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19-21 Broad Street | St Helier Jersey | JE2 3RR
Deputy Hilary Jeune
Chair, Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel
BY EMAIL
27 August 2024
Dear Chair,
RE: Delivery plans and savings proposals – Budget 2025-2028
Thank you very much for your letter dated 12 August 2024 regarding the 2025-2028 budget. I have addressed the two relevant points below:
- In absence of Departmental Business Plans for 2025 ahead of the Budget debate, please provide a list of all the projects you are undertaking in 2025, alongside a list of those projects and workstreams which had been due to take place in 2025 (and agreed in previous Government Plans) which have been delayed or cancelled.
I draw to the Panel's attention the published Departmental Business Plans for 2025 online, being the departments of Infrastructure and Environment and the Cabinet Office. The following list are the key projects that will be undertaken in 2025. Some projects have been initiated in 2024 and will continue into 2025 for delivery:
• Planning Improvement Focus – a more efficient, effective, and better value planning system, review of Island plan process, tree protection framework, changes to permitted development rights (CSP: Reform the Planning Service)
• Plan for Town – Continuing policy support to develop and help co-ordinate the implementation of an integrated Plan for Town (CSP: Plan for Town)
• Carbon Neutral Roadmap - implementation of the commitments for 2025 (CSP: Address the Climate Emergency)
• Building Standards review (work commencing Q3 2024)
• Water Strategy – water quality workstream and legislative changes (commencing in Q4 2024)
• Marine Spatial Plan
• Offshore Wind
• Food Safety - Subordinate orders for food information and hygiene, food standards policy, food safety culture, licencing, infectious diseases (policy development beginning Q4 2024)
• Energy policy development work including legislative updates and delivering the recommendations from the CAG Review of Critical National Infrastructure, Energy that are relevant to MENV
• Biodiversity Strategy Scoping (Depending on Exemption application)
Paused Projects and Workstreams for consideration in 2026:
• Waste Carriers certificate changes and stakeholder engagement
• Prevention of Pollution from Construction Sites
• Updated Statutory Nuisance Law
• Unlawful Public Entertainment Regulations
• Explore the introduction of a development levy
• St Brelade's Bay improvement plan
• Carbon offset purchasing strategy
• Jersey Energy Performance Assessments legislation
• Sustainable finance – climate finance strategy
• Island wide footpath / countryside signage project
- More detailed information on figures provided for savings proposals (p106) for each of the years which estimates are provided and what the figures represent, including:
- The roles which will be lost and the anticipated impact on business-as-usual activity in the affected team/area of business.
The roles within the department at or above G11 are subject matter experts, leaders in their professional fields and act as experts for Government. Many of these professional roles are very limited skills shortage on Island and significant efforts of recent years has focused on attracting these specialist roles on-Island. Most of the roles with the department at this level require degrees, masters or post-graduate diplomas plus chartered membership to a professional institution. Some of the professional qualifications include meteorology, veterinary science, environmental sciences, agriculture and food engineering, environmental health, town planning, building surveying, ecology, biodiversity, environmental management, trading standards, to name but a selection.
For 2025, the department acknowledges the broader pressures on government and believes it should play its part, accepting the additional VFM target of £0.2m and role savings of £0.49m. The savings target will be delivered through a combination of measures, being reduction in consultancy expenditure in the post Brexit and Borders workstream, continued vacancy factors savings and additional income generation. The 2025 position of the Environment department is within budget.
- Any anticipated loss of service provision.
There will be a reduction in grant giving capacity to small projects given the cessation of the Countryside Enhancement Scheme from 2025.
- Any anticipated change in policy delivery.
The impact of the Cabinet Office's savings proposals on the policy support available to the Environment portfolio in 2025 are twofold:
- Role reduction of a vacant senior policy (G13) officer post
- Reduction in consultancy budget – The organisation is reducing its reliance on consultants and therefore a reduction in this budget is in line with the new resourcing envelope agreed by CoM.
The impacts of these savings in 2025 are currently under consideration. They may include descoping existing or necessary work, deprioritising projects or rescheduling projects into 2026 or later. A MOSCOW analysis is being undertaken to assess and verify the impacts of this loss of capacity. There will further discussion between myself and officers regarding my policy priorities for 2024 and 2025, and these are reflected the programme of projects provided.
I hope this information is helpful to the Panel. I am grateful for your engagement in relation to the Government Plan and look forward to keeping you updated as the various workstreams progress.
Yours sincerely
Deputy Steve Luce
Minister for the Environment