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WQ.528/2019
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE CHIEF MINISTER
BY SENATOR K.L. MOORE
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 25th NOVEMBER 2019
Question
Would the Chief Minister provide the Assembly with a detailed breakdown of the £10.4 million of centrally held efficiencies and impact reports to identify how the delivery of services for each Minister's portfolio will be affected by them?
Answer
The figure of £10.4m of centrally held efficiencies is the sum of:
£5.58m for vacancy management and
£4.86m for management of non-pay inflationary pressures
These budgets will be managed and monitored corporately through the Executive Management Team. We will realise the vacancy management efficiency through agreement with Directors General on what level of vacancy management (roles and value) they will be delivering. At an organisational level this represents a prudent reduction of a little over 1% from approximately 10% to 9% of current vacancies.
This differentiated approach to departments (rather than applying a fixed %) recognises the different composition and needs of departments in respect of vacancies, and how it will vary through the year. For example HCS and CYPES who will need to maintain frontline services through employment of bank nurses or supply teachers.
It is recognised that this situation will be dynamic and requires regular reviews between Directors General, the T&E and COO (specifically People & Corporate Services) functions. Impacts will be monitored through these reviews to ensure vacancy management decisions do not result in adverse consequences.
Similarly, and as described in the Efficiencies Plan, the longstanding practice of funding inflation increases in the costs of goods and services from central reserves is a disincentive to securing better value for money. By managing inflationary pressures within departmental service budgets, rather than from central reserves, departments will have greater incentive to secure more efficient and effective procurement and expenditure.
For delivery of this efficiency support will be provided to departments by the Commercial Services team
Evidence of the delivery of these efficiencies will be captured monthly in conjunction with the standard budget management process. The value of efficiencies delivered, by department and in total, will be reported in the 6 monthly analysis approved in P88/2019.
Cost of Producing Answer
As a means of giving an approximate indication to the time and cost of producing an answer to a written question, it has been decided that answers shall include a cost, broken down by grade:
Civil Servant Grade 15 x 60mins: £60.00 Director General level x 30 minutes: £40.50
Total: £100.50