Treasury and Resources
Ministerial Decision Report
EPGDP funding allocation EDU 01 – Skills strategy
- Purpose of Report
To approve a non-recurring budget transfer of up to £40,000 in 2017 to the Education Department revenue head of expenditure from the Economic and Productivity Growth Drawdown Provision (EPGDP) within Central Contingencies and an increase of 1.0 FTE for 1 year.
- Background
Following review and recommendation by the EPGDP Officer Group, the Economic Policy Political Oversight Group recommended that the Minister for Treasury and Resources should approve funding for proposal EDU 01 Skills Strategy from the EPGDP.
EPGDP funding will be utilised as follows:
- Research – independent specialist research will be commissioned to identify the Island’s future skills requirements and determine the current gap between available skills and employer requirements; -.
- Skills Post – a temporary post will be established to coordinate the development and implementation of the Skills Strategy, outputs from this post include:
- liaise with the independent researcher for the Skills Strategy and provide support minimise external costs;
- translate the Skills Strategy, in conjunction with the Education leadership, into an action plan and then monitor and quality assure the results
- undertake ongoing research, analysis and regular monitoring of the changing working environment and therefore the skills needs of the environment to keep the skills strategy updated
- design and coordinate a range of targeted skills initiatives, in line with the finalised Skills Strategy
- develop a programme for the timely review of skills gaps including a process and timetable for effective consultation with relevant industry and employer organisations.
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | Total |
Skills Post | | 40,000 | - | - | 40,000 |
Specialist Research | | - | - | - | |
Total | | 40,000 | - | - | 40,000 |
Once the Skills Strategy has been developed the Education Department will bring forward further funding requests for skills initiatives to implement the Strategy.
The skills post will be employed on a temporary contract and the FTE will expire at the end of 2017.
Any underspends will be assumed to return to the EPGDP unless the Minister for Treasury and Resources identifies an alternative use for the funding.
3. Recommendation
The Minister is recommended to approve a non-recurring budget transfer £40,000 in 2017 to the Education Department revenue head of expenditure from the Economic and Productivity Growth Drawdown Provision (EPGDP) within Central Contingencies and an increase of 1.0 FTE for 1 year.
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.
To comply with P67/1999 which charges the Minister for Treasury and Resources to regulate the number of persons that may be employed by the States and delegation 2.3 in which authority is delegated to the Treasurer of the States for agreeing non-contentious increases to States staffing levels.
On 8th August 2016 the EDGDP Officer Group reviewed and recommended the proposal from the Education Department to fund a skills strategy. A business case was supported politically by the Economic Policy Political Oversight Group on 24th August 2016. The Council of Ministers approved the request at its meeting of 7th September 2016.
A decision (MD-ED-2016-0029) was signed by the Minister for Education on 9th December 2016.
5. Resource Implications
The Education Department revenue head of expenditure will increase by non-recurring budget transfer of up to £40,000 in 2017 and 1.0 FTE.
The EPGDP within Central Contingences will decrease by the same amount.
This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States in the Medium Term Financial Plan.
Report author : Head of Decision Support | Document date 9th January 2017 |
Quality Assurance / Review : Head of Decision Support | File name and path: L:\Treasury\Sections\Corporate Finance\Ministerial Decisions\DS, WR and SD\2017-00xx - EPGDP Funding Allocation - Skills Strategy |
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