Public Accounts Committee - Approved Committee Minutes 19 February 2018

Present

Connétable C.H. Taylor (Chairman) Deputy J.A. Martin (Vice-Chairman) Deputy M. Tadier

Mr M. Robinson

Apologies

Mr R. Parker

In attendance

Ms C Black – Strategic Finance Review Consultant, Chief Minister's Department (Items 6 and 7 only)

Mr K Hemmings - Head of Decision Support, Treasury (Items 6 and 7 only)

Mr P Styles, Head of Financial Governance, Treasury (Items 6 and 7 only) Mr S. Warr en, Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General (via telephone link)

C. Tomlinson, Scrutiny Officer

Ref Back

Agenda matter

Action

1. Minutes

The Committee approved the minutes of 29th January 2018.  

2. Information from Chief Minister's Department

The Committee recalled it had met an Associate Partner of KPMG LLP who was undertaking a piece of work supporting the Financial Management  Improvement  Programme  at  the  Treasury  and Resources  Department.  It  noted  his  terms  of  reference  for carrying out this work.

29.01.18 Item 3

3. Audit Plan

The Deputy C&AG presented a verbal update on the Audit Plan, including progress on the Governance of the States of Jersey Police review. The PAC noted that Deputy J.A. Martin was a member of the Police Authority and if she became a member of the PAC again after the elections in May 2018, she would declare a conflict of interest in any PAC follow-up work of this review.

The PAC also noted a project specification in relation to the C&AG's review of the States' Employment Board.

29.01.18 Item 4

4. eGov Review - Report

The Committee noted that report drafting was ongoing and that there had been a change to the Committee's Officer resource. It agreed that the remaining Scrutiny Officer should liaise with Mr

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M. Robinson, the Lead Reviewer, and complete a draft report for the Committee's attention, to be circulated by email in the next two weeks.  

15.01.18 Item 5

5. Jersey Innovation Fund Review – Report

The Committee noted that report drafting was ongoing and also noted the Committee's revised Officer resources. The Deputy C&AG  advised  the  Committee  that  the  States  Greffe  had circulated a draft report via email, where C&AG comments were inadvertently inserted and wrongly attributed to the C&AG as amendments.  The  Committee  acknowledged  the  point.  The Committee requested the Scrutiny Officer to redraft the report with input from the Chairman, and noted that it would be circulated in time for consideration as soon as possible after the presentation and publication of the eGov report.

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6. Draft Report and Proposition – Abortive Costs

The Committee welcomed Treasury and Resources Department Officers to discuss its proposals for changes to abortive costs' reporting.  Having  heard  the  Officers'  plans  for  making  the reporting of such costs more transparent, the Committee decided not to lodge its draft report and proposition. However, it agreed the Chairman would make a statement in the States Assembly on the PAC's work to date and urge the new PAC to hold the Treasury and Chief Minister's Departments to account on its promises,  including  those  made  in  respect  of  abortive  costs reporting.

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7. Recurring Themes and Executive Responses

The Committee noted a paper on recurring themes, which had been written by Officers of CMD and the Treasury and Resources Department in response to the Committee's review. It advised the Officers present that it would want to monitor the progress made on mapping out areas for improvement in the public service. It also  noted  that  a  new  template  for  responding  to recommendations  made  by  the  C&AG  and  PAC  (Executive Responses) was being formulated by those departments and that it would allow for more timely and accurate feedback on the implementation of those recommendations.

The Committee agreed that the review of recurring themes should be included on a legacy report as a high priority for the incoming PAC to conclude.  

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8. Road Surfacing Review

The Committee noted that work on this review had not progressed and recalled the revised Officer allocation. It agreed that it should form part of a legacy report for the incoming PAC to decide if it wished to progress the matter.  

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9.  Draft  Scrutiny  Engagement  Code  and  Draft  Scrutiny Proceedings Code

The Committee noted the documentation and concluded that it did not have sufficient time to consider it in detail in the short timeframe given. It requested the Officer to place the items on the agenda for the next meeting in order to give more time for detailed consideration. It noted that the Deputy C&AG had already sent comments on the draft directly to the clerk to the Head of Scrutiny, in respect of applicability to the PAC, the application of provisions to Accounting Officers, and the purported direction of the C&AG. It also noted that he had suggested making references to data protection legislation more generic in order to accommodate new legislation.

10. Letter to the Treasurer - Hospital Building Funding

The Committee noted a letter dated 6th February 2018 from members of the public, which accompanied a letter dated 22nd January 2018 which had been sent to the Treasurer of the States. Both letters questioned the continued expenditure of public funds in relation to the proposed future hospital site, after planning consent had been refused. The Committee agreed to advise the authors of the letters that it could only scrutinise the administration of hospital funding in line with its remit of retrospective scrutiny of implementation of policy. However it would advise the incoming PAC to monitor the issue. It requested the Officer to forward the correspondence to the appropriate Scrutiny Panel.

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11. Date of next meetings

The Committee agreed to meet at 12:45 to 2:45 pm on 5th March and at 2pm on 5 April 2018.