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STATES OF JERSEY
COVID-19 TEST AND TRACE AND VACCINATION PROGRAMMES (R.66 /2022): EXECUTIVE RESPONSE
Presented to the States on 15th August 2022 by the Public Accounts Committee
STATES GREFFE
2022 R.66 Res.
FOREWORD
In accordance with paragraphs 115-116 of the Code of Practice for engagement between Scrutiny Panels and the Public Accounts Committee' and the Executive', (as derived from Standing Orders of the States Assembly) the Public Accounts Committee (the Committee') presents the Executive Response to the Comptroller and Auditor General's Report entitled: COVID-19 Test and Trace and Vaccination Programmes (R.66/2022 presented to the States on 5th May 2022).
It is intended for the Committee to be fully constituted after the appointment of Lay Members during the States sitting on 13th September 2022. As such, the Committee will review the responses in detail after its formation and present any further comments to the States Assembly in due course.
Deputy L. Feltham
Chair, Public Accounts Committee
SUMMARY OF RESPONSE
The Chief Executive and the Treasurer welcome the Comptroller and Auditor General's (C&AG) Review of the COVID-19 Test and Trace and Vaccination Programmes. The nature of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the Government of Jersey to act immediately in response to the public health risk, and to adapt its response as a result of the emergence of new variants of concern, unpredictable waves of infection, and to ensure that extraordinary limitations on society were at all times proportionate and necessary.
The Chief Executive believes that the Test and Trace and Vaccination Programmes have been immensely successful in protecting Islanders' lives and livelihoods despite significant challenges and uncertainties, translating public health policies and decisions (as approved by Competent Authority Ministers) quickly and effectively into operational delivery. There are, however, important lessons to learn from these experiences, and the C&AG's review, along with the forthcoming Independent Review, will provide an important opportunity to develop appropriate structures and processes in order to respond effectively to comparable events in the future. The C&AG's review, in particular, will help to ensure that we establish effective arrangements for programme delivery, including initial planning and decision-making, delivery, public communication, and performance management, and adopt good practice in areas such as IT system development.
ACTION PLAN
Recommendations | Action | Target Date | Responsible Officer |
R1 Create and maintain a comprehensive live programme control document for long running emergency programmes that cover multiple activities and are initiated by a single programme business case. The live programme control document should record all business cases and decisions relating to the programme. | Accept – already in place The Investment Appraisal Team already maintains lists of all business cases, including the final amount approved, which can be straightforwardly filtered to show items relating to COVID-19. This will be used for other similar long- running emergency programmes to avoid duplication of effort. | Complete | Group Director, Strategic Finance |
R2 Undertake a comprehensive review of the Test and Trace Programme communications, involving | The Communications Directorate regularly reviews its ongoing campaigns to make sure | Decision on scope and potential timeline to be | Director of Communications |
Recommendations | Action | Target Date | Responsible Officer |
members of the public, representative community organisations and behavioural scientists, with the aim of creating a simple, robust communication plan for similar long running events of this type in the future. | they best serve the needs of the organisation and there are communication strategies and crisis comms plans for these types of events. Given there is an Independent COVID-19 Review currently being undertaken, we consider it appropriate to receive the findings of the Jersey Independent COVID-19 Review, which may make recommendations in this area, before making a commitment to a comprehensive review of the Test and Trace communications. | made following Jersey Independent Covid-19 Review Panel report [Q3 2022] |
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R3 Require strategic programmes that fall outside the Public Finances Manual definition of a capital or major project to set out in a Project Initiation Document the way in which the programme will be controlled and managed. | Accept In November 2021, a new Programme Delivery Framework was launched. All strategic programmes are required to follow this framework going forward. In-flight programmes must comply from the next applicable stage gate. | Implemented | Project Manager, Corporate Portfolio Management Office |
R4 Ensure that a reconcilable audit trail is maintained between business cases and related expenditure for all significant projects when these might include changes over time. | Accept The Investment Appraisal team maintain a schedule of all Business Cases received, including whether they were approved, the original amount submitted and the final amount approved via Ministerial Decision. The report highlights the complexity of the situation – including 23 Business Cases | As required for future projects | Group Director, Strategic Finance |
Recommendations | Action | Target Date | Responsible Officer |
| being prepared and refreshed as more information became available. This made a single, straightforward reconciliation more challenging. The recommendation to maintain a reconciliation for relevant future projects is accepted and will be incorporated into processes for other significant projects of a similar nature. |
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R5 Review exemption and breach records in respect of expenditure on PCR testing and the on-Island laboratory and ensure breaches have been recorded in compliance with the Public Finances Manual. | Accept The exemption and breach records in respect of expenditure on PCR testing and the on-Island laboratory are being reviewed for relevant breaches. | Underway – Q3 2022 | Head of Finance Business Partnering, Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance |
R6 Ensure that the full range of requirements for all users is captured when compiling high-level IT systems specifications. | Accept As a principle, Modernisation & Digital (M&D) always seeks to identify all requirements for any IT and digital solutions. This requires users of the solutions to consider the full range of requirements across front office, back office, management information and security. | As required for future projects | Head of Corporate Change Delivery |
R7 Ensure that all IT and digital investments are validated by the Design Authority, so that there is a clear view of systems interdependencies and to avoid the unnecessary duplication of data. | Accept M&D has introduced a policy which requires that all IT and digital investment are reviewed and approved by the Business Architecture team, which includes the Design Authority. This includes an | Part Implemented PFM: 31/12/22 | Head of Corporate Change Delivery |
Recommendations | Action | Target Date | Responsible Officer |
| assessment of suitability against a set of standards known as Minimum Enterprise Requirements (MERs). A MERs assessment must be completed for all new IT and digital solutions. M&D is working with Treasury & Exchequer to update the Public Finances Manual to mandate Government departments to engage with M&D prior to procuring any IT or digital solutions. |
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R8 Ensure all future IT systems developments are tested rigorously, both functionally and non- functionally in-line with best practice principles. | Accept Testing is a key and standard phase of all IT and digital solutions. | As a requirement for future projects | Project Manager, Corporate Portfolio Management Office |
R9 Require all major programmes to maintain a formal operational decision log. | Accept Within the Programme Delivery Framework, there is a Programme Logbook which includes a log for decisions. It is mandatory for the Programme Manager to ensure this log is kept up to date with decisions taken. | Implemented | Project Manager, Corporate Portfolio Management Office |
R10 Ensure reporting to programme boards includes appropriate forward projections for the programme and a comprehensive assessment of potential future programme risks. | Accept Aligned to the Programme Delivery Framework, all programmes and projects are expected to report progress on a monthly basis via the Perform reporting tool. The information required in the monthly report includes (but is not limited to) RAG status, key milestones with forecast dates, financial status, issues, risks and escalations. The expectation | Implemented | Project Manager, Corporate Portfolio Management Office |
Recommendations | Action | Target Date | Responsible Officer |
| is that the SRO and Programme Board review this report and the associated escalated key risks. |
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R11 Require all major programmes to document an inequalities impact assessment at the outset of the programme. | Reject All policy development and programme management should include an assessment of the impact of the benefits and disadvantages, including differing effects on demographics and communities. However, an inequalities impact assessment requirement does not exist in law and inequalities is just one of the considerations that policy and programmes should consider (finance; staffing; children's rights; data privacy etc). It is considered that the cumulative effect of the accepted recommendations in this report would be sufficient to achieve the same intent. | N/A | Group Director of Policy, Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance |
R12 Routinely seek to record ethnicity and race data in population-based health programmes to assist in the reporting of any race inequalities. | Accept It is recognised that the ethnicity data recorded in health systems is not of a good enough quality to be able to analyse data for different ethnic groups at present. Work on a Jersey Demographic Service within the Health and Community Services Department is likely to address this issue so that this is improved in the future. | Project forecast to be complete within 18- months (end of 2023). Further updates on the details and scope of the work can be provided as required. | Head of Health Intelligence, Public Health Head of Informatics, Health and Community Services |
Recommendations | Action | Target Date | Responsible Officer |
| More broadly, the COVID Recovery Understanding and Insights Project involves matching data across different administrative systems with data from the 2021 Census. This will enable the government to perform analysis of health data and other data against the ethnicity information provided in the census. |
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RECOMMENDATIONS NOT ACCEPTED
Recommendations | Reason for Rejection |
R11 Require all major programmes to document an inequalities impact assessment at the outset of the programme. | All policy development and programme management should include an assessment of the impact of the benefits and disadvantages, including differing effects on demographics and communities. However, an inequalities impact assessment requirement does not exist in law and inequalities is just one of the considerations that policy and programmes should consider (finance; staffing; children's rights; data privacy etc). It is considered that the cumulative effect of the accepted recommendations in this report would be sufficient to achieve the same intent. |