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I have included the Panel's questions below along with our answers:
- The £20 million voted by the former States Assembly for the Technology Accelerator Fund is reduced by an initial grant of £230k to be paid to Digital Jersey in 2022 to design a detailed programme for the Fund.
As the Proposition states, Digital Jersey will have access to up to 5% of the total fund to design and operate the Technology Accelerator Programme. The £230k is from that 5% to enable Digital Jersey to pay an external partner to assist with the design of the programme and other costs incurred in the pre-launch phase.
- What will this detailed programme involve and how will this funding be allocated?
As we discussed with the Panel, the design phase is likely to last until the end of 2022 and so we are unlike to have a Strategic Programme Plan to share until early in 2023.
- How much of this grant is expected to be used for the design purpose of the project?
We will endeavour to minimise costs where possible but we expect that between the cost of employing Challenge Works as well as additional local resource in project planning, financial planning, etc, we will utilise most of the £230k but as stated this is part of the design and management overhead outlined in the Proposition.
- Have clear political priorities within the potentially wide options mentioned in the Proposition for funding of projects or programmes providing high value economic and environmental solutions for the Island been advised to Digital Jersey to contain the cost of the potential design work?
Political priorities agreed by the last Government and also by the States Assembly, e.g. the Carbon Neutral Roadmap, are included within the original Proposition. Challenge Works and Digital Jersey have been discussing political priorities with the new Government and we are currently looking at how the process will work for prioritising which Government objectives are addressed and in what order by the Technology Accelerator Programme. In any case the governance process will mean that all programme proposals will have to be approved by Government through the Oversight Board, whether they are targeting economic, social or environmental objectives.
- In your view, has sufficient funding been provided in the Government Plan 2023 – 2026 to address the technological and digital skills gap locally?
Digital Jersey has recently published a Digital Skills Strategy refresh and supported CYPES in the development of their Digital Education Strategy. We continue to work in partnership with CYPES, Skills Jersey, Highlands, the Jersey Employer Group and local industry to develop a costed implementation plan for the recommendations. We will then discuss funding options with Government, including the potential to use the Technology Accelerator Fund.
- To what extent will this gap need to be addressed through the promised Common Population Policy and in what way?
Whilst Digital Jersey is not formally involved in the development of the Common Population Policy, we regularly respond to requests for information and views and in addition to focussing on the improvement of local skills have been running a successful MoU with the Business Licensing Hub (formerly Population Office) for a number of years to make it easier for companies to access digital talent where it is not locally available.
- Can you please inform the Panel what other funding you are due to receive, if any, for 2023? Our core grant for 2023 as included in the 2023 plan is as follows:
• Economy Department: £2,325,000 (a £100,000 increase on 2022, in line with previous Government Plan commitments)
• CYPES: £202,000 (a £50,000 decrease from the original Government Plan commitment for 2023)
- What additional funding are you to due to receive, if any, in 2024 and 2025?
At present no additional funding has been agreed above 2023 levels with the Economy Department and there is no CYPES funding currently after 2023.
- In what areas of government digital policy other than the Technology Accelerator Fund is Digital Jersey involved that are noted within the Government Plan?
Digital Jersey continues to engage with all Government departments as requested and in line
with our Operational Plan which is agreed with the Minister for Economic Development, Sports and Culture. Digital Jersey developed the following 5 Year Plan for Jersey and is working with all relevant departments involved with aspects of that, e.g. Economy, CYPES, External Relations, etc. We are not currently involved in the development of Government's internal' digital strategy for the delivery of services.
https://www.digital.je/our-work/5-year-strategy/
- In your view has Government provided a sufficient vision of the Island's future economy to adequately inform the skills gap barometer that is being developed by government to direct the content of future skills training?
Digital Jersey worked closely with the previous Government on the development of the Outline Economic Strategy for Jersey – A Vision for 2040' (https://www.gov.je/government/planningperformance/tradeinvestmentgrowthframework/pag es/outlineeconomicstrategy.aspx), we have been told that that is still the supported vision for our economy and we are supportive of it.
Please let us know if you require any further information. Best,
Tony.
Tony Moretta
CEO tony.moretta@digital.je +44 7797 921 402 www.digital.je
