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1240/5(5287)
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR EDUCATION, SPORT AND CULTURE BY DEPUTY G.P. SOUTHERN OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 20th APRIL 2010
Question
"Can the Minister confirm that the targets set for his department in the CSR process are based on gross and not net revenue expenditure and state whether, in order to meet the 10% reduction target, this will result in a 12.7% cut in net revenue spend for the Youth Service and a 22.5% reduction in net revenue terms on sports centres, for example because of the impact of income in these areas.
Does the Minister not consider that such measures applied to the provision of the Youth Service place undue strain on partnership agreements with the parishes and other charitable/third sector providers at a time when their funding is also vulnerable?
Will the Minister confirm that this level of reduction in net revenue spend will inevitably result in reductions in the provision of services to young people and ultimately in redundancies amongst Youth workers and would he state the number of F.T.E. job losses that would arise from a 12.7% cut applied pro rata to the Youth Service?"
Answer
The CSR savings targets for Education, Sport and Culture and for all States' departments were set by the Treasury and Resources Department. As part of this process the Department is expected to identify savings based on the gross budget amounting to 2% in 2011, 3% in 2012 and 5% in 2013.
These savings are required to be found from the overall budget rather than a 10% reduction on each service provided; hence it should not be assumed that there will be a 12.7% reduction in the Youth Service budget or a 22.5% reduction in net revenue terms on Sports Centres. Therefore I am neither prepared to speculate on what this level of saving would look like nor the staffing implications.
If any savings are proposed which may impact on other agencies or partners I have undertaken to enter full and open discussions with them, as decisions of this sort should not be made in isolation. Regarding the Youth Service, I recognise the importance of the partnership agreements with the Parishes and I would not want to do anything that might jeopardise that relationship.
Ultimately, any proposed savings will be subject to further review by the Council of Ministers and by the Scrutiny Panels as it is important that consideration is given to the impact that each proposed saving may have.