The official version of this document can be found via the PDF button.
The below content has been automatically generated from the original PDF and some formatting may have been lost, therefore it should not be relied upon to extract citations or propose amendments.
Scrutiny Office
Deputy Judy Martin Minister for Social Security By email
27th August 2019 Dear Minister
Health and Social Security Panel Government Plan Review
I write to inform you that the Health and Social Security Panel will undertake a Scrutiny Review of the Government Plan, specifically project areas within the Panel's remit (the Terms of Reference for the review have been appended to this letter).
By way of background, a Review Panel has been established which has coordinated the overall scrutiny of the Government Plan. All five Scrutiny Panels will be reviewing a number of programmes, capital investment projects and actions contained within the Plan and the Review Panel has allocated a number of these projects to each Panel.
The following projects have been allocated to this Panel which we understand come under your portfolio:
- Compensation for Mesothelioma
- Financial independence in old age
- Food costs bonus
- Single parent component P.113/2017
- Support for Homes Care and Carers
- Disability Strategy and Community Support
Request 1: We would be very grateful if you could provide as much information as possible on each of these projects, and let us know whether there is a crossover with other Ministers.
The information we are seeking includes, but is not limited to:
- Full business plans/cases for each project it is noted that summaries are provided in R.91 but the Panel would like the full cases for each project and any other supporting documents;
- Any Council of Ministers papers;
- Details of any external stakeholders and internal groups or boards who may have been involved in the development of the project;
- The underlying policy for each project.
We note that part 2 of the Government Plan sets out how the government will action on each of the five priorities in the Common Strategic Policy. In that regard, the Government Plan Review Panel has also assigned each Panel a list of actions to review. The actions allocated to the Panel are:
- Develop proposals to improve financial independence in old age
- Permanently fund the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme
- Reintroduce permanent funding for singleparent component
- Maintain the food cost bonus
- Delivering the disability strategy, improving communitybased services and supporting diversity
- Develop proposals to support disabled adults living at home and their informal carers
- Amend the social security scheme to provide benefits to both parents
- Develop a new approach to supporting workings with longterm health conditions
- Deliver improved legal rights to employees
- Complete the annual minimum wage review
Request 2: Please could you identify which actions, from the list provided above, you have been involved in? We note that some of the actions will relate directly to a project and would be grateful if you could correlate these in your response.
Request 3: If you think we would benefit from a briefing on any of the projects in the first instance, please let me know so these can be organised promptly.
The Panel also notes that the Government Plan is proposing changes to both the LongTerm Care Fund and the Social Security Fund.
Request 4: Could you please provide any further information on these funds and background to the proposals that you think may assist the Panel.
As I'm sure you can appreciate, this is a huge piece of work and will require thorough planning in order to cover all aspects under our remit. In terms of the timescale, we ask that you provide a response to this letter and relevant documentation by 2nd September. If this timescale poses any issues, please let us know. We will likely be holding public hearings during midSeptember to early October and would appreciate your availability during this period.
We look forward to working with you and thank you in advance for your assistance on this issue. Yours sincerely
Deputy Mary Le Hegarat
Chairman
Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel
Appendix
Terms of Reference (Generic) Government Plan 2020
Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel
The terms of reference for the review are as follows:
- Note that sections/projects of the Government Plan will be allocated to Panels by the Government Plan Review Panel (GPRP) on a best fit' basis[1].
- Undertake an indepth review of the allocated sections/projects of the Government Plan 2020, considering:
- Whether funded projects meet the Ongoing Initiatives, Common Themes and, ultimately, Common Strategic Priorities?
- Ensuring that the projects and amendments to be lodged are consistent with the requirements of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019.
- The level of resourcing, of all forms, allocated to projects and whether this is sufficient to enable the project to meet its stated aims.
- If project resource allocation is appropriate in relation to overall departmental budgets?
- Whether funded projects align with Departmental objectives? [NB: if and where they exist]
- Whether or not there are clear lines of accountability for each project?
- The ongoing sustainability of projects.
- Provide the GPRP with a report and any amendments by the date agreed.