Departments showing £6.9m first quarter overspend

The health department has reported a £2.7m overspend in three months

Four government departments are showing combined overspending of more than £6.9m in the first quarter of this financial year, figures released by the Manx Treasury have revealed.

The Department of Health and Social Care is currently forecasting £2.7m deficit, with Home Affairs, Education, Sport and Culture, and Environment, Food and Agriculture, are also projected to go over budget.

The update is the latest in a string of overspends by departments, shared as part of a commitment by the Treasury to provide regular financial updates.

Speaker of the House of Keys Juan Watterson said the figures made for "unsettling reading for government" and health spending had become a "runaway train".

The Treasury said the departments were "facing financial pressures" that were "in line with expectations, especially those providing frontline services".

In healthcare, the department showed a £2.7m overspend, which was down to "accommodating the cost of the mandate to Manx Care", the report said.

The department is forecasting a £7.3m deficit for the year but a "specialist financial recovery programme" was being developed to mitigate the costs.

In Home Affairs, he said the department's projected £900,000 overspend so far was down to "additional costs relating to forensic services that were not predicted" as well as "a series of recent police cases".

A "cost improvement plan" had been setup and there were "ongoing projects" aiming to make savings to get the department end the year within budget, the report said.

The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture has a predicted spend of £172,000 over budget in the first quarter, attributed to the use of agency staff within the Planning and Building Control division.

An overspend at the Department of Education, Sport and Culture was also due to employee costs due to "agreed pay awards and additional staffing requirements" at specialist provision centres.

The report said while that was currently indicating an overspend of £3.2m, the department still aimed to meet its budget target for the year.

Tax receipts

Watterson said while employee costs across the broad were within budget, the £712m cost was "still pretty eye watering".

"Sadly, despite repeated requests from Public Accounts Committee there isn't enough detail to dig into where things are going wrong, which makes detailed suggestions for improvement impossible," he added.

However, he said the "bright side" where Treasury had reported income from tax receipts was ahead of budget,

The report showed tax income stood at £10.2m above estimates in the latest figures, expected to rise to £17.8m by the end of the year.

This demonstrated "continued resilience of the local economy" and the intention was to "reinvest" any income back into the general reserves, the report said.

The current value of the Isle of Man's total reserves is £1.96bn.

Despite widespread overspending in the first quarter, the Treasury said it a number of departments expected to be able to adjust throughout the year to get back on track financially.