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3.16 The Deputy of St. Mary of the Chief Minister regarding the savings target of nearly £1 million a year on energy and water costs.
Given that a saving target of nearly £1 million a year on energy and water costs is envisaged, can the Chief Minister explain why the savings target of 10 per cent was announced so late in the 3 year term of this Assembly, and can he inform Members what manpower and other resources are specifically allocated to the task of reaching or exceeding this target?
Senator T.A. Le Sueur (The Chief Minister):
The potential for savings through better management of energy and water was first identified as part of the corporate procurement savings plans presented to Ministers in July last year. Given the scale of the property estate of the States, however, and a need to identify realistic savings opportunities the final target of 10 per cent reduction in consumption of energy and water and realising certainly over £1 million over 3 years could not be confirmed until February 2011. With regards to manpower and other resources specifically allocated to projects, one external project manager, internal resources, and support from local companies where required are being utilised.
The Deputy of St. Mary :
Could the Chief Minister just repeat what he said about the resources? I did not catch the first bit, one something?
Senator T.A. Le Sueur :
Yes, there is one project manager together with internal resources. The project manager is an external project manager, the other resources are internal.
- The Deputy of St. Mary :
In a previous question the Chief Minister told Members that there has been no consideration given to the achievements of local authorities in the UK and what targets they had set and what targets they had achieved - the best ones, I mean - and now we learn that in February 2011, that is right near in the beginning of the last year of his term as Chief Minister, we have the final target of 10 per cent. Would the Chief Minister care to comment on the amount of priority he has given to this, given that it is a win/win saving? These savings are absolutely right from every point of view and at the same time we are having many more controversial saving cuts imposed on the people of Jersey and yet this one has taken so long to even be programmed.
Senator T.A. Le Sueur :
I accept that had it been started earlier it would have no doubt shown results earlier but in effect once we had a properly resourced and equipped Procurement Department within the States this was identified as quite a high priority and it was as a result of that that it was brought to Ministers' attention last year. As I said in my answer, because of the size of the States estate it did take some time between seeing the opportunity and quantifying the amount that could be generated from that source. That was done as the Deputy rightly says in February of this year.
- Senator S.C. Ferguson:
Given that such a move is just ordinary prudent housekeeping, can the Chief Minister assure us that the resources allocated to it are not getting to the point where the cost benefit value for money is exceeding.
Senator T.A. Le Sueur :
Indeed, I have been very careful to ensure that we do do a cost benefit analysis to ensure that there is a positive return on this and on other savings similarly.
- Senator S.C. Ferguson: Does the Minister have figures for that?
Senator T.A. Le Sueur :
No, I said it needed to be a positive amount. We are looking for a return in excess of £1 million over the 3 years. Current indications are that the resources being employed are generating more than the ... well in advance of their costs to date.
- The Deputy of St. Mary :
The Chief Minister just said £1 million over 3 years, can he confirm that the amount of savings we are talking about is in the region of £1 million per year, and also is he aiming to exceed that or is it a matter of resting on one's laurels on this matter?
Senator T.A. Le Sueur :
I think I may have confused Members. It is £1 million per year. It will take a little while to get up to speed on that one as one needs to put in different equipment to transform what we have to what we should have. Am I satisfied with that as a target? No, but this is a first step, in my view a very important first step, having analysed and ascertained what can be achieved in this first period I am sure we are going to set higher targets for the future and continue to press for better, more ecological and more environmentally efficient solutions to this matter.