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Public Accounts Committee – Approved Committee Minutes - 18 May 2015

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Public Accounts Committee

Record of Meeting

Date:  18th May 2015

 

Present

Deputy A.D. Lewis , Chairman

Deputy S.M. Wickenden, Vice-Chairman Connétable C.H. Taylor

Deputy J.A. Martin

Mr. G. Drinkwater

Mr. R.J. Parker

Mr. M.J. Robinson

Apologies

 

Absent

 

In attendance

Mrs. K. McConnell, Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) Mr. I. Clarkson, Committee Officer

 

Ref Back

Agenda matter

Action

 

1.  Records of Meetings

The records of the meetings held on 20th April and 24th April 2015 were approved and signed.

Officer

 

2.  Conflicts of Interest

No new conflicts of interest were declared.

Connétable  C.H.   Taylor  re-stated  his  previously  declared  indirect conflict of interest regarding the Sea Cadets, having noted that a project to relocate the Sea Cadets to Port Galots, St. Helier was to be raised during  the  course  of  the  Committee's  public  hearings  on  Financial Directions. The declaration was duly noted by the Committee.

 

Item A1 11.05.15

512.24

3.  Andium Homes – Repairs and Maintenance

The Committee noted that its final report was due to be presented to the States  on  19th  May  2015  and  that  the  Chairman  would  release  a suitable accompanying statement to the media.

Officer

Item 4 20.04.15

4.  Financial Management

The Committee noted that both the Chief Executive and the Treasurer of the States had yet to forward to the Committee a response to the C&AG's report concerning financial management (R.38/2015 refers). Although a draft response had been received on Saturday 16th May, it was apparent that the draft might be amended following further officer and ministerial input.

Having noted the position, the Committee resolved to consider at its

 

 

 

next scheduled meeting the finalized executive response and the matter of a possible follow-up review. In the intervening period, the Committee instructed its officer to obtain finalized responses from the executive as soon as possible or to report back on 15th June with any reasons offered by executive departments for any ongoing delay.

On a related matter, the Committee agreed that subsequent agendas should  include,  as  a  standing  item,  a  report  on  completed  and outstanding committee actions and other relevant activity.

Officer Officer

 

5.  Private Patients Income

The Committee noted the presentation to the States of the C&AG's report  entitled  Private  Patients  Income.' It  further  noted  that  the Chairman had written to the Chief Officer, Health and Social Services Department seeking a response to the recommendations by 11th June.

The Committee resolved to consider during its next scheduled meeting whether to undertake a follow-up review of the Private Patients Income report.

PAC / Officer

Item 5 20.04.15

512.27

6.  Public Sector Reform

The Committee received and considered further documentation from the Chief Minister's Department concerning the purpose, the progress of and the resources allocated to the Public Sector Reform programme between 2012 and 2015.

The Committee considered the extent to which the programme vision had been articulated to, and was understood by, stakeholder groups other than the Council of Ministers. It further considered the matter of programme outcomes to be achieved by 2018 and available information in respect of the reportedly ongoing workstreams concerning, culture, e- government, workforce modernization, office modernization and Lean. The  Committee  also  noted  the  extent  of  the  information  available regarding programme expenditure since 2012.

The Committee noted that the Chief Minister's Department had  not clarified the extent to which the documentation it had provided was classified as exempt under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011. Documents supplied by that department had either not been marked  with  an  exemption  clause  or  remained  classified  solely  as policy in the course of development' under the superseded Code of Practice on Public Access to Official Information. The Committee's officer was instructed to make suitable enquiries to clarify the position.

The Committee reaffirmed its terms of reference for a review of the programme but adjusted the scope of its review so as to concentrate primarily, but not exclusively, on the period May 2012 December 2014. It further resolved to conduct a public hearing on or around 15th June 2015 and, in this regard, agreed that the Chairman should invite the Chief Executive, States of Jersey and other suitable senior public servants to give evidence at the hearing.

Officer

Chair / Officer

 

Item 6 20.04.15

512.25

7.  Financial Directions

The Committee held 2 public hearings with the following witnesses in attendance –

Hearing 1 – Chief Minister's Department

PAC/ Officer

Chief Executive, States of Jersey Director of Human Resources

Hearing 2 – Treasury and Resources Department

Treasurer of the States Chief Internal Auditor

The Committee resolved to consider transcripts of the hearings during the course of its next scheduled meeting.

Item 7 20.04.15

8.  Comptroller and Auditor General – Work Programme

The Committee –

  1. noted a draft project specification for a further review of financial management (monitoring, forecasting and financial and performance reporting) to be conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General, and
  2. received a short oral briefing regarding a forthcoming report on information security.