The Public Accounts Committee publishes Review of States Annual Report and Accounts 2021
30th January 2023
Today, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published a Review on the States Annual Report
and Accounts for 2021 (Annual Report), which contains a breakdown of States of Jersey
activities, including government departments, non-ministerial departments, funds and some
subsidiary companies. The States Annual Report publishes information on the performance
of the Government of Jersey in relation to its objectives for 2021. It also provides information
on the financial performance of the States of Jersey covering both assets and liabilities and
income and expenditure.
The PAC’s role is to ‘make sure public money has been applied for the purpose intended by
the States, extravagance and waste are being eradicated and sound financial practices are
being applied throughout the administrations of the States.’ Unlike other Scrutiny Panels,
which hold the Ministers account for their actions, the PAC focuses on the Chief Executive
and Accountable Officers. The report PAC has published as a response to the Annual Report
falls in line with these duties by providing 19 key findings and 8 recommendations. These
include:
- The Report is not adequately accessible and too lengthy for key stakeholders such as
the Jersey taxpayer and States Members to be able to access the key messages and
information they need. PAC has recommended that an executive summary is included,
which outlines the key messages and overall picture of Government finances and
performance over the year being reported. Further to this, PAC recommended that
briefing on the previous year’s report should be provided to all incoming States
Members after an election and the newly elected Council of Ministers.
- The PAC found that, whilst the performance report within the 2021 Annual Report does
appear to be presented in a fair and balanced way, it does not appear to meet the
Jersey Financial Reporting Manual’s guidance with respect to information being
presented in an understandable way. They recommend that within the 2022 annual
report and accounts, information within the performance report is presented in a more
understandable manner including infographics alongside narratives as to whether key
performance indicators have been met, not met or exceeded.
- The risk reporting within the annual report and accounts does not appear to quantify
the risks faced by the organisation or, in some cases, clearly link them to strategic
objectives of the States of Jersey. The PAC has recommended that by the presentation
of the 2023 annual report and accounts, the report contains clear information which
quantifies risks and details the link between risk and the overall objectives of the
organisation.
- There is an acknowledgement that one area that could be improved upon for future
reports is the use of links to more in-depth detail within the Annual Report, with the
report itself focusing at a higher-level in terms of key performance data and key
objectives. It is also acknowledged that future iterations of the Annual Report will
require a more understandable narrative to highlight actual spend against budget.
Deputy Lyndsay Feltham, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee said “We thank the
Accountable Officers for providing us with information to assist in our review. We hope that
our recommendations will be useful to the Government and will be taken on board in the run
up to 2022’s Annual Report and Accounts. It is important that this crucial document is made
accessible to all those who need to use it.’
A digital summary
of the PAC’s report is available here.
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