Lack of clarity in several areas of Government spending plans
Scrutiny
21 May 2024
The Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel has raised several areas of concern following their quarterly hearing with the Minister for Treasury and Resources, Deputy Elaine Millar and the Assistant Minister Deputy Ian Gorst. It was the first time that the newly constituted Panel had met with the Minister, and while the Panel welcomed the Minister’s goal of ensuring the Government gets the best use of the money it is spending, and is focused on stopping the mushrooming of public finances, the Panel has several areas of concern.
The Panel recognised that curtailing public spending is necessary, but highlighted the lack of clarity in how this might impact departments. Also, with no new growth bids allowed, the lack of funding available for new services could impact existing ones.
Chair of the Panel, Deputy Helen Miles, said: ‘The Minister told us that she had yet to have discussions with the Health Minister about the additional £18million that he has publicly said he is seeking. While a report is expected shortly to understand the extra pressures in the health service, we would welcome more clarification on this and how we can expect to meet the ongoing demands.’
Another area that the Panel seeks more clarification on, relates to plans to turn the Minimum Wage into the Living Wage. A promise had been made to offer some support to those businesses which would struggle to afford the increase. The Minister for Treasury and Resources said that any assistance would have to be met from existing budgets, which raised some concerns for the Panel on affordability.
Finally, the Panel was disappointed with the lack of transparency over whether work to establish the Public Services Ombudsman, was still going ahead.
‘These are critical areas of interest for our Island and we will be looking for more focused hearings going forward. We look forward to working as a Panel together with the Minister, as well as our upcoming hearing with the Chief Minister,’ Deputy Miles added.
The Panel is also requesting any questions from members of the public for the Panel to consider for the upcoming hearing with the Chief Minister, Deputy Lyndon Farnham. Questions can be sent to: scrutiny@gov.je
Other areas covered in the Hearing with the Treasury Minister included:
- Work is continuing on the OECD Pillar 2 tax rules which will implement a minimum effective tax rate of at least 15% on multinational enterprises. Law drafting is underway and the Government will continue with stakeholder engagement.
- The Minister hopes to top up the Strategic Reserve Fund as advised by the Fiscal Policy Panel, but this has to be balanced with needs elsewhere such as in infrastructure or schools.
