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19-21 Broad Street | St Helier Jersey | JE2 3RR
Senator Kristina Moore
Chair
Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel
25th of February 2021 Dear Senator,
Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel
COVID-19 Response and Recovery Review - Fiscal Stimulus Fund – Project Extensions
Thank you very much for your letter dated 18th February 2022 in which you request further information relating to extension requests for Fiscal Stimulus Projects:
- Have any of the removed projects received monies from the Fund? If so, will these be refunded?
As at the end of December 2021 two of the projects had received monies from the Fund – Oakfield and the Jersey Opera House. The Jersey Opera House amount was £6,354 and related to a small amount of professional fees. The Oakfield project received funding of £403,119 and this related to professional fees associated with the design and with the requirements for regulations. There is no plan to ask either the department or the applicant to refund these amounts. Both schemes are continuing with alternative funding, and this would represent, therefore, a movement in Government funding rather than a requirement for a true repayment.
- Who will decide upon any further extension or removal of projects during the election period?
A policy is currently being drafted to take account of the requirements for the fund during the election period. The draft policy sets out the ongoing policy and the delegation to Officers to operate within the policy during this period and is due to be approved by me in time for the period beginning May 9th 2022.
- Will the borrowing amount for the Fiscal Stimulus Fund be reduced following the removal of the three projects, of which allocation requests totalled £5.9 million?
Borrowing for the Fiscal Stimulus fund is based on the actual expenditure from the fund, and so the borrowing allocation for the fund will be reduced following the removal of these projects.
- Where will funding be drawn from to allow the three removed projects to progress? Have business cases been provided to enable Ministerial Decisions in this regard.
Jersey Spartans project does not currently have a defined funding source because there is a delay relating to the covenants on FB Fields which will mean that the required law change is unlikely to be in place before 2023. I have expressed my support of this project and Officers will be working with the club once the required permissions are in place to see if there is any departmental funding solution.
Both Oakfield and the Jersey Opera House will be funded through departmental underspends in 2021, and this has been set out in the recently published End of Year flexibility Ministerial Decision. In the case of these two projects summary documentation (validating the business cases previously received) has been received to enable me to make the decision regarding the funding allocations.
You also expressed the panel's particular concern on the projects that have received extensions to June 2022. We continue to work with Sponsoring departments to closely monitor these projects and ensure that they continue meet the objectives of the fund.
Yours sincerely
Deputy Susie J Pinel
Minister for Treasury and Resources
D +44 (0)1534 440062 E s.pinel@gov.je