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WQ.364/2024
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
BY DEPUTY R.S. KOVACS OF ST. SAVIOUR
QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 21st OCTOBER 2024 ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 28th OCTOBER 2024
Question
"Further to the JCRA Annual Report 2023, specifically pages 14 and 44, will the Minister –
- explain why Government grants are provided to the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority (JCRA), considering they have had a financial surplus over the last few years; and why the Government has not requested the return of any unused grant amounts;
- provide details of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the Government and the JCRA, including any changes that have occurred since it was established;
- detail the annual amount of Government grants paid to the JCRA since the SLA was established; and
- advise whether the grant agreement is renewed annually, or is subject to change, and if so, what changes would occur, if any, and when?"
Answer
- The Funding Agreement (there is no SLA) between the Minister for Sustainable Economic Development and the JCRA (see: jcra-competition-grant-funding-agreement-2024-2026.pdf) allows the JCRA to carry forward £100,000 of its annual grant to ensure the orderly running of the Authority (see paragraph 6.4).
At the end of Q3 2023, the JCRA predicted that its competition grant reserves at the end of 2023 would be below this amount, taking into consideration a number of costs committed to ongoing projects. Based on the JCRA's most recent financial figures (Q2 2024), it is anticipated that its competition grant reserves at the end of 2024 will again be below the amount the Funding Agreement allows the Authority to carry over, noting that the Department has not yet received the JCRA's end of Q3 2024 financial update.
- As outlined in the response to question (a) above, the Funding Agreement with the Authority can be found on the JCRA's webpage. The Funding Agreement is effective from the 1st January 2024 to the 31st December 2026. There have been no changes to this agreement since it was signed by both the Minister and the Chair of the JCRA. A new Funding Agreement will need to be in place ahead of the 1st January 2027.
- Section 2 of the Funding Agreement sets out the amount of the annual grant for the duration of the agreement.
- Please see the answer to question (b), above.