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1240/5(8529)
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS BY DEPUTY M. TADIER OF ST. BRELADE
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 25th NOVEMBER 2014
Question
Will the Minister detail for members how she will deliver those measures to balance the Consolidated Fund that apply to the Home Affairs Department and are listed on page 56 of the accompanying report to P.129/2014 Draft Budget Statement 2015?'
Answer
Due to the short time period between the publication of P129/2014 and 1 January 2015 the Home Affairs Accounting Officers identified funds which could be made available to Services on a one-off basis if recurring savings proposals cannot be implemented immediately; this was agreed with the previous Minister. This will allow time for Home Affairs officers to review statutory obligations and consider sustainable options for recurring savings of 2% to be delivered from 2015 and future years.
Once the Home Affairs officers have identified savings proposals I will review them with my Assistant Minister and Accounting Officers alongside my top eight priorities for the Department.
During the CSR process all areas of non-staff expenditure were reviewed and the requirement for further savings will mean that, regrettably, it will be difficult not to impact upon staff numbers given that over 80% of the Department's expenditure is on staff costs.
Services delivered by the Home Affairs Department are, in the main, front line public facing services which require a critical mass, eg number of firefighters on a watch, number of prison officers, police officers and customs and immigration officers per shift. Due to the nature of the business any change in the critical mass would be significant and could require services to be ceased or delivered differently.
I will do my utmost to protect these services and the role they play in ensuring public safety as the alternative may not be acceptable politically.