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Public Accounts Committee
Record of Meeting
Date: 14th September 2015
Present | Deputy A.D. Lewis , Chairman Connétable C.H. Taylor Deputy J.A. Martin Deputy S.M. Wickenden Mr. R.J. Parker Mr. M.J. Robinson |
Apologies | Mr. G. Drinkwater |
Absent |
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In attendance | Mrs. K. McConnell, Comptroller and Auditor General Mr. I. Clarkson, Clerk to the Public Accounts Committee |
Ref Back | Agenda matter | Action |
| A1. Minutes The minutes of the meetings held on 15th July, 27th July, 4th August and 27th August 2015 were approved. |
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Item A2 27.07.15 | A2. Conflicts of Interest No new conflicts of interest were declared. |
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Item A3 06.07.15 512/1/1(1) | A3. Work Programme The Committee noted an updated report concerning the status of its work programme for 2015 and beyond. The Chairman advised the Committee that the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel was minded to launch a review of the proposal to sell a minority stake in Jersey Telecom. It was nevertheless anticipated that such a review might not address the question of the executive response to the C&AG's report concerning the States as shareholder of Jersey Telecom (R.109/2014 refers). In this regard, and having noted that the Draft Medium Term Financial Plan 2016 – 2019 would allocate to the Treasury and Resources Department growth monies in the sum of £200,000 per annum to enhance the shareholder management function, the Committee recommended that the Chairman seek a meeting with the Minister for Treasury and Resources and the Treasurer of the States regarding the status of work to implement the recommendations made by the C&AG in her report of 2014. |
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Item A4 27.07.15 510/1(5) | A4. Terms of Reference (Standing Order 132) The Committee received a report concerning Standing Order 132 (Public Accounts Committee: Terms of Reference'). |
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| It was noted that the Committee's existing terms of reference were set out in Standing Order No. 132. As currently drafted, the Standing Order did not appear to obligate the Committee to take any action in respect of several different types of reports produced by the C&AG. In addition, the Committee noted scope to better align Standing Order 132 with the scope of work undertaken by the C&AG in accordance with the Comptroller and Auditor General (Jersey) Law 2014. The Committee agreed that before considering proposing modifications to its terms of reference, it should first revisit the Code of Practice for Scrutiny Panels and the Public Accounts Committee and receive a report on the status of works by the Chairman's Committee to update the same. | Officer |
Item A3 27.07.15 512/1/1(1) | A5. Draft Medium Term Financial Plan 2016-2019 The Committee considered a draft comment to the Medium Term Financial Plan 2016 – 2019. The Committee noted that the draft comment discussed the extent to which recommendations 1 and 6 of the report PAC.3/2013 (Car Parks Trading Fund') and recommendation 6 of report PAC.2/2014 (Integrated Care Records Programme') had been implemented by executive departments and gave notice of the Committee's provisional intention in the event that the latter recommendation was not implemented before the draft Budget Statement 2016 was to be lodged au Greffe.' The Committee agreed that it would prefer, if possible, to lodge an amendment to the Draft Medium Term Financial Plan 2016 – 2019 that might oblige executive departments to implement the 3 recommendations in early course. | Officer |
Item A1 27.08.15 512/27 | A6. Public Sector Reform The Committee considered and commented on a revised draft of its report on the Public Sector Reform programme. A series of further amendments were made to the body and recommendations made in the draft report. In particular the Committee agreed that both the formal reconstitution of the ministerial steering group and the presentation to the States of a formal evaluation of the status of phase 1 would be necessary to restore adequate governance of the programme and to maintain accountability. It further agreed to draw attention to high-level programme objectives that were either less than ambitious or were difficult to measure. The Committee agreed that a suitably revised report should be presented to the States in early course. | Officer |
Item A5 06.07.15 512/1/1(6) | A7. Financial Management The Committee considered the executive response to the report of the C&AG's report on financial management (R.38/2015 refers). The Committee recalled that it had waited more than 17 weeks to receive the executive response and that the principal excuse offered to the Committee for the delay had been the volume of work being |
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| undertaken by executive departments to produce the Draft Medium Term Financial Plan 2016 – 2019. Having considered the response provided, the Committee concluded that it could not determine whether a project plan for implementing the C&AG's recommendations had been devised. Neither was it clear why the timescales for implementing a number of the recommendations extended beyond 2018. The Committee agreed that it should, at its next scheduled meeting, consider a scoping document and draft terms of reference for a follow- up review of financial management across the States. | Officer |
Item A1 08.07.15 512/25 | A8. Financial Directions The Committee noted that an executive response to its report on Financial Directions was due to be submitted by 17th September 2015. |
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Item A9 06.07.15 512/1/1(1) | A9. Comptroller and Auditor General – Work Programme The Committee noted the following follow-up reports produced by the Comptroller and Auditor General –
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Signed Date: ..
Chairman Panel