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Public Accounts Committee
Record of Meeting
Date: 10th June 2013 Meeting No: 27
Present | Deputy T. Vallois, Chairman Senator S. C. Ferguson, Deputy R. Rondel Deputy G. Baudains Mr I. Ridgway Mr J Mills Mr. R.Parker |
Apologies |
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In attendance | Mrs K. McConnell, Comptroller and Auditor General Mr M. Robbins, Officer to Public Accounts Committee. |
Ref Back | Agenda matter | Action |
512/1(1) | 1. PAC Appointment The Chairman and Committee welcomed Mr Robert Parker as a new member to the Committee. |
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Item 1 13.05.13 | 2. Records of Meetings The records of the meetings held on 13th May 2013 were approved and signed. |
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512/1(44) | 3. Conflicts of Interest Mr I. Ridgeway raised a minor point relating to a professional connection to the Car Parks Trading Fund but the Committee dismissed the connection as being irrelevant. Deputy Baudains and Mr Ridgeway declared a possible conflict of interest if the Committee were to examine aspects of Jersey Telecom (JT). Mr Ridgway agreed with the Committee view point that he may be perceived as being conflicted in relation to Gigabit Jersey and volunteered to have no involvement in the review and to withdraw prior to that topic being discussed. It was also noted that Deputy Baudains had a family member working for JT but it was agreed that as that individual was not in a managerial position, there was not a conflict of interest. |
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Item 5 13.05.13 512/1(45) | 4. Gigabit Jersey The Committee welcomed the Treasurer of the States and the senior management team from Jersey Telecom (JT) who provided facts and information relating to the gigabit Jersey project being undertaken by JT |
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| since 2011. At the completion of the briefing, the JT team invited the Committee to attend the JT premises for a tour at their convenience. The Committee thanked the JT team and the Treasurer of the States and they withdrew. Following discussion, the Committee agreed to give the decision to review this subject further consideration at the next meeting. |
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Item 7 13.05.13 512/21 | 5. Car Park Trading Fund The Committee agreed that this review was of high public importance. It was agreed that it was appropriate to assess whether the Transport and Technical Services Department was working within current policies, in particular the Anti Inflation Strategy. There was concern that this was heading towards a substantial deficit and could constitute a stealth tax' to the public of Jersey. The Chairman agreed to lead the review and the Terms of Reference were to be drafted and circulated to the Committee. | MR |
Item 8 18.03.13 512/22 | 6. Health Consultants Documents supplied by Senator Ferguson were to be circulated by the Committee and the topic was to be placed for discussion at the next meeting. | MR |
Item 10 13.05.13 512/18 | 7. Canbedone Productions Limited Grant The response from the Departments had been received and circulated to the Committee. There were significant problems created in two areas by the response to this review as follows:-
The response was received within the specified time frame but was presented to the States by the Minister for Economic Development. This was contrary to the Guidance for Ministers Responding to Scrutiny and Public Accounts Committee Reports' The recommendations were, in the main, directed at the Treasurer who had accepted them. The Committee noted that the recommendations had been based on the Key Findings throughout the report. The Minister for Economic Development had commented on the Key findings which implied that there was agreement with the recommendations by Treasury and disagreement with the key findings by the Minister for Economic Development.
The comments on the key findings caused the Committee grave concern in that they were considered to be misleading. It was considered unacceptable that a States Department should have deliberately produced such a document for the States. This failed to fulfil the duty of care that the department had for the States. The points of contention were to be laid out in detail within a document for consideration of the appropriate course of action. The Committee agreed that however this was dealt with, it was important not to carry it out through the media. The Chairman was to | TV / MR |
| liaise with the officer to further the issue. |
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Item 11 13.05.13 512/19 | 8. Grants and Subsidies It was agreed that the subject was far too large to be dealt with in detail within a single review. The lead Members proposed that every accounting officer was to be invited to confirm that Financial Direction 5.5 had been complied with in the case of every grant and that the review be taken forward from there. The review would focus on the following areas:
The Committee agreed with the way forward and that all those areas were to be tested against value for money'. | JM / MR |
512/1(8) | 9. Comptroller and Auditor General The Comptroller and Auditor General provided the Committee with an overview of her responsibilities and how she intended to meet those responsibilities in an annual cycle. The work undertaken would cover strategy, support and service delivery within the States of Jersey, with particular reference to corporate governance, internal controls and value for money within those areas. Whilst briefly touching on the risks involved, the focus was maintained on the indicative audit plan for the period 2013 to 2014. The presentation was concluded with an invitation for the Committee to provide its thoughts on the outline plan as it had been presented. The Committee thanked the Comptroller and Auditor General and agreed that the areas and issues the Comptroller and Auditor General had highlighted were in need of public examination. |
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| 10. Any Other Business The Chairman advised the Committee that there was work for the Committee within the Health Department, in particular on the subject of Integrated Care Records. Background information had been requested and it was known that documentation had recently arrived from the Department. In the background work done by the Chairman, three sets of figures had been provided, making a review of particular interest. The documentation was to be examined and the subject returned to the agenda for the next meeting. | MR |
| 11. Future Meeting The Committee agreed that the next scheduled meeting was 12.30 pm on Monday 8th July 2013 in the Blampied Room. . The Committee further committed to holding a meeting which had been provisionally booked for 12th August 2013. | MR MR |