Public Service & Administration Budgetary Review & Recommendation Report: consideration and adoption

Meeting report

Mr Mlungisi Biyela, Committee Researcher, presented the Committee’s Public Service and Administration Budgetary Review & Recommendation Report.

Observations
He referred to the Committee’s observations and said that the Department and its entities had promptly appeared before the Committee whenever required to do so, though at times the information proved to be shoddy and insufficient. The Portfolio Committee would continue to make follow-ups where necessary until issues were finally resolved. The Committee encouraged continual efforts aimed both at ensuring quality service delivery and the granting of access to services for communities in far-flung rural areas. The Committee believed that Thusong Centres needed to be extended to areas where they were non-existent. These centres should also be well-equipped and manned by competent personnel.

The Committee noted that vetting processes remained a challenge, especially for officials recruited to Supply Chain Management. This worked against the zeal to pre-empt and prevent corruption in the public service. 

The Committee realised that the Executive had not been vigilant in ensuring that Senior Management Service personnel sign performance agreements on time for proper evaluation and accountability.
The Committee wished to highlight that although turnaround times in the filling of vacancies had improved, the ideal status for this had not been realised.

The Committee had observed that the spirit to implement the Job-Access Strategic Framework had not efficiently carried through to ensure that women and people with disabilities had access to employment in the public service or that these vulnerable groups were promoted to senior management positions, so that their constitutional rights were upheld.

The Committee noted that the Auditor-General’s Report had many reservations around governance issues. The Committee would like to see these challenges promptly addressed before they became endemic.

The Committee had commented that the spending trends were not painting a good picture and would impact on service delivery and the quality thereof.

Recommendations
▪ The Committee recommended that continual efforts be made to ensure quality service delivery and the granting of access to services for people in far-flung rural areas. Thusong Centres should be extended to areas where they currently did not exist and should be well-equipped and manned by competent personnel.
▪ Vetting processes should be improved and be more vigorous, particularly for officials recruited to Supply Chain Management, so that corruption could be pre-empted and prevented.
▪ The Executive should be vigilant in ensuring that Senior Management Service personnel sign performance agreements on time for proper evaluation and accountability.
▪ Turnaround times in the filling of vacancies must be improved.
▪ The Job-Access Strategic Framework must be vigilantly implemented to ensure that women and people with disabilities had access to employment in the public service and that these vulnerable groups were promoted to senior management positions so their constitutional rights were upheld.
▪ The Committee recommended that all outstanding issues to be addressed by the different entities in the financial year under review indeed be addressed and that they continue to receive due attention in the 2011/12 financial year.
▪ The Committee was of the view that the position of Director-General be filled immediately so that governance issues, as was outlined in the Auditor-General’s Report, were speedily resolved.
▪ The Committee recommended that the Suspension guidelines be effectively used. All Government institutions should also be made aware of the guidelines in order to minimise the time lapse between the suspension period and the finalisation of an alleged misconduct.
▪ Connectivity at Thusong Centres should be given urgent attention in order to accelerate service delivery and access to Government services.
▪ The PERSAL clean-up process had taken too long. This matter should therefore be speeded up in order to have an effective information management system.
▪ The Department must also work vigorously towards the attainment of multi-wage agreements in order to avoid prolonged industrial action. In light of this, the Committee recommended the medium-term review of the Department and its entities’ budgets, subject to speedy spending on services and programmes for which the funds had been allocated.

In conclusion, the Committee was of the view that some objectives might not be met given the rate of spending in the Department. However, the Committee was satisfied that most of the objectives were still works in progress. Given the pace of implementation of certain programmes, value for money might not be realised. The Committee concluded that, in terms of available efforts by the entities to address outstanding matters, budgetary review should be supported to execute the entities’ mandated programmes.

Discussion
Ms H Van Schalkwyk (DA) proposed that Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI) be included as one of the entities that reported to the Committee.

The Chairperson said that, although this entity was established through Parliament, it was as yet not fully-fledged.

Mr Nyekembe said that before it could be included among the list of public service entities, clarity should be sought on to whom this entity was accountable.

Mr A Williams (ANC) said that the figures listed under both 4.1.5 and 4.1.6 (page 7) were inaccurate as they indicated over-expenditure and not, as was suggested, under-expenditure.

The Committee Secretary said that these figures had been corrected in the revised documents.

Mr Biyela added that the figures quoted were from the fourth quarter of 2010/11.

The Chairperson said that this confusion would not have arisen had National Treasury attended the BRRR workshop to which the Committee had invited it. The lack of cooperation on their part had hindered the Committee’s work in this regard.

Mr Nyekembe added that there was need for clarity around what the actual figures here were.

Ms van Schalkwyk proposed that specific outcomes the Department wished to achieve be included, particularly given that the ‘Measurable Objectives’ and ‘Strategic Priorities’ listed were exactly the same.

The Chairperson said that five priorities should be listed and from these the specific outcomes could flow.

Mr Biyela proposed that these then be called ‘Specific Outcomes’.

Mr Nyekembe said that the multi-year wage agreement (page 19) was worrying as it appeared to seek to limit the worker’s right to stage industrial action.

Mr Williams proposed that the latter part of this sentence be done away with in order for it to read: “The Department will have to work vigorously towards the attainment of a multi-year wage agreement.” This would prevent the possible impression that the Committee sought to limit the rights of workers. The turnaround times for the filling of vacancies should be changed from “improved” to “significantly improved” as the former allowed too much leeway for unsatisfactory performance.

The Chairperson said that the issue of PERSAL vs IFMS should be added as an informed system should indicate satisfactorily how far the issue of filling of vacancies was. The vacancy rate issue should also be concluded as it had been going on for too long.

Ms M Mohale (ANC) proposed that this point should be made to read: “The PERSAL clean-up process has taken too long. The matter should be sped up in order to have an effective information management system”. Given that this was largely dependent on budget allocation would the Department not shift this burden onto National Treasury? 

The Chairperson said that the budgetary aspect needed to be dealt with by Government. The Committee’s sole interest here was that the matter was speedily resolved.

Mr Mokate said that, when looking at an application for funds from the Department, the Committee needed to look at the broader question of whether the Department had performed satisfactorily enough in that particular area in the previous financial year/s. The onus was then on the Department to show what progress it had made. The progress made needed to be looked at. Operational questions would then stem from this, as secondary considerations. 

The Chairperson said that because corruption was a major concern, the Department needed to provide more practical steps for fighting it. Public participation was also of significant importance and needed to be addressed urgently as there was a great need for citizens to be informed.

Mr Williams said that the Committee needed to place greater pressure on the Department to invest more resources in the fight against corruption as its present budgetary allocation for this was insufficient.

Ms Van Schalkwyk agreed and added that the Integrity Framework needed to form part of the fight against corruption.

The Committee then adopted the Report with amendments.

 The meeting was adjourned.