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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND RESOURCES BY DEPUTY J.M. MAON OF ST. SAVIOUR
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 12TH JULY 2016
Question
Will the Minister provide the figures for underspends for each department for each of the past 5 years?
Answer
The Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005 holds Accounting Officers, usually Chief Officers of Departments, personally accountable for the proper financial management of the resources allocated to them by the Assembly. Most notably in this context, the expenditure of the Department or body must not exceed the amount appropriated to it by a head of expenditure.
It is important to understand that fact when considering the way in which Departments manage their expenditure through the year to ensure spend is being focused in the areas required to meet their objectives but within the allocated funding. Departments must also manage the financial risks of any projected or unforeseen pressures.
Whilst the majority of departmental spend goes on operational expenditure to maintain services throughout the year, cash limits also provide funding for projects and elements of non-recurring expenditure in each year to meet the needs of the department. This can include strategic planning, organisational change, one- off grants and minor equipment replacement.
This diversity of spending means that the timing of spend is not entirely aligned with the calendar year in which the funding allocation is provided. Consequently, departments will underspend against the allocations available to them in any given year and seek approval to carry forward unspent balances to continue spending on priority areas.
Ministerial Departments and Non-Ministerial States funded bodies have underspent by between 3.5% and 4.4% over the past 5 years, including elements of Central Contingencies allocations and Court and Case Costs funding. Details for each of the years 2011 – 2015 by Department can be found in the table in Appendix 1.
Further details can be found in the Annex to Financial Report and Accounts and in the Carry Forward Reports for each of the years.
The "budgets" for each year used to assess the level of underspends include each department's carry forwards from the previous year, Contingency funding and any other sums for one-off projects which may well straddle more than one year.
Appendix 1 – Department Underspend Against Final Approved Budget by Year – 2011 - 2015
Note: This analysis is based on the Departmental structure prior to P.46/2015 Draft States of Jersey (Transfer of Functions No. 8) (Miscellaneous Transfers)(Jersey) Regulations 201-' which came into effect in 2016.
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| Underspend | Underspend | Underspend | Underspend | Underspend |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £ |
Chief Minister | 1,074,933 | 2,294,015 | 2,155,279 | 1,382,353 | 1,786,516 |
Grant to Overseas Aid Commission | 4,202 | 7,692 | 151,330 | 147,363 | 6,190 |
Economic Development | 1,049,227 | 913,866 | 1,136,722 | 332,749 | 381,584 |
Education, Sport and Culture | 3,353,661 | 3,633,017 | 3,958,677 | 4,484,691 | 1,712,493 |
Department of the Environment | 280,608 | 631,339 | 396,895 | 500,934 | 352,938 |
Health and Social Services | 1,318,492 | 1,218,626 | 2,281,013 | 3,831,401 | 617,522 |
Home Affairs | 1,536,535 | 1,980,815 | 1,462,861 | 1,105,076 | 511,329 |
Housing | 1,400,906 | 1,039,897 | 1,087,486 | Incorporated in 2014 | |
Social Security | 10,482,953 | 6,916,482 | 2,790,694 | 8,033,145 | 12,988,910 |
Transport and Technical Services | 1,849,917 | 1,832,415 | 1,510,415 | 2,038,970 | 3,161,018 |
Treasury and Resources | 1,341,134 | 4,393,178 | 3,598,853 | 1,974,769 | 1,356,846 |
Non Ministerial States Funded Bodies |
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- Bailiff 's Chambers | 84,391 | 53,521 | 59,722 | 95,961 | 49,850 |
- Law Officers' Department | 2,742,563 | 876,786 | 239,266 | 777,978 | 554,882 |
- Judicial Greffe | 0 | 17,407 | 102,229 | 294,319 | 396,392 |
- Viscount's Department | 509,246 | 529,910 | 318,334 | 247,398 | 168,837 |
- Official Analyst | 32,812 | 10,446 | 83,275 | 63,832 | 55,934 |
- Office of the Lieutenant Governor | 49,361 | 60,703 | 118,667 | 109,696 | 142,425 |
- Office of the Dean of Jersey | 849 | 847 | 2,288 | 405 | 0 |
- Data Protection Commission | 1,476 | 59,788 | 128,039 | 57,497 | 41,865 |
- Probation Department | 160,269 | 175,781 | 372,924 | 40,068 | 56,146 |
- Comptroller and Auditor General | 255,713 | 450,173 | 560,656 | 511,831 | 245,714 |
States Assembly | 303,226 | 499,270 | 307,050 | 1 | 354,882 |
Departmental Underspend | 27,832,474 | 27,595,974 | 22,822,675 | 26,030,437 24,942,273 | |
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% of Final Approved Budget | 4.4% | 4.4% | 3.5% | 3.7% | 3.5% |