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Finance Law Delegation Report for the six-month period to 31st December 2021

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STATES OF JERSEY

FINANCE LAW DELEGATION REPORT FOR THE SIX-MONTH PERIOD TO 31ST DECEMBER 2021

Presented to the States on 22nd February 2022 by the Minister for Treasury and Resources

STATES GREFFE

2022  R.24

REPORT

  1. The administration of the public finances of Jersey

In accordance with the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 ("the Law") certain matters are required to be reported to the States Assembly twice yearly by the Minister for Treasury and Resources ("the Minister").

This  report  summarises  all  decisions  made  during  the  six  month  period  to  31st December 2021. Where decisions have not previously been published, this is due to one of two reasons -

· The decisions were exempted under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011; or

· The  decisions  were  taken  by  the  Treasurer  of  the  States  under  delegated authority from the Minister.

  1. Reporting on decisions

The areas of administration which are required to be reported on are as follows:

  1. each function undertaken, within the applicable 6-month period under any of Articles 18 to 21, 24 and 26 to 28; and
  2. each direction given, within the applicable 6-month period by the Minister under Article 15(3) with respect to the amounts appropriated for a reserve head of expenditure.

Article 18 relates to transfers between heads of expenditure.

Article 19 relates to transfers to the following year's reserve.

Article 20 relates to transfers of major project amounts to the following year. Article 21 relates to the power to allocate excess income.

Article 24 relates to emergency expenditure.

Article 26 relates to financing (borrowing).

Article 27 relates to loans.

Article 28 relates to guarantees and indemnities.

There were no approvals in the period under Articles 19, 20 or 24. Other approvals are detailed below.

  1. Transfers between heads of expenditure under Article 18.

Department

£

Purpose

From

To

HCS

CLS

1,767,019

Transfer of commissioning budget. (MD-TR-2021-0082)

HCS

T&E

1,500,000

Transfer  of  budget  for  Medical Malpractice  (MedMal)  insurance. (MD-TR-2021-0094)

Foul Sewer Extensions

Replacement Assets

up to 750,000

To  ensure  that  key  services  are maintained. (MD-TR-2021-0107)

COO

Taxes Office System Renewal

up to 1,140,000

Transfer of budget for the Revenue Management  System  to  ensure

 

 

 

 

correct  allocation  to  the  project. (MD-TR-2021-0110)

COO

T&E

6,032,702

Transfer  of  Commercial  Services budget. (MD-TR-2021-0114)

SPPP

HCS

519,000

To situate programme resources in the  right  department  and  ensure objectives  of  the  Analytics Transformation  Programme  are achieved. (MD-TR-2021-0128)

Various heads of expenditure

General Reserve

577,000

Transfer of budgets to deliver the 2021 Fees and Charges' target as part of the Rebalancing Programme. (MD-TR-2021-0134)

Judicial Greffe

Bailiff 's Chambers

up to 150,000

To  address  an  overspend  in  the Court and Case Cost budget. (MD- TR-2021-0143)

  1. Approvals of the allocation of excess income under Article 21

 

 Department

Amount £

Purpose

T&E

136,499

Return of funding held by Lacey's Advocates for the Historic  Abuse  Redress  Scheme,  which  is  now  not required. To remain within consolidated fund at end of 2021. (MD-TR-2021-0088)

T&E

up to 1,232,362

Recovery of the temporary payment to secondary layer insurers  in  2020.To  be  used  to  fund  any  increased insurance premiums in 2021. (MD-TR-2021-0118)

JHA

up to 450,000

Overachievement of income budgets within Customs and Immigration. To be used to meet a rebalancing target originally to be delivered from the sale of the domestic dwelling near the Western Fire Station. (MD- TR-2021-0148)

  1. Approvals of financing (borrowing) under Article 26

During the six months to 31st December 2021 the Minister signed 3 decisions relation to use of the Revolving Credit Facility:

· MD-TR-2021-0083  approving  a  utilisation  cap  of  £110  million  to  30th September 2021

· MD-TR-2021-0135 approving a revised utilisation cap of £96 million to 31st December 2021

· MD-TR-2021-0142 approving a utilisation of £19,806,389 to fund grant awards from the Fiscal Stimulus Fund

The Treasurer of the States was authorised to complete drawdown requests as required. At 31st December 2021 the Treasurer had approved two utilisation requests totalling £40,806,369.

The total drawdowns from the Revolving Credit facility as at year end 31st December 2021 equate to £85,806,369, leaving £414,193,631 undrawn.

  1. Approvals of loans under Article 27 (as amended by P.28/2020)
  1. Housing Development Fund

During the six month period to 31st December 2021, no new loans were approved by the Minister for Treasury and Resources.

The  net  value  of  loans  outstanding  from  the  Housing  Development  Fund increased from £223,369,108 at 30th June 2021 to £228,825,082* as of the 31 December 2021.

*This includes £3.1m paid to Andium on the 31 December 2021, but only formally drawn down on 1st January 2022.

Loans from the HDF were split between the following loan holders:

Andium £227,615,776

Le Vaux Housing Trust £1,209,306

Total loans £228,825,082

  1. Other loans

On 30th June 2020 the Minister had approved MD-TR-2020-0081 which agreed a secured loan facility of £10 million to Blue Islands Limited. Under delegation from the Minister, the Treasurer had approved the drawdowns from this amount of £5 million (on 13th July 2020) and a further £2 million (on 14th September 2020). On 23rd April 2021 the Treasurer approved a further drawdown of £1.5 million. There have been no further drawdowns since that date.

  1. Approvals of guarantees under Article 28 (as amended by P.28/2020)
  1. Jersey student loan scheme

During  the  six  month  period  to  31st  December  2021,  no  new  loans  were guaranteed by the States under the Jersey Student Loan Scheme.

P53/2007 Student Loans for higher education – guarantees was debated by the States Assembly on the 6th June 2007 and a maximum outstanding limit of £10 million for an unlimited time period was approved.

  1. Disruption Loan Guarantee Scheme

On 30th June 2021, the Minister signed MD-TR-2021-0081 to extend the period that the scheme is open to new applications to 30th September 2021. This window was then further extended to 31st December 2021 by MD-TR-2021-0115.

The application window was not extended beyond 31st December 2021 and therefore no new facilities can be granted after this date. As at 31st December 2021, 169 enquiries had been made to banks, of which 70 had progressed and a facility issued. Whilst £4.3 million of facilities had at one stage or another been approved,  by  31st  December  19  facilities  had  closed  resulting  51  facilities remaining active with an approved total facility value of £3.4 million.

The scheme guarantees 80% of the facility capital value, plus accrued interest. Consequently, the guaranteed capital value exposure at 31st December 2021 was £2.7 million.

To date, there is one confirmed default and a claim has been made in this regard for the amount of £28,000. The payment in relation to this claim has been approved by way of MD-TR-2021-0144 and payment was being completed at the time of preparation of this report.

  1. Allocations from the Reserve under Article 15(3)

Department

£

Purpose

From

To

General Reserve (Covid)

Covid-19 Response

up to 14,883,662

To cover costs of Covid helpline, Covid operational  costs,  Covid  service recovery  and  Test  and  Tracing programme and technology. (MD-TR- 2021-0084)

General Reserve (Brexit)

IHE

up to 1,440,000

To  cover  costs  of  biosecurity  border controls and future fisheries and marine resources management. (MD-TR-2021- 0084)

General Reserve (DEL)

IHE

up to 328,450

To  cover  costs  of  biosecurity  border controls and future fisheries and marine resources management. (MD-TR-2021- 0084)

General Reserve

T&E

up to 510,000

To  cover  costs  of  increases  to  the PECRS  Pre-87  debt.  (MD-TR-2021- 0087)

General Reserve

T&E

up to 848,501

To cover costs of increases to insurance premiums. (MD-TR-2021-0088)

General Reserve (Covid-19)

Covid-19 Response

up to 3,600,000

To cover additional costs of Co-Funded Payroll Scheme (CFPS) Phase 6. (MD- TR-2021-0092)

General Reserve

HCS

up to 2,750,000

To cover the costs of an out of court settlement. (MD-TR-2021-0093)

General Reserve - Restructuring

COO

up to 915,000

For  the Total  Reward  Review   VR scheme. (MD-TR-2021-0096)

Reserve for Centrally Held Items

HCS CYPES

up to 594,000 up to 4,400

To cover the costs associated with the 2021  Pay  Award  in  respect  of  the Nurses and Midwives pay group. (MD- TR-2021-0113)

 

Reserve for Centrally Held Items

various heads of expenditure

up to 794,300

To cover the costs associated with the effect of the 2020 pay award (2020 back pay) in respect of the Senior Leaders, Doctors  and  Consultants  pay  groups. (MD-TR-2021-0130)

Central Planning Reserve

IHE

up to 300,000

For pre-feasibility work for Greenfields and Inspiring Active Places. (MD-TR- 2021-0132)

General Reserve (DEL)

various heads of expenditure

up to 3,005,000

Funding  for  initiatives  in  the Government  Plan  2022-2025.  (MD- TR-2021-0133)

General Reserve

FSDEE

up to 3,512,192

To  finalise  the  purchase  of  the  Le Câtillon II Hoard and to establish a trust to  finance  scientific  and  research opportunities presented by the Hoard. (MD-TR-2021-0145)

General Reserve (DEL)

Judicial Greffe

up to 266,000

To enable the relocation and running costs of the Family Court. (MD-TR- 2021-0147)

General Reserve (DEL)

IHE

up to 978,100

To meet unforeseen costs – premises expenses, energy recycling facility and hazardous waste. (MD-TR-2021-0148)

General Reserve (Covid)

Covid-19 Response

up to 6,791,000

To meet additional Covid-related costs. (MD-TR-2021-0149)

General Reserve (Covid)

Covid-19 Response

up to 380,000

To fund the provision and supply of PPE  consumed  in  2021.  (MD-TR- 2021-0150)

Abbreviations

CLS  Customer and Local Services

COO   Chief Operating Office

CYPES  Children, Young People, Education and Skills FSDEE  Financial Services, Digital Economy and Economy IHE  Infrastructure, Housing and Environment

HCS  Health and Community Services

OCE  Office of the Chief Executive

SPPP   Strategic Policy, Performance and Planning

T&E  Treasury and Exchequer

Minister for Treasury and Resources February 2022