Letter - CEHA Panel to the Minister for Home Affairs - Government Plan Review 2023-2026 - 2nd Novemb

States Greffe

Deputy Helen Miles Minister for Home Affairs

BY EMAIL

2nd November 2022 Dear Minister,

As you will be aware, the Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel has commenced a Review of the Government Plan 2023-2026, and that this includes projects assigned to the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Department and the States of Jersey Police (SoJP), for which you have Ministerial responsibility.

In order to inform the Panel's Review of the Government Plan, we should be grateful if you could provide responses to the following questions:

Government Plan Revenue, Expenditure and Staffing

1. Please could you provide a full list of projects and programmes to be delivered under:
   1. the JHA Head of Expenditure; and
   2. the SoJP Head of Expenditure.
2. Please could you confirm whether the total JHA budget of approximately £35.2 million directly corresponds to your Ministerial portfolio?
   1. If not, please could you outline any differences.
3. Please could you confirm whether the total SoJP budget of approximately £27 million directly corresponds to your Ministerial portfolio?
   1. If not, please could you outline any differences.
4. JHA is projected to have approximately £4.5 million of income earned through operations in 2023. Please could you provide detail about the source of this income?
5. SoJP is projected to have £234,000 of income earned through operations in 2023. Please could you provide detail about the source of this income?
6. The previous Government Plan identified £1.7 million of efficiencies to be found by the Minister for Home Affairs in 2022. Are you able to confirm if those efficiencies have been made?
7. JHA has targeted £144,000 of value for money savings in 2023. Please could you provide a breakdown of those savings.
8. SoJP has targeted £117,000 of value for money savings in 2023. Please could you provide a breakdown of those savings.

9. In a table format, if possible, please could you confirm the number of FTE (full time equivalent) roles, number of staff employed and current open vacancies as of 31st October 2022 in the following services:

1. States of Jersey Prison Service.
2. Jersey Customs and Immigration Service.
3. States of Jersey Ambulance Service.
4. States of Jersey Fire and Rescue Service.
5. Health and Safety Inspectorate.
6. Jersey Field Squadron.
7. Justice and Home Affairs Directorate.

viii. States of Jersey Police Service.

10. Please could you provide a more detailed breakdown of the following expenditure, as detailed in the statement of comprehensive net expenditure for JHA:
    1. Staff costs;
    2. Other operating expenses;
    3. Grants and subsidies payments; and
    4. Finance costs.
11. Please could you provide a more detailed breakdown of the following expenditure, as detailed in the statement of comprehensive net expenditure for SoJP:

1. Staff costs; and
2. Other operating expenses.

Emergency Services

12. The Panel has compared the number of FTE staff estimated for 2023 in the previous Government Plan to the proposed Government Plan and notes that the FTE for the States of Jersey Ambulance Service (SoJAS) has reduced from 82 to 78. Please can you provide the rationale for the apparent reduction in SoJAS overall FTE staffing levels projected for 2023 in Government Plan 2023-2026?

a.  Please could you confirm the job roles / grades of each of the FTEs?

13. Please can you explain why the Net Revenue Expenditure for SoJAS (per the Service Level analysis table in the annex) is £387k higher in 2023 when compared with Government Plan 2022-2025 Annex, when there has been a proposed increase of £1million in Revenue Expenditure Growth funding?
14. Please can you confirm where the following additional revenue programmes are allocated within the service level analysis for Justice and Home Affairs (as detailed in the Annex)?:
    1. Combined Control Room;
    2. Jersey Care Commission – Regulation Management; and
    3. Governance and Performance.
15. Please could you provide the panel with a breakdown of, and further detail relating to, the £24.4 million of funding that has previously been approved for the Ambulance, Fire and Rescue Headquarters' major project.

a.  Please can you advise whether the Total Project Approval amount allocated to the  Ambulance,  Fire  and  Rescue  Headquarters  Major  Project  had  been adjusted to account for inflation in Government Plan 2022-2025?

TETRA Extension

16. Please can you provide a breakdown of the £750,000 additional revenue requested to extend Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) use to 2026?
17. Please can you advise why the cost has increased from £45,000 per annum (as per the previous Government Plan 2022-2025 Annex) to £250,000 per annum?
18. When do you expect to end the extend and replace strategy and replace the TETRA system?

Parish Registrations

19. Please can you describe the work that was undertaken by your department to facilitate the transfer of the Office of the Superintendent Registrar to JHA?
20. £207k has been allocated to Parish Registrations each year from 2023 to 2026, please can you advise of any costs associated with the transfer of Ministerial accountability for the Office of the Superintendent Registrar to JHA?
21. Does the £207k allocation include any upgrades or new computer systems to log Island births, deaths and marriages?
22. Has the Office of the Superintendent Registrar also taken responsibility for keeping and maintaining the records of historic Parish Registrations?

The Panel looks forward to your formal response and would request this is received by 9th November 2022.

Yours sincerely,

Deputy Catherine Curtis

Chair, Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel