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STATES OF JERSEY
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GOVERNMENT PLAN: PUBLICATION OF THE EFFICIENCIES
Lodged au Greffe on 29th August 2019 by Deputy K.F. Morel of St. Lawrence
STATES GREFFE
2019 P.90
PROPOSITION
THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion
that final plans for the allocation of efficiencies to departments in 2020 should be published at least 4 weeks before the start of the debate on Government Plan 2020–2023' (P.71/2019) and to request the Council of Ministers to take the necessary steps to ensure the plans are so published.
DEPUTY K.F. MOREL OF ST. LAWRENCE
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P.90/2019
REPORT
The success of the Government Plan is strongly dependent on the success of the Government's Efficiencies Programme. This fact is best described by the Government Plan itself (P.71/2019) –
"Delivering the Government Plan priorities requires substantial funding and investment over the next four years. In order to achieve this without significant increases in taxes, the Government must transform the way in which it delivers public services, to do more with less. More efficient services means services that are joined up, that can be accessed conveniently or online, and that respond to the needs of citizens and businesses more quickly.
The Government has therefore established an Efficiencies Programme, to deliver efficiencies worth £100 million over the period of the Government Plan."
Unfortunately, whilst the Government has established an Efficiencies Programme, it has not established how these efficiencies will be delivered. In the case of 2020, half of that year's £40 million of efficiencies have been identified, but the second half is not due to be presented to the Council of Ministers until October. Non-Executive States Members can expect to wait until sometime in November before they are able to view and scrutinise the details of this Efficiencies Programme, as is explained in the Government Plan –
"We will prepare a detailed report on the 2020 efficiencies by the time of the November States Assembly debate on the Government Plan."
Given the self-proclaimed importance of the Efficiencies Programme to the Government Plan, it is essential that there is enough time for States Members to effectively scrutinise it, but the Plan itself suggests that States Members will only have a minimal amount of time in which to do so.
Knowing how important the Efficiencies Programme is to the success of the Government Plan, and how important Scrutiny is to the success of democratic government in Jersey, it is crucial that there is enough time given to States Members so that proper scrutiny of the Efficiencies Programme can take place.
This proposition is designed to ensure that States Members have a minimum of 4 weeks in which to scrutinise the Efficiencies Programme before the Government Plan is debated. Of course, if the Government is willing and able to give States Members more than 4 weeks, that would be even better.
Financial and manpower implications
There are no financial or manpower implications for the States arising from the adoption of this proposition.
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P.90/2019