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STATES OF JERSEY
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ANNUAL BUSINESS PLAN 2007 (P.92/2006): EIGHTH AMENDMENT
Lodged au Greffe on 29th August 2006 by Deputy S.C. Ferguson of St. Brelade
STATES GREFFE
ANNUAL BUSINESS PLAN 2007 (P.92/2006): EIGHTH AMENDMENT ____________
In paragraph (h), for the words"to approve" substitute the words "to refer to the Public Accounts Committee for a report" and after the words "pages 65 and 66 of the report" insert the words "and to agree that any debate on the Plan be deferred until after the presentation to the States of the report of the Public Accounts Committee".
DEPUTY S.C. FERGUSON OF ST. BRELADE
REPORT
If this amendment is adopted paragraph (h) would then read as follows –
(h) T o refer to the Public Accounts Committee for a report the Annual Property Plan for 2007 on pages 45 to 50, including the schedule of properties for disposal in 2007, as detailed in Summary Table J, pages 65 and 66 of the report and to agree that any debate on the Plan be deferred until after the presentation to the States of the report of the Public Accounts Committee.
The States have already agreed to the principle of reducing the States Property Portfolio. Given the States' record for maintaining property this is eminently sensible. It is not clear, however, whether the proposed sales represent best value for money for the States.
Incorporated into the States Strategic Plan which was approved in June this year were a number of key objectives –
M e e t the current and future property requirements of States services in order to improve performance. E n s u re that property is managed and maintained effectively.
D i sp o se of, or extract better value from, the property that is not contributing satisfactorily towards service
delivery or the achievement of States objectives.
The recent Public Accounts Committee report on the sale of land at Howard Davis Farm highlighted a number of issues that have not been addressed and are a cause for concern to the Committee.
It is also worth noting that Property Holdings are charged with delivering a significant element of the "efficiency savings" in the form of capital receipts from sale of States property.
The properties to be disposed of have apparently been selected by the Council of Ministers from a report on the States Property Portfolio which has not been generally available to States Members.
Within the Business Plan mention is made of the idea of establishing Property Holdings, which is currently part of the Treasury and Resources department, into a States Trading organisation, with its own trading fund. It should also be borne in mind that there is a proposal subsuming Property Holdings into WEB, which may well remove States control from the disposal of properties.
It is preferable to review the principles covering property sales before any of these proposals are debated. The draft Terms of reference for this Review are –
- R e v iew oftermsof reference usedin the preparation ofthe Property Review.
- R a t ionale for selection of properties for sale.
- R e v iew of assumptions that these properties are no longer ofusetothe States.
- V al uations and basisofthosevaluations.
- D o theproposedsales achieve bestvalueformoney for the States?
The review will be undertaken with the existing resources allocated to the PAC and there are therefore no additional financial or manpower implications.