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Review: Government Plan 2022 Review - Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel

Committee/Panel: Corporate Services Panel
Launch Date: 4 October 2021
Review Status: Report published
Review Report: Report - S.R.20-2021 Government Plan 2022-25 Review Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel - 10 December 2021.pdf
Ministerial Response: Government Plan 2022-2025 Scrutiny Review ( Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel) (S.R.20:2021): Joint response of the Chief Minister and the Minister for Treasury and Resources

About

​The Government Plan seeks to bring together public income and spending against the context of the stated strategic priorities of Government. It is a rolling four-year plan but is brought back and updated each year to take account of changes in the Island’s economic outlook. The Government Plan 2022 – 2025 is the second which has been published since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the changes made to financial forecasts to fund Government’s response to it.

Details of the plan include:

  • Estimated income and expenditure of the Consolidated Fund

  • Amounts to be internally transferred between States Funds

  • Any other proposed financing 

  • Major projects and their proposed costs

  • Estimated income and expenditure from States trading operations to be paid into the States Trading Operations Fund

  • Amounts to be appropriated from the Consolidated and States Trading Operations Funds for the next financial year

  • Estimated amounts in States Funds at the start and finish of each financial year

  • Borrowing and Debt Management Frameworks

Key Issues:

  • Will the Government Plan meet the requirements of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019?

  • Will the Government Plan meet the Common Strategic Priorities?

  • How have the projects been prioritised in line with the 'halt, defer, reduce' policy of the Government, and is expenditure appropriately apportioned to projects and departments?

  • Does income balance with expenditure?

  • Is the Government Plan fiscally sound and economically sustainable? 

  • Does the Government Plan follow the advice of the Fiscal Policy Panel and Income Forecasting Group? 

Terms of reference

  1. ​To undertake a review of the sections/projects of the Government Plan 2022- 2025 which are most relevant to the remit of the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel, using the following criteria as a guide:

    • Where funding over £500,000 has been allocated

    • Where funding has been withdrawn or decreased significantly from the previous year

    • Where funding has been increased significantly from the previous year

    • Projects which the Panels consider are of most concern (as a result of, for instance, delays, deferrals, overspends or because they are not in keeping with Common Strategic Priorities)

    • Projects which have been identified as of concern by stakeholders

    • Projects which are contentious and/or in the public eye

    • Projects where insufficient information has been provided and more information is sought

    • Concern is held on the project’s alignment with Common Strategic Priorities, social impact and impact upon children.

  2. To determine whether those projects align with Ongoing Initiatives, Common Themes and, ultimately, Common Strategic Priorities.

  3. To consider whether the resources allocated to the projects is sufficient or excessive.

  4. To review of the success or otherwise of projects agreed in the previous Government Plan for 2021.

  5. To assess the expected impact on the ongoing delivery of public services, by Minister, through rebalancing of Government finances.

Budget

  • To examine income raising, borrowing and debt management proposals

  • To explore how spending will be funded

  • To clarify how States expenditure has materially evolved

  • To ascertain individual departmental budgets and their feasibility based on future spending

  • To examine the deliverability of capital projects

  • To consider rebalancing and borrowing plans being sufficient or excessive to meet stated aims

Financial, Economic and Growth Forecasts

  • To examine the levels of income against expenditure

  • To examine the assumptions made for the economic forecasts

  • To explore the impact of the financial and economic forecasts in Government Plan 2022 on the Stabilisation Fund

  • To explore the continued impact of Covid-19 on the ‘financial envelope’

Design and Implementation of the Government Plan

  • To assess reserves; their use, and how they are allocated

  • To consider how the treatment of contingencies/reserves, or any other areas of non-routine proposals have evolved in respect of the Government Plan

  • To consider the overall fiscal soundness of the Government Plan