Review: States of Jersey Spending

About

The States' Spending Review will feed into the 2009 Business Plan process.

Terms of reference

The review work to be undertaken in 3 parts, namely -

1. Examination of the claim that savings of circa £35 million will have been made by 2008. Work on this aspect of the review was substantially complete as at 10th December 2007, with a report examining the evidence put forward as validation of the claim being in the final stages of preparation in readiness for publication in January 2008, following which the holding of hearings would be considered.
2. A series of reviews, including both departmental reviews and cross-cutting reviews, involving the key departments of Health and Social Services, Home Affairs and the Law Officers’ Department (in respect of Court and case Costs).
3. The third stage of the review would examine the operation of the expenditure control mechanisms currently in place under the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005. Whereas current work had concentrated upon ways of saving expenditure which would lead to potential reductions in services, it remained unclear as to why the ‘normal’ budgeting processes had failed to achieve reductions. The overall message to be delivered by the review was accepted as being that a broad approach to States’ spending would be adopted, with there being no areas not capable of being examined in detail and difficult questions asked.