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STATES OF JERSEY
JERSEY POLICE AUTHORITY: ESTABLISHMENT (P.192/2010) – COMMENTS
Presented to the States on 7th January 2011 by the Public Accounts Committee
STATES GREFFE
2010 Price code: A P.192 Com.
COMMENTS
The Public Accounts Committee wholeheartedly endorses the Proposition lodged by the Minister for Home Affairs to establish an independent Police Authority. In fact, our Committee recommended this move back in March 2010 within our Report on the 2008 Accounts (P.A.C.1/2010).
We expressed our concerns as follows –
The Chief Officer for Home Affairs is also technically the Accounting Officer. However the Chief Police Officer is not accountable to him and reports directly to the Minister. This leaves a perturbing grey area, most notably exemplified by the large financial outlay required for the historical child abuse enquiry. As a direct result of this ambiguity around financial accountability, a large portion of money has no Accounting Officer and cannot be verified as wisely spent. (P.A.C.1/2010, p.33)
We hope that the establishment of a Police Authority will resolve the confused lines of accountability which led to this overspend on Home Affairs, and prevent such an event occurring in the future. An apparent lack of accountability and responsibility in regard of the spending of public funds has been a key concern for the Public Accounts Committee. This concern is States-wide. If successful, this Proposition is an important step in clarifying accountability and as a result, controlling spending.
As such, our Committee would encourage all States Members to support the Proposition.
Our key finding and recommendations within P.A.C.1/2010 are reproduced below –
KEY FINDING
Lines of financial responsibility remain unclear across several Departments, leading to confusion and the spending of considerable sums of public funds which cannot be accounted for.
RECOMMENDATION
The independence of the Treasurer is paramount – as are clear reporting lines and allocations of responsibilities. Where failures of accounting controls occur, there must be responsibility taken from the centre to correct these problems. The significant and potentially costly lack of clarity within Home Affairs must be corrected as a matter of urgency.
RECOMMENDATION
The PAC recommends that a Police Authority, to which police expenditure will be accountable, is set up as a matter of urgency.
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P.192/2010 Com.