Budget transfer: Information Services

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A decision made 11 December 2012:

Decision Reference: MD-C-2012-0116
Decision Summary Title:	Budget Transfer between Chief Minister’s Department revenue and capital Heads Of Expenditure		Date of Decision Summary:	11th December 2012
Decision Summary Author:	Finance Manager – Corporate Group		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	Budget Transfer between Chief Minister’s Department revenue and capital Heads Of Expenditure		Date of Written Report:	17th October 2012
Written Report Author:	Finance Manager – Corporate Group		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: 2012 budget transfer of £350,000 from the Chief Minister’s Department (CMD) revenue head of expenditure to the CMD Information Services IT Policy and Standards capital head of expenditure.
Decision(s): The Minister approved a non-recurring budget transfer in 2012 of £350,000 from the Chief Minister’s Department (CMD) revenue head of expenditure to the CMD Information Services IT Policy and Standards capital head of expenditure.
Reason(s) for Decision: Financial Direction 3.6 ‘Variations to Heads of Expenditure’ states that Departments wanting to transfer funds between heads of expenditure must obtain the approval of their minister or of their accounting officer where a scheme of delegation exists.
Resource Implications: The CMD revenue head of expenditure to decrease by £350,000 and the CMD Information Services IT Policy and Standards capital head of expenditure to increase by an identical amount. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States.
Action required: Finance Manager – Corporate Group to seek the approval of the Minister for Treasury and Resources and, once received, to action the budget transfer in conjunction with T&R.
Signature:		Position: Senator I J Gorst, Chief Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Budget transfer: Information Services

Chief Minister’s

Ministerial Decision Report

BUDGET TRANSFER BETWEEN CHIEF mINISTER’S dEPARTMENT’s revenue and capital HEADS OF EXPENDITURE

Purpose of Report

To enable the Minister to approve a non-recurring budget transfer of £350,000 in 2012 from the Chief Minister’s Department (CMD) revenue head of expenditure to the CMD Information Services IT Policy and Standards capital head of expenditure.

Background

The organisation currently manages immigration and protects local resources through the Housing and Regulation of Undertakings and Development Laws. It is crucial that these pieces of legislation are supported by ‘fit for purpose’ IT systems.

On the 4th July 2011 a delegated Treasurer’s Decision (reference TR-2011-DD61) approved a non-recurring budget transfer of £565,000 between the Information Services IS/IT Capital head of expenditure to the Information Services IT Policy and Standards capital head of expenditure. This was to fund the replacement of the existing information systems in the Population Office and the creation of a population register of residents containing name and address information. This budget was based on a business case produced in February, 2009.

As the project progressed, it became evident that there were issues, in excess of those anticipated at the business case production stage, with (a) the data held by the existing systems in terms of quality, volume and the processes associated with capturing and extracting the data. It was also (b) considered appropriate that the new Population Office and existing Social Security systems be interfaced to maintain a common data set to facilitate joined up customer engagement and data management. In addition, (c) it was evident that the existing Population Office system for processing business licenses was ending its useful life and would need replacing. This is producing an overall system that will be both fit for purpose and a solid foundation for a “tell us once” approach to customer engagement and effective corporate data management. This will deliver efficiency improvements in due course; immediate savings within the Population Office of £40,000 per annum. The following table highlights the main additional cost drivers:

Budget Forecast Additional

(a) Additional Data Cleansing £86,000 £143,000 £57,000

(b) Interface with Social Security System £0 £150,000 £150,000

(d) Other £13,000

TOTAL ADDITIONAL FUNDING £350,000

Proposal

The CMD Information Services revenue budget is currently forecast to under spend and there contains sufficient funding to absorb the £350,000 cost increase explained above. The under spend will be achieved by careful budget planning entailing the delay in planned hardware equipment refresh and delaying recruitment to some vacant posts.

Utilising the planned revenue budget under spend in this way means that the extra costs would not need to be drawn down from the Information Services IS/IT capital head of expenditure, which could then be used to fund other IT capital projects such as Mobile Devices Technology and the replacement of the existing VOIP telephony system. Both of these are essential projects that will most likely need to commence in early 2013.

Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to approve a non-recurring budget transfer in 2012 of £350,000 from the CMD revenue head of expenditure to the CMD Information Services IT Policy and Standards capital head of expenditure.

Reason for Decision

Financial Direction 3.6 ‘Variations to Heads of Expenditure’ states that

Departments wanting to transfer funds between heads of expenditure must obtain the approval of their minister or of their accounting officer where a scheme of delegation exists.

Resource Implications

The CMD revenue head of expenditure to decrease by £350,000 and the CMD Information Services IT Policy and Standards capital head of expenditure to increase by an identical amount. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States.

Report author : Finance Manager, Corporate Group	Document date : 17th October 2012
Quality Assurance / Review : Head of Decision Support	File name and path: L:\Shared Services\Sections\Advisory Unit\1. Chief Minister's Department\Ministerial Decisions\2012\Ministerial Decisions.doc