central Contingency funding allocation to Chief Minister’s Department (CMD) to support the shortfall in funding for the administration of the Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law.
Decision(s): The Minister approved a non-recurring budget transfer of £250,000 in 2014 from Central Contingency (one-off) to the CMD revenue head of expenditure in relation to support the shortfall in funding for the administration of the Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law.
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. This request is to address the shortfall in funding for the administration of the Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law in respect of the fee line on the annual charge on registered employees not being supported by the States Assembly. This request has been approved by the Council of Minister’s in their meeting of the 11th July 2014.
Resource Implications: The CMD revenue head of expenditure to increase by £250,000 in 2014 with Central Contingency (one-off) funding decreasing by an identical amount. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States for 2014 and 2015.
Action required: Business Manager to inform the Finance Manager – Corporate Group that the decision has been approved.
Signature:		Position: Deputy E J Noel, Assistant Minister for Treasury and Resources
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law: Request of funding from central contingency fund to Chief Minister's Department to support shortfall in administration

Treasury and Resources

Ministerial Decision Report

Central Contingency (one-off) funding allocation to CMD for Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 2012

Purpose of Report

To enable the Minister for Treasury and Resources to approve a budget transfer of £250,000 from Central Contingency (one-off) to the Chief Minister’s Department (CMD), to support the shortfall in funding for the administration of the Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law.

Background

The intention on introduction of the Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law, 2012, was that its administration be fully funded from fees levied against businesses applying for, or holding permissions, under the Law. This was reflected in the Medium Term Financial Plan. Following consultation, a package of fees under the Law was proposed to secure this. However, one fee line, being an annual charge on registered employees, was not supported by the States Assembly. This fee line was intended to generate £250,000 per year. As consultation and fee proposals had already been published, it was not considered appropriate, on initial introduction of the new Law, to vary other fee lines, or introduce new fee lines, to compensate for this decision. The consequence, therefore, was a shortfall in the funding for the administration of the Law. This Report and accompanying Ministerial Decision seeks to substantially address this in 2014.

This request has been approved by the Council of Minister’s in their meeting of the 11th July 2014.

3. Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to approve a budget transfer of £250,000 in 2014 from Central Contingency (one-off) to the CMD revenue head of expenditure to support the shortfall in funding in the administration of the Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law.

4. Reason for Decision

Article 17(2) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005 states that the Minister for Treasury and Resources (T&R) 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.

This request is to address the shortfall in funding for the administration of the Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law in respect of the fee line on the annual charge on registered employees not being supported by the States Assembly.

This request has been approved by the Council of Minister’s in their meeting of the 11th July 2014.

Resource Implications

The CMD revenue head of expenditure to increase by £250,000 in 2014 with Central Contingency (one-off) funding decreasing by an identical amount. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States for 2014 and 2015.

Report author : Interim Treasurer of the States	Document date : 27/10/2014
Quality Assurance / Review : Business Manager	File name and path: L:\Treasury\Sections\Corporate Finance\Ministerial Decisions\DSs, WRs and SDs\2014-0130 - Control of Housing and Work - Contingency Funding Request\WR - Contingency funding for Control of Housing & Work.doc

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