Letter - Chief Minister to CSSP - Quarterly Hearing Residual Questions - 13 March 2023

19-21 Broad Street | St Helier Jersey | JE2 3RR

Deputy Sam Mézec

Chair, Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel

BY EMAIL

 13 March 2023

Dear Chair,

Recruitment and Retention

1. What is the total cost of the Government's Communications Directorate? The budget for the Directorate in 2023 is £2,405,000.

The previous years' budgets are below. You will note a jump in the budget in 2021. This is for two reasons: One was a reallocation (from other departments into the directorate) of the spend on internal communications for the pandemic (which is now being used to cover the ongoing communications costs for the recovery efforts following the two major incidents last year), and the second was another reallocation of funds held for public awareness campaigns. This re- allocation of monies was to make sure the spend was better accounted for centrally and maximised through the bulk-buying media and keeping graphic design and videography in house, which is cheaper overall to the public purse.

2. In the Comptroller & Auditor General's (C&AG's) report States Employment Board Follow- up, it was found that the most significant recommendation in the original 2019 report was "the need to fundamentally review the framework for the oversight of HR of the States, has not been implemented. The new CoM should prioritise this review".

1. Can you confirm whether this is being carried out?

This concerns the operations of the Employment of the States of Jersey Employees (Jersey) Law 2005 and the respective roles of the States Employment Board, Jersey Appointments Commission and functions of officers set out in statute.

The States Employment Board has already met to discuss their approach and are working to define a policy position prior to consulting on options for legislative changes. We have a further, focussed meeting on this topic in March 2023 to provide initial instructions to officers.

The States Employment Board have been closely monitoring appraisals and objectives with significant improvement in this area.

2. If not, why not?
3. If yes, is this being treated as a matter of priority as the C&AG recommended?

This is a priority for the States Employment Board and will be subject to consultation with the relevant States' committees and panels, the Council of Ministers (as part of their legislative programme), public consultation and interested parties.

Delivery Plans

3. Your Delivery Plan notes service performance measures intended to track how key services are performing. However, many of the services baseline figures are "unavailable".

Service Performance Measures have been reported on for 2020 onwards, originally in the Annual Report and Accounts. Where available, the data has been reported on gov.je quarterly since 2021.

1. Can you confirm whether unavailable means that this data is not available for the purposes of the Delivery Plan or unavailable because it is not currently being collected?  

Where unavailable' is listed, the data was not available to measure a baseline.

The framework of Service Performance Measures includes a column for baseline data where this is available, as well as a what we want to achieve' column. The Chief Statistician worked with colleagues across government during 2022 to help make the service performance measures more relevant for reporting on performance. This led to dropping some measures and introducing a number of new service performance measures.

Particularly for new service performance measures, the data may not have been collated previously to be able to provide a baseline figure, but they should all have a what we want to achieve' figure. For instance, the new measure Percentage of new external hires who leave within 12 months of joining' does not have a baseline but does have a target of <20%.

The Chief Statistician's advice to colleagues was that it was better to introduce a new measure without a baseline as long as it has a target, rather than wait a year or more to be able to provide a baseline figure.

2. If the latter, can you advise the Panel on who will be conducting this data collection and tracking and how this will impact current resourcing levels?  

Where baselines do not exist they will not be collected retrospectively, however reporting against the performance measure target will be done during 2023, as it has been since 2021 when quarterly reporting was introduced. Departments are responsible for producing their own data against the measures in the ministerial delivery plans. The Chief Statistician's team collate this data from across government, quality assure the data and any associated commentary, and publish the results on gov.je.

Departments already have teams who collate data on service performance for their own operational purposes. The Chief Statistician has part of a post which collates and publishes this information. There are no additional resources required.

4. It is noted that there are several references to the increased output produced by Statistics Jersey within the Delivery Plans. Statistics Jersey has historically relied upon underspends within SPPP, and it is expected that underspent Covid Recovery funds will be reallocated to the body. However, given the importance of statistics to your Government's priorities, will you commit to sustainably funding the body by uplifting funding rather than by reallocating underspends in the next Government Plan?

I and my ministerial colleagues value the statistics and insight provided by the independent Statistics Jersey to help government make evidence-based decisions.

As part of Government Plan 2023 my government allocated  an additional £318,000 to Statistics  Jersey  on  an  ongoing  basis.  This  included  £157,000  to  resolve  an  inherited underfunding that had been met by underspends elsewhere, along with additional funding to allow Statistics Jersey to start to build a small statistical development team, for instance to make greater use for statistical purposed of data already held by government. We are starting to see the value of this approach in Statistics Jersey's recent all-economy gender pay gap report.

Statistics Jersey was allocated Covid Health Recovery funding in 2022 and 2023 to link data already held by government to enable Public Health colleagues to target Covid recovery interventions. Some 2022 project underspend is being carried forward to 2023.

If additional funding to Statistics Jersey is required to provide the data to meet government priorities, then these can be considered in the normal Government Plan process.

5. 22 of the 47 Ministerial Priorities detailed within your Delivery Plan do not have a set time target: instead, their "by when" target is categorised as "ongoing". Given the purpose of the Delivery Plan, do you not agree that providing timed targets is an integral component of the document? If so, why do almost half of your priorities not have a deadline?

As set out in Appendix 1 to the Delivery Plans, the column By When' sets out either the date by which the Ministerial Action will be completed or Ongoing' which refers to Ministerial Actions which will continued to be delivered on an ongoing basis.

This is because Ministerial Priorities are delivered by a combination of Ministerial Actions some of which have a set end date (for example, projects and programmes) and some which don't because, for example, delivery takes place through ongoing business as usual' activity, service provision or improvement.

The underlying point of this question is, however, accepted and we will continue to ensure that, where possible, deadlines are set and identified in future Delivery Plans.

6. How are Ministerial departments aligned with Ministerial portfolios to ensure appropriate accountability and timely delivery of priorities?

The "Article 30A" Report presented to the Assembly on the 23 January 2023 details the responsibilities  of  each  Minister,  and  the  delegations  made  to  Assistant  Ministers,  in accordance with Article 30A of the States of Jersey Law, as of 1 January 2023. r.10-2023.pdf

(gov.je).

For each responsibility, the lead Department supporting the Minister is also indicated (and as part  of  producing  the  report,  some  departmental  responsibilities  where  transferred,  as explained in the report).

In this way, responsibility and accountability are clear from Minister to Department, enabling the Ministerial Plans and Ministerial Delivery Plans to clearly outline the actions to be delivered in 2023 for each.

Legislative Programme 2023 Statistics and Census (Jersey) Law 2018

7. Is the Statistics Legislation Steering Group still actively meeting and what can you tell us about what they are currently working on?

Since the new Government was formed in July, the Group has continued to be chaired by the Deputy Chief Minister and other members include the Chair of the Statistics Users' Group, the Chief Statistician, and the Principal Statistician.

The Group continues to meet to discuss proposed amendments to the Statistics and Census (Jersey) Law 2018 to ensure that these amendments align with the Group's Vision Paper which was published and consulted upon between October and December 2021.

8. Following the publication of the Statistics Legislation Steering Group Consultation Feedback Report, can you confirm how its findings have been used in the legislative development process?

The Group's response to the consultation was published on gov.je (Proposed amendments to the Statistics and Census (Jersey) Law 2018 (gov.je)). This sets out the Group's policy position following the consultation, including the feedback it received. The Group continues to advise the Deputy Chief Minister on the drafting of amendments to the Statistics and Census (Jersey) Law 2018  to ensure  that these  align with the policy  intentions set  out in the consultation response.

Amendments to the Control of Housing and Work Law

9. Can you provide a progress update for this workstream and the expected lodging timeline?

The work to develop the secondary legislation is ongoing. The expected lodging date is Q4 2023.

10. Can you confirm whether the new IT system intended to improve the management of Control of Housing and Work applications has been successfully rolled out?  

1. If no, why not?

The IT system is in its final stage of development. It is currently scheduled for delivery before the end of Q2 2023.

2. If yes, can you provide an update on the data gathering process? Improved data collection is an important part of the design of the new system.
3. How is this data being used to inform population policy and target development?

The enhanced data capabilities of the new system are planned to be fully utilised in future population policy development.

11. Can you confirm whether the two new bodies intended to replace the Housing and Work Advisory Group have been established and, if not, why not?

It is assumed that the bodies referred to are those cited in the CHW Amendment Law as approved by the States assembly in March 2022 but not yet in force.

Since then, the Chief Minister has established the Population and Skills Ministerial Group which provides high level political oversight in respect of population and skills issues.

The Chief Minister does not intend, at this stage, to create a Population Advisory Committee.

The Control of Housing and Work Panel will be established as part of the bringing into force of the amended CHW law.

While the current law remains in force, the Housing and Work Advisory Group continues to meet, and in particular to exercise its statutory role in respect of applications under the "2(1)(e)" regime.

Financial Stability Board

12. Can you update us on the status of the Financial Stability Board's establishment and the drafting of the legislation thereof?  

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) is an initiative of the previous Council of Ministers. I have carefully considered the merits of moving the FSB from its present shadow form to a statutory footing as originally proposed and we are currently determining whether our objectives can be more efficiently and effectively met through an enhanced Fiscal Policy Panel.  

The Fiscal Policy Panel (FPP) first issued an annual report in 2008 and moved to a statutory footing in 2013. Their independence remains today as assured most recently in the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019. It is feasible that a slight amendment to this law and a broadening of the Panel's purpose might serve the Island better.

13. The consultation report was published in November 2022, are you happy with the level of engagement received and is any further consultation being considered?  

Whilst the consultation was published in November 2022, it was undertaken by the previous government. The issue of the FSB is highly technical and specialist area; as such I would not expect large numbers of replies. As further considerations occur, it might be that another consultation is required on future proposals as mentioned above.

14. Are you in a position to briefly explain the policy position as a result of the consultation feedback received in respect of an appropriate structure and duties for the Financial Stability Board?

The consultation responses included a view that it might be difficult to distinguish between the FSB and the FPP. As such we are reviewing whether the previously proposed structure is the correct one.

15. How is it expected that information-sharing gateways will be achieved and with which bodies?

Conversations are ongoing between officials from interested organisations of how information sharing will be best achieved between relevant parties.

16. Considering this workstream was of importance to the former Chief Minister, can you confirm whether this is a priority for your Government

Sound economic and fiscal advice is of paramount importance to this government. As is understanding the risks around the Island's economy. However, it might be that this can better served through different structures than were previously proposed.

Yours sincerely

Deputy Kristina Moore Chief Minister