Following the States approval of withdrawal of £7,500,000 from the consolidated fund to meet expenditure by departments in relation to Historic Child Abuse Enquiry when and how money was spent by each department

1240/5(6065)

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND RESOURCES BY THE DEPUTY OF ST. MARTIN

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 1st MARCH 2011

Question

"On 8th September 2008 the States approved P.91/2008 as amended to permit the withdrawal of up to an additional £7,500,000 from the consolidated fund as a Contingency sum to meet anticipated expenditure identified by various Departments in relation to the Historic Child Abuse Enquiry. Will the Minister provide details of -

1. the money spent by the identified Departments between November 2007 and 8th September 2008 and when and how the money was spent?
2. the money spent from 8th September 2008 to date by each of the identified Departments and when and how the money was spent?
3. The sum of money requested by each of the identified Departments which is unspent to date?
4. Whether the Upex Inquiry was funded from the Historic Abuse Fund, and if so, who gave consent and when was consent granted?
5. Whether the Wiltshire Police Inquiry was funded from the Historic Abuse Fund, and if so, who gave consent, and when was consent granted?"

Answer

1. and (b)

The question correctly states that on the 8th September 2008, the States approved an additional allocation under Article 11(8) of the Public Finances Law. The Minister assumes that the Deputy wishes to extract the sums that were approved after the approval of additional monies in contrast to the amounts prior to the additional States' authorisation.

The difficulty the Treasury has in answering the precise questions in terms of dates is that accounting returns are completed internally on a quarterly basis. In order to answer parts (a) and

2. separately it would be necessary to look at each individual transaction. The Minister has provided the information as fully as possible to assist the Deputy in the time available.

The majority of this information has already been disclosed in public Ministerial Decisions. The answers  also  include funding  reimbursed from the £4.25 million  approved  by  the  States in P83/2009.

Breakdown by Department

Home Affairs

T&R (Property Holdings)

Law Officers' Department

Chief Minister's Department

Economic Development Department

Education Sport and Culture (Jersey Heritage Trust)

Health & Social Services

Summary

3. Money  was  requested  by Departments  on  a  reimbursement  basis,  based  upon  actual expenditure incurred. Therefore no Departments are in possession of unspent funds to date. All reimbursement claims from this Article 11(8) funding for all departments were made following assurances from the departments concerned that appropriate controls were in place to ensure that accounting  officer responsibilities  were  being  discharged,  and  that  financial  directions  were complied with in respect of the expenditure.

The Deputy will recall that the Minister signed decision number MD-TR-2011-0007 on 24th January 2011 to formally return the £346,416 unallocated balance of Article 11(8) funding for the Historic Child Abuse Enquiry to the consolidated fund. The only sum now remaining is £150,037 to meet anticipated costs of the Home Affairs Department relating to the Enquiry in 2011 and a small contingency of £26,000. This sum is currently held by the Treasury pending requests from Home Affairs for reimbursement, based on the usual assurances.

4. The Upex Inquiry was funded, at a cost of £37,000, from money reimbursed to the Health and Social Services Department in 2008 as that Department was designated as responsible for paying for the Inquiry. Based on assurances received, the Minister for Treasury and Resources gave consent for reimbursement of the expenditure on 18th August 2008.
5. The Wiltshire Report was not funded from money allocated to the Historic Child Abuse Enquiry by Article 11(8) approvals.