Estate Management (2020)

The States of Jersey owns a vast array of buildings and property assets, worth over £1 billion. Some are currently utilised, some are lying empty with agreed plans for future use and some could potentially be repurposed or sold. The PAC wrote a report on Estate Management in February 2019, (following on from the former C&AG's Report on Operational Land and Buildings in June 2018) and the Executive Response was published in April 2019. It then launched a follow up review earlier this year. It wanted to assess the progress on overall arrangements of the Government's strategic property function since its restructure under the OneGov arrangements with funding approved in the Government Plan.

The PAC also wanted to assess the progress of establishing a Corporate Asset Management Group (CAMB) by the Government and whether any progress had been made on developing an Island-wide Estate Strategy. When the PAC held a public hearing with the (former) Director General of Growth, Housing and Environment (GHE) department, in February 2020, he assured the PAC that the department was making progress.  We temporarily halted our follow up review on the understanding that, as emphasised in PAC Comments 27 February 2020, the GHE Target Operating Model would be finalised shortly and the Estate Management Strategy would be made public by the end of February 2020. Neither has happened.

The PAC is aware that the Covid-19 pandemic would have had a significant impact on progress in some areas of property and asset management, however it is relaunching the review to ascertain what work has been done to produce a comprehensive property strategy linked to corporate objectives, maintaining deteriorating buildings and considering sales of non-necessary buildings/land in line with the Common Strategic Policy and Government Plan. We consider this to remain of vital importance, perhaps even more so than before the outbreak, to make sure we are making the most of our vast portfolio of property assets for the benefit of the public.

​The Review relaunched on 15^th June and the public call for evidence is open until 1^st September 2020. The Panel have been gathering evidence from key stakeholders, and a comment paper was presented in December 2020.

You can find the full terms of reference here, but they are in summary, below:

• We will be assessing the progress of the Corporate Asset Management Board and the Regeneration Steering Group in producing a comprehensive property strategy;
• We want to know who has been consulted in the process (e.g. community groups, other stakeholders, the wider public);
• We want to see a comprehensive Island Wide Estate Management Strategy;
• We aim to find out why there has been so much delay; 
• We will hold a public call for evidence in order to gather views and we will also invite key stakeholder groups to share their views; and
• We will produce an evidenced-based report with findings and recommendations.