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The government has been told to keep a closer eye on the finances of the non-ministerial departments it funds, including the Bailiff’s Chambers and States Assembly.
The recommendation came in the latest report from Comptroller and Auditor General, Karen McConnell, who found that there were no arrangements in place to verify the accuracy of accounts received from such departments.
She also found that the Treasury had demanded information from them on “very short timetables”.
Non-Ministerial departments – including the Bailiff’s Chambers, Law Officers’ Department and Probation – are publicly-funded services which sit outside of government, but by their nature, must partner closely with both government and the Treasurer of the States.
Rather than being accountable to a Minister (a politician), Non-Ministerial departments have an Accountable Officer (a public sector employee) who is accountable directly to the States Assembly through a panel of politicians tasked with overseeing how public funds are spent.
Pictured: The spend of each Non-Ministerial Department for 2018.
It's made clear early on that the C&AG does not include her own department in her audit.
In Ms McConnell’s penultimate report before she leaves the role of C&AG later this month, she identifies that more work needs to be done in order to shore up this relationship and ensure “appropriate scrutiny” without encroaching on the “operational independence” of the Non-Ministerial departments.
The findings centre on four main areas:
In terms of relations between the departments and the Treasurer, the C&AG “identified some weaknesses” relating to “financial accountability”.
Whilst the watchdog noted that Non-Ministerial departments offer up information to the Treasury and Exchequer as part of the preparation of the annual States Accounts, “there are no arrangements in place within the Treasury and Exchequer to verify their accuracy.”
Pictured: The C&AG thinks more thought needs to go into verifying the accuracy of documents exchanged between Non-Ministerial and Ministerial bodies.
She also notes that support for Non-Ministerial departments when it comes to more complex financial procedures were “limited”.
The report particularly notes an issue with demands from the Treasury to Non-Ministerial Departments “for submissions on very short timetables.”
Giving an example of this, Ms McConnell writes: “This has been the experience even when the need for the submission could have been identified well in advance, as in the case of the Government Plan 2020-23. I identified one example of an ambiguously worded request for information where a reply was required within three hours.
“Responding on accelerated timetables is more challenging for small departments that are reliant on a limited number of key officers with competing priorities who may not be able to divert their attention at short notice.”
Similarly, the watchdog’s report paints a picture of a neglected relationship between the Non-Ministerial Departments and the Government of Jersey whereby the nuance of their role is neither fully understood nor documented.
Explaining the relationship between Non-Ministerial and Ministerial services, Ms McConnell writes: “The Non-Ministerial departments for constitutional reasons, sit outside the Government of Jersey. However, corporate functions, such as Human Resources, Information Technology (IT) and Estates Management as well as Finance, sit within the Government. There is therefore an important interaction between the Non-Ministerial departments and the Government.”
Because of the limited size of these departments and the fact that these essential corporate functions lie within Government, the C&AG indicates that there are areas where the Government and Treasury could do a better job of supporting their Non-Ministerial colleagues – particularly in terms of financial support.
As part of this finding, Ms McConnell lays out several cultural perceptions which arose from her observation of the Non-Ministerial departments’ interactions with their executive counterparts.
Pictured: The report identifies that finance is one of the areas where Non-Ministerial departments could be supported more.
She writes: “historically the arrangements for financial support to Non-Ministerial departments do not instil confidence on the part of [these departments] that they are ‘customers’ who are valued, listened to and understood.”
Amongst other things, she reports the departments’ feeling that there is a “perceived lack of interest”, “a poor level of responsiveness”, and “an insufficient tailoring of services” regarding the work of Non-Ministerial departments.
Ms McConnell relays that there is also perception within the Non-Ministerial departments that their Ministerial counterparts favour “a ‘one size fits all’ approach” when it comes to their interactions.
Drawing her conclusions, Ms McConnell summarised that her report has identified:
In concluding her findings, Ms McConnell made a series of recommendations to improve matters relating to this issue.
This morning, the government said it welcomed the report and that the Treasury would soon begin work with the Non-Ministerial departments to enact the recommendations.
A statement read: "Treasury is implementing a transformation programme to improve financial management across the States of Jersey and this includes the service to, and oversight of, Non-Ministerial Departments."
"An official response will be provided to the Public Accounts Committee in line with normal protocol."
The Law Officers’ Department said: “The Law Officers welcome the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General into the governance and support for the non-ministerial departments together with all fifteen recommendations contained in her report.”
Attorney General Robert MacRae QC – who heads up the department - added: “We are very grateful to the Comptroller and Auditor General for her diligent work and the helpful advice and recommendations in her report. We look forward to working on the recommendations with the Government and the Treasury and Exchequer department in 2020.”
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