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Grant aided Schools: grants (P.72/2011) – comments.

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STATES OF JERSEY

GRANT AIDED SCHOOLS: GRANTS (P.72/2011) – COMMENTS

Presented to the States on 7th June 2011 by the Council of Ministers

STATES GREFFE

2011   Price code: A  P.72 Com.(2)

COMMENTS

Education Sport and Culture's original CSR proposals included reducing the subsidies to  fee-paying  schools  over  a  3 year  period.  This  equates  to  an  annual  saving  of £4.566 million by 2013 and contributes to ESC's £11.1 million total CSR savings.

However, following discussions with the relevant schools during late 2010 and early 2011,  the  Department  put  forward  a  re-phasing  of  the  subsidy  reduction  which, combined with some restructuring funds to facilitate the change within the schools, would  achieve  the  original  target,  but  by  the  extended  deadline  of  2016.  This highlighted a shortfall in the original CSR target of £2.7 million by 2013, albeit made up by the savings in the following 3 years. The Council of Ministers endorsed this proposal and has been working with the Department to identify alternative savings to ensure the target of £65 million across the States is achieved by 2013.

The financial impact of Senator Shenton's proposition is significant. It is unlikely that a  White  Paper  can be  published (paragraph (a))  and  a  debate ahead  of the 2013 Business Plan take place (paragraph (b)) in time for subsidies to start to be reduced in 2013 (assuming the States approve such a move). Given this, no subsidy reductions for those schools mentioned in the Proposition can be achieved by 2013, that is, within the current CSR period. This shortfall equates to £4.2 million. Furthermore, another ESC CSR proposal sought to introduce a Property Occupancy Charge for these schools and, if P.72/2011 is successful, this proposal would also not be achievable. This would add a further £0.4 million to the shortfall, making a total of £4.6 million, and result in over 40% of ESC's CSR savings being unachievable.

If Deputy De Sousa's amendment is approved, the total impact on the £65 million savings target is £7.9 million comprising:

 

 

2011

2012

2013

Total

 

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

Shortfall on Subsidy Reduction

761

2,013

1,444

4,218

Property Occupancy Charge

 

80

320

400

Total Impact of P72

761

2,093

1,764

4,618

Non-Fee Paying Schools Proposals

 

 

3,300

3,300

Total Impact of P72 plus Amendment

761

2,093

5,064

7,918

 

 

 

 

Fee-paying and non-fee-paying schools comprise 58% of ESC's budget, and excluding them from the CSR savings will place significant pressure on the non-educational element  of  the  ESC  budget  to  achieve  that  Department's  CSR  savings  target  of £11.1 million.  Alternatively,  to  ensure  that  the  overall  target  of  £65 million  as approved by the States in the 2011 Budget is delivered, all other States departments would have to identify additional savings to bridge the shortfall.

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P.72/2011 Com.(2)

Statement under Standing Order 37A [Presentation of comment relating to a proposition]

This comment was submitted to the States Greffe after the noon deadline as the Chief Minister was unavailable to approve it until after noon on Friday 3rd June.

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P.72/2011 Com.(2)