Defining the cost of ministerial government.

STATES OF JERSEY

DEFINING THE COST OF MINISTERIAL GOVERNMENT

Lodged au Greffe on 21st September 2015 by Deputy J.A. Martin of St. Helier

STATES GREFFE

2015   Price code: B  P.111

PROPOSITION

THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion

to request the Council of Ministers to provide, in the Addition to the Medium Term Financial Plan covering the years 2017 to 2019 (that is to be proposed no later than 30th June 2016), breakdowns and estimates of the financial costs and  manpower  figures  (headcount)  relating  to  the  dedicated  support  for Ministers and Assistant Ministers by individual Department and also as a total.

DEPUTY J.A. MARTIN OF ST. HELIER

REPORT

I have decided to bring this simple request/Proposition as I am sure many States Members were very surprised by the answer to my written question 1240/5(8789). I reproduce  the  written  question  and  reply  at  the  end  of  this  Proposition  at  the Appendix.

I had to allow the Treasury many more weeks than normal to answer my written question  because  the  costs  were  not  held  or  readily  identifiable –  the  Treasury's words, not mine.

To admit that the cost to support Ministers, and in some departments also the cost to support their Assistant Ministers, is not known or is very hard to calculate, cannot carry on. I do not think this is an unreasonable request; in fact I think that this should have been being addressed over many years, especially as the cost seems to have grown.  States  Members  and  the taxpayer  cannot  measure  this  as it is  not  at  the moment in a budget or the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP).

I feel that this request should be adopted by the Council of Ministers and that we should have agreement of this at the same time the MTFP is debated.

How can the States, as a whole, be asked to find savings and the taxpayer be expected to accept them, when the cost of our Ministers is what they decide to spend on their office support, their travel, or any other support they may feel they need? No, this cannot carry on; there must be a budget and estimates of the cost going forward. This is so that proper scrutiny can be done and, if as we are told, costs will go down when/if departments amalgamate, there will be monies in budgets for Scrutiny Panels to judge against.

We have had just over 10 years of ministerial government, and not to have at least a base budget for all of the expected costs is no way to run part of the States of Jersey. I know the majority of States Members will agree with me. I am hopeful that the Council of Ministers will take this on board before we debate the MTFP, and that they will produce the breakdowns and estimates of the financial costs that I am requesting here. I have lodged this Proposition to get that result, but if that is not possible, it will be debated in the Assembly and you will all get the chance to decide if you really want Transparency, Openness and Accountability going forward.

Financial and manpower implications

I have been advised by the Treasury that there would be no additional financial or staffing implications as a consequence of this Proposition being adopted.

APPENDIX 1240/5(8789)

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE CHIEF MINISTER BY DEPUTY J.A. MARTIN OF ST. HELIER

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 14th July 2015

Question

Can the Chief Minister –

1  outline the portfolio of each Minister and how this is supported by Assistant

Ministers?

2  itemise the annual cost of each Ministerial Department, including support of

the Assistant Minister(s) to take into account the cost of:

• office space (rental)
• secretarial/administrative support
• direct  officer  support  (giving  the  number  and  grades  of  the  officers involved)
• IT support
• telephone costs
• travel costs?

3  provide the whole budget for supporting Ministerial Government expressed in

the same way as the allocation to Scrutiny is shown in the States Assembly accounts and indicate  whether this  budget can be identified  in  the  States accounts and, if so, how?

4. advise when, and how, this budget was agreed and whether itis inflated in accordance with the cost of living each year and whether there have been any over or under-spends to date?
5. provide the budgets and manpower figures specifically relating to supporting Ministers  from  December  2011  until  the  election  of  the  new  Council  of Ministers in November 2014 to give a full 3-year account of the cost of supporting ministerial government?

Answer

1. In accordance with Article 30A of the States of Jersey Law 2005, the Chief Minister is required to establish, maintain and publish a list of Ministers and Assistant Ministers and the functions exercisable by each of them and by the Chief Minister personally.' The most recent published list is contained inR.19/2014.
2. Estimated costs for each Minister for 2014 are shown in the table below. These figures have been calculated by Departments solely for the purpose of answering this question and are approximate.

Notes

• Secretarial/administrative support and direct officer support: Departments vary in how  Ministers  are  supported  and  their  PAs  perform  a  range  of  tasks. PAs/secretaries  often  manage  the  administration  of  the  Minister,  Assistant Minister and Chief Officer, and also perform other work for the department, as required. Likewise, officers undertake a range of functions and provide a varying level of specific support for individual Ministers and Assistant Ministers as the work demands. However, I can confirm that the Treasury and Resources Minister and Chief Minister both have dedicated PAs (who also work for the relevant Assistant Minister and Assistant Chief Ministers) and their costs amount to an average of £67,000 per year for the Treasury Minister and c. £90,000 for the Chief Minister. As the organisation becomes more flexible and departments work more closely together, these kinds of estimations will become even more difficult. For instance, the new Community and Constitutional Affairs department is made up of a variety of officers and administration staff who support a number of ministers and assistant ministers (Chief Minister, Housing Minister, Home Affairs Minister and  Assistant  Minister,  the  chair  of  the  Legislation  Advisory  Panel,  and  an Assistant  Chief  Minister)  and  discharge  a  range  of  policy  and  operational functions.  This  makes  it  difficult  to  separate  out  the  percentage  of  support provided  by  specific  staff  members  to  individual  Ministers  and  Assistant Ministers, compared with their departmental work.
• Travel cost: Data for 2014 has not yet been published. Where updated information is not available, 2013 data from R.158/2014 is used as an indication of cost and/or taken from reports published to the States Assembly.
• Office space costs: Shown as notional rental values. Most departments do not rent office space.

3. The budget  for  supporting  Ministerial  Government  is not  separately identifiable within the States' Financial Report and Accounts, and as noted above, itis not readily possible to separate work undertaken on behalf of a Minster and work undertaken on behalf of a Department, and indeed, they are ultimately one and the same thing, i.e. the cost of ministerial government is the cost of government.
4. This cost is not managed by departments as a separately identifiable budget. As such itis not subject to specific over or underspends. Pay and non-pay inflation will have been allocated in accordance with arrangements across all departmental expenditure.
5. As  outlined  above,  budgets  and  manpower  figures  are  not  specifically identified for supporting Ministers so itis not possible to give a meaningful answer to this question. As an example, where the costs of secretarial and administrative support have been given these relate in most cases to a fraction of an employee's time. The table shown in the answer to question 1 is also shown for 2013 and 2012 to allow the Deputy to approximate a cost.