The details of the Economic Development Department’s income and expenditure for 2009 in relation to the control and licensing of the Licensing (Jersey) Law 1974

1240/5(4972)

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BY THE DEPUTY OF ST. MARTIN

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 1st DECEMBER 2009

Question

"Will the Minister provide a similar document to that circulated during the last States meeting entitled Gambling Control Current Income vs. Costs' in respect of the control and licensing of the Licensing (Jersey) Law 1974, to include the details of the Economic Development Department's income and expenditure for 2009 in relation to this matter and information on the current staff that are involved in the regulation of the Licensing Law?"

Answer

The Department does not regulate the Law, but rather administers it insofar as it has legislative responsibility for maintenance and updating as required. The Department is working with colleagues in other departments to provide for a modern and more effective Law that will allow for readier identification of true costs and provide for better apportionment of these costs to applicants. These will be outlined in a White Paper that will be drafted in the New Year.

It would not be helpful to consider my Department in isolation as officers work closely with colleagues in the Judicial Greffe, States Police, Fire and Rescue Service the Treasury and others and any consideration of financial impacts must be holistic.  This is being addressed within the modernisation process for the new Law.

Historically, income derived from Licensing was used to fund the Beach Lifeguard Service. Since the introduction of more modern accounting regimes, income and expenditure are not linked to each other so narrowly. Currently income received for the whole account code area is approximately £377,000, with £287,000 coming from liquor licenses. Set against that there are total expenses of £355,000 including three staff (2.71 FTE – 2010 business plan) working in this area, but the degree of time spent varies and they are not dedicated solely to this area of work.

The following table presents the breakdown of income and expenditure in a similar manner to that previously presented to Members regarding the Gambling function. Unfortunately, the account code in this area has never been disaggregated and includes expenditure for a number of different functions including: liquor licensing, policing of beaches, places of refreshment, British-Irish Council, broadcasting, digital switchover and tourism registrations.

The income is easily split as specific income codes are used for the different areas of income. However, expenditure is not as easy as this to split. Expense codes have been created but these do not reflect the income account codes and are more generic i.e. any printing costs incurred for the areas aforementioned are entered against the printing' expense account and this could be for liquor licensing or for printing of beach parking permits or for printing the permits for places of refreshment. It would amount to a significant investment to manually investigate each transaction in order to provide the level of detail pertaining to liquor licensing alone. As noted earlier, this will be undertaken as part of the White Paper process as the review of the Law continues.

Account Yr to Dec Actual

2009

NTQ000 - Regulatory Services

330368-POR Fees (13,665) Duties,Fees,Fines & Penalties (364,361) Sales of goods and services

330470-Foreshore Concessions (12,414) Sales of goods and services (12,414) Income (376,774)

411000.950-Civil Service Perm Soc Sec 3,634 Staff Costs 79,844

642100.NST-Hotel Acc - Staff 61 Supplies and Services 274,653 Administrative Expenses

661010-Other Administrative Costs 3 671510-Other Admin Fees 181 Administrative Expenses 183 Expenditure 354,681 NTQ000 - Regulatory Services (22,094)