Government Plan 2023-2026: Scrutiny Review by the Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel (S.R.22/2022): Response of the Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture.

Findings

Comments

1

The  confidentiality  of  Departmental Business Cases gave rise to reporting difficulties as, although the Panel had access to this information, it was unable to share this information as part of its report.

Noted.

2

The  Government  Plan  shows  that funding for Financial Services sits with the Department of the Economy for the life of the Government Plan. However, the CoM has brought an amendment breaking this funding down between the Department  of  the  Economy  and Financial Services of which the Panel is supportive.

Correct. The funding is broken down within the Department for the Economy between Financial Services and Economic Development, Tourism, Sport & Culture.

Findings

Comments

3

Funding of £200,000 is required for the new legislative telecoms framework to bring telecoms legislation in line with that of the UK given Jersey's use of a +44 area code.

Correct.

4

Funding  of  £900,000  is  considered adequate  for  the  Rural  Initiative Scheme by the Minister for Economic Development,  Tourism,  Sport  and Culture  for  2023. However,  the Minister proposes to unlock increased funding for 2024, 2025 and 2026 by bringing  amendments  to  future Government Plans.

Correct.

5

The Minister is working on a process which clearly states how funding will be allocated within the Rural Initiative Scheme. This is currently in draft and will  be  shared  with  Scrutiny  once complete.

Correct.

6

At  the  recent  annual  Farmers Conference held in Jersey, information was provided to attendees in relation to grant support under a newly proposed scheme. This information stated that funding  would  only  be  granted  for projects  once  the  projects  had  been delivered. The Panel believe this may impact upon those who have no initial start-up  funding  and  could  have unintended  consequences  as,  without Government  providing  support  to financially  assist  new  entrants,  this scheme could prove difficult to attract people  into  the  sector  which  may impact on the long term sustainability of the agriculture sector in the Island.

There is some misinterpretation of context here. Funding for projects under the Rural Initiative Scheme can only be received by the applicant once the project has been delivered – to ensure compliance  with  financial  governance requirements. The scheme does allow for project proposals  (whether  from  new  or  existing businesses)  to  be  offered  grant  support  before project delivery. Formal grant offers are made to every business applying to the Rural Initiative Scheme – once the offer has been accepted the applicant will be required to deliver the project and  demonstrate  compliance  with  the  grant conditions to then access the funds.

7

Government  is  looking  into commissioning  Jersey  Business  to undertake  a  piece  of  work  on  the experience business owners have with Jersey Business, the business process and Government.

This piece of work is to look at barriers to business and  government  processes,  this  work  is  not  a review of Jersey Business – the wider business community are surveyed annually by 4Insight to assess their feedback on Jersey Business.

8

Jersey  Business  is  due to  receive  an additional  £700,000  in  funding  over

This is not the case; Jersey Business' annual business plan  is  reviewed,  amended  and  approved  by

Findings

Comments

and above its base grant of £860,000. This  is  despite  there  being  no measurement  being  set  for  Jersey Business for the delivery of policy as stated in the Common Strategic Policy (CSP) and it is unclear what the exact role  of  Jersey  Business  will  be  in delivering the CSP.

government to ensure alignment and enable synergies with  Ministerial  priorities  as  well  as  the  CSP  and Government Plan.

Their performance is regularly appraised by the Department for the Economy across a range of key performance indicators which ensure continuing alignment with government priorities.

9

The Panel understands that KPI's are the sole value for money assessment of Jersey Business which are built upon Government key strategies. These are not  measured  in  terms  of  economic value and money to the Island.

This is not the case, delivery against KPIs are one of a number  of  methods  in  which  Jersey  Business' performance is appraised, annual independent surveys by  4Insight  and  their  Net-Promoter  score  also demonstrate their continued value to Jersey's economy. KPIs set by Government relate to specific programmes and advisory support provided by Jersey Business with results  necessarily  reflecting  the  outcome  of  these specific workstreams rather than on the economy as a whole.

10

The  Panel  received  a  written submission from Jersey Business who stated that they had received funding over  and  above  their  £860,000  base grant  of  £1,060,000  to  help  assist businesses during the impact of Covid which  was  more  than  the  additional funding of £700,000 allocated to them in 2023.

Noted, the figure of £1,060,000 was provided to Jersey Business in 2022 as part of the recovery from the pandemic.

11

The JAR did not generate any income in 2018 and 2019 despite its costs being in excess of £7,000,000. In addition, any  income  generated  following  the transfer  of  operational  responsibility effected in May 2020 was payable to Ports  of  Jersey  Limited  rather  than Government.

Correct.

12

N/A – relative to MERFS

13

N/A – relative to MERFS

14

N/A – relative to MERFS

15

N/A – relative to MID

16

N/A – relative to MID

17

The Government Plan will continue its previous commitment of providing 1%

Correct.

Findings

Comments

of revenue expenditure relative to Gross Value Added to the Arts and Heritage Sectors.

18

Most written submissions were in favour of the Jersey Opera House calling it an iconic part of Jersey Heritage.

Noted, feedback from stakeholders has been similarly positive.

19

The Panel has not been able to present any breakdown of the renovation costs in relation to the Opera House due to Government confidentiality.

The commercial sensitivity of contracts associated with Capital Projects necessitate that such details remain exempt under Article 33 of the Freedom of Information Law.

20

A contingency has been built in for the refurbishment of the Jersey Opera House. The Panel understands this is held in the capital costs contingency fund with Treasury and includes funding for unforeseen additional work including cost push inflation in construction costs. However, the Panel is not aware of what the total capital contingency is.

Correct.

21

£300,000 of the Elizabeth Castle refurbishment has been spent to date on professional surveys, exploratory work and preparing for planning permission.

Correct.

Recommendations

To

Accept/ Reject

Comments

Target date of action/

completion

1

The Council of Ministers should  review  the confidentiality  of Business  Cases  and consider whether it is in the  public's  interest  to keep  Government  Plan business  justification cases  and  cost breakdowns confidential. This should be carried out

ME DTS C/M ERF S/

CO M

Reject

Business  cases  provided  to  the  panel included  commercially  sensitive information, distributing these to a wider audience would seriously undermine the government's ability to negotiate with suppliers and contractors and therefore cost the public money.

N/A

Recommendations

To

Accept/ Reject

Comments

Target date of action/

completion

within  the  next  six months and implemented in  time  for  the  future Government Plan.

2

N/A – relative to MERFS

ME RFS/

CM

3

The  Minister  for Economic  Development, Tourism,  Sport  and Culture  should  present the  draft  process  for funding allocation on the Rural  Initiative  Scheme to  the  Panel  prior  to presenting  to  the  States Assembly once complete. This should be within 3 months  from  the presentation of this report as  funding  is  due  to commence in early 2023

ME DT SC

Accept

Since  the  publication  of  this  review, officers have provided a briefing to the panel on the funding allocation within the Rural Initiative Scheme.

N/A

4

The  Minister  for Economic  Development, Tourism,  Sport  and Culture should present to the  Panel  the  terms  of reference,  budget, timeline  and  conflict  of interest  protocol  for  the work  being  undertaken by  Jersey  Business  to report on the experience of business owners with Jersey  Business  and Government.

ME DT SC

Neither accept nor reject

As noted in response to finding 7 this piece of work is not seeking the views of businesses in relation to Jersey Business.

N/A

5

The  Minister  for Economic  Development, Tourism,  Sport  and Culture  should  provide the  Panel  with  his findings from this piece

ME DT SC

Accept

Q2 2023

Recommendations

To

Accept/ Reject

Comments

Target date of action/

completion

of  work  as  soon  as possible.

6

The  Minister  for Economic  Development, Tourism,  Sport  and Culture  should  ensure that  clearly  defined globally  recognised  key performance  indicator measurements  are identified  and implemented  to  ensure Jersey  Business  is offering value for money.

ME DT SC

Reject

As noted in response to finding 9, Jersey Business are evaluated against a range of measures to ensure they continue to offer value for money services. Such KPIs are bespoke  to  the  priorities  of  the government and the needs of the local economy.

N/A

7

N/A – relative to MERFS

8

The Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture should review each grant for the Arts and Heritage sector year on year and ensure that business as usual costs and overheads are incorporated, in line with the Strategic Partnership Agreement, and not just project costs. This should be carried out in time for the next round of funding.

ME DT SC

Accept

The Minister reviews all culture, arts and heritage  (CAH')  arms-length organisations (ALOs') annual business plans, and their funding requests before determining  grant  funding.  In  future, The Minister is minded to indicate to all the  CAH  ALOs  their  indicative  grant funding for the following year, as early as possible, in year prior to the States debate  on  the  following  year's Government Plan in order that the CAH ALOs  can  begin  work  early  in  the following year.

N/A

9

Although a contingency is in place for the refurbishment works at Jersey Opera House, the Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture, together with the Minister for Treasury and Exchequer should review this every 3 months to ensure that it

ME DT SC

Partiall y accept

The Minister will provide a breakdown of costs and a work programme to the Panel once planning permission has been received and  contracts  for  the  works  have  been signed.

The  Department  for  Treasury  and Exchequer manage contingency funding for all capital projects centrally to ensure contingency underspends are effectively managed.

N/A

Recommendations

To

Accept/ Reject

Comments

Target date of action/

completion

sufficient to support the life of the project. In addition, the Minister should provide a breakdown of costs and a work programme to the Panel once planning permission has been received. If there are any supply-chain issues, then the Panel will need to be informed, to ensure the potentiality of capital overspends are prepared for.