The official version of this document can be found via the PDF button.
The below content has been automatically generated from the original PDF and some formatting may have been lost, therefore it should not be relied upon to extract citations or propose amendments.
19-21 Broad Street | St Helier Jersey | JE2 4WE
Deputy Kirsten Morel Chair
EIA Scrutiny Panel BY EMAIL
30 October 2020
Dear Kirsten,
Re: Government Plan 2021 - 2024 Review
Further to your letter of 15 October 2020, please see response to each of the Panel's questions on the matter of the capital investment project: Regulation Group Digital Assets. The information contained herein has been provided by the appropriate officers in IHE whom deal with operational matters.
- The 6-month report explains that the progress status for this project is "partially deferred". What parts of the project have been deferred and why?
This project was planned in three phases. Phase 1 - Discover and Design will enable a thorough analysis of the costs of the available options. Due to the Directorate's role in the Government's pandemic response, we had to split phase 1 in to two further phases 1.1 Discover and 1.2 Design. Phase 1.1 Discover will be completed within 2020 and 1.2 Design is partially deferred for Q1 2021.
The 6-month report also explains that staff were deployed to the Covid-19 contact tracing team. How many staff were deployed and how long will they be/were they deployed for?
The Regulation Directorate redeployed 33 staff to contact tracing at the start of the Government's pandemic response and those officers have had a staggered return to the Directorate between May and October. To date we have 2 officers currently redeployed to contact tracing.
The team managing the Regulation Group Digital Assets project is Regulatory Improvement and they were redeployed to contact tracing from March until the end of August. They have been able to initiate this project in September. A project board has been formed and a contractor appointed for professional services to complete the Phase 1.1 Discover by the end of 2020.
- We note that the original business case did not allocate any capital investment for 2023. Will any plans be made for investment in future years? What will happen when upgrades to the IT software are required?
The original business case identified 2020 for the discovery and design phase 1 and 2021 – 2022 for the build and delivery of the systems phase 2 and 3. No allocation in 2023 or beyond was requested as ongoing investment in terms of maintenance contracts and upgrades were anticipated to replace the existing contracts within the Directorate's revenue lines and IT budget.
The original business case explained that the Department is transforming the structure of the Directorate and bringing historically separated services together to enable efficiencies. Howhas that element of the work progressed?
a. Have any efficiencies been made?
The Regulation Directorate is bringing together historic sections of Development Control, Building Control, Environmental Health, Environmental Protection, Trading and Consumer Standards, Driver and Vehicle Standards. The business case identified efficiencies to be made by collating the business line application software of those sections into a stable and secure line of applications. However due to the Directorate's role in the Government's pandemic response and the partial deferral of the project we've not been able to identify any efficiencies to date. We anticipate the efficiencies to be identified and highlighted upon the completion of Phase 1, which is targeted for Q2 2021, with the delivery of efficiencies upon the completion of the project by the end of 2022.
The Government Plan (page 180) explains that the full cost of the project is £1,290,000. Can you provide a breakdown of how that figure has been reached?
The original business case requested £120,000 in 2020, £1,230,000 in 2021, and £1,230,000 in 2022 equating to a total project cost of £2,580,000. Phase 1 was partially deferred with £60,000 allocation in 2021, bringing the total funding for 2021 to £1,290,000.
Phase 1 Discover and Design at a cost of £120,000 is to establish the costs of available options for the investment of the remaining funds. The intention is to drawdown the funds based on project milestones, principally, the three phases identified in the business case.
For now, in lieu of a detailed output from phase 1, we have estimated the overall cost as double the expenditure on the current systems due to inflation
- How much ofthe funding identified for 2020 (£120k) has been spent?
Of the £120,000 funds available in 2020, £60,000 was deferred for Covid cost pressure as part of the review of capital. Of the remaining £60,000 none has been spent to date; however, we have committed expenditure in raised purchase orders for professional services and hardware replacements for Phase 1.1 Discover.
I trust the above is of use to the Panel and please do not hesitate to contact me if you require anything further.
Yours sincerely
Deputy John Young Minister for the Environment
D +44 (0)1534 440540 E j.young@gov.je