Parliament 2020/21 Quarter 1 performance, Revised 2020/21 APP & 2022/23 Draft APP

Meeting report

Co-Chairperson Mahlangu convened the virtual meeting and welcomed Members and the delegation of parliamentary staff in attendance. The purpose of the meeting was for the Committee to be briefed on Parliament’s performance during the first quarter of the 2020/21 financial year, on the institution’s Revised Annual Performance Plan (APP) for the 2021/22 financial year, and on Parliament’s Draft APP for the 2022/23 financial year. Another item on the agenda was for Members to consider and adopt the outstanding minutes.

The delegation of parliamentary staff consisted out of Ms Baby Tyawa (Acting Secretary to Parliament), Dr Leon Gabriel (Divisional Manager: Knowledge and Information Services), Ms Ressida Begg (Divisional Manager: Core Business Support), and Dr Dumisani Jantjies (Parliamentary Budget Office).

Consideration and adoption of the Committee’s outstanding minutes:

One of the items on the agenda was for the Committee to consider and adopt its outstanding minutes. Ms Cindy Baile, Secretariat to the Joint Standing Committee, informed the Chairperson that the item has to be stood over to the next meeting of the Committee as there were not sufficient Members present to establish a quorum. The agenda item was subsequently stood over to the Committee’s next meeting.

Briefing on Parliament’s Revised APP and Budget for the 2021/22 financial year:

The first item on the agenda was for the Committee to be briefed on Parliament’s Revised APP and budget for the 2021/22 financial year. Ms Baby Tyawa, Acting Secretary to Parliament, presented the briefing.

Governance overview and the new budget programme structure:

The revision of the 2021/22 APP for Parliament stems from the budgetary revisions that were made as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The original APP was submitted on 31 May 2020 and tabled on 09 June 2021 along with the revised budget for the institution. It was reported that the APP proceed from the understanding that governance consists of a continuum of related activities which feed into one another including policy development, strategic planning, operational planning and resource allocation, implementation, performance monitoring and evaluation. It was emphasised that the impact goal of Parliament is to reduce poverty, unemployment, and inequality by 2030. The outcomes for 2024 are to increase government’s responsiveness and accountability through improved oversight roles.

New governmental guidelines were issued for the construction of APPs. This involved the inclusion of a strategic (SWOT) analysis and new tools such as results-based management and balanced score card. This creates a better separation of strategic intent and implementation modalities, and the Strategic Plan now focuses on a 15-year impact and a five-year outcome (mostly a single outcome for institutions). APPs now carry implementation measures around outputs and associated information, and new requirements are implemented for Operational Plans to be included in the annual statutory audits.

Key focus areas for Parliament’s administrative programmes:

It was reported that Parliament has three programmes including Programme One (Administration) consisting of three sub-programmes entitled Executive Authority, Office of the Secretary, and Corporate and Support Services. Programme Two (Legislation and Oversight) consists of five sub-programmes entitled National Assembly, National Council of Provinces, Public Participation and External Relations, Shared Services, and Sectoral Parliaments and Joint Business. Programme Three (Associated Services and Transfer Payments) consists of three sub-programmes entitled Members’ Facilities, Transfers for Political Party Allowances, and Transfers for the Parliamentary Budget Office.

The administration is focused on rendering useful services for Members. Service industries use client satisfaction feedback to determine the usefulness of services. This is as a result of the continuous concern regarding Parliament’s annual targets relating to client satisfaction surveys. These surveys will be conducted on a quarterly basis. There is rich data to ensure that the surveys will be founded on robust data since the project has been in the piloting phase.

Annual targets for Programme One (Administration):

For Programme One (Administration), it was reported that it was important to develop a new business model for the parliamentary service to address future ways of work, and redesign and optimise core and support business processes through technology. A key focus area of this programme is the upskilling and reskilling programmes to ensure effective use of modern technology. This involves skills programmes for expertise and specialisation for continuous innovation and improvements of processes and skills, allowing for co-creation and value adding. The approach is to integrate service offerings through a collaborative approach where service recipients are offered a holistic response, to provide policy, tools, and facilities for remote conditions, and to implement virtual meetings and collaboration platforms. The purpose of this programme is to move Parliament from a traditional approach to a digitally transformed institution with the goal of increasing the degree of meaningful engagements with government, the public, and within Parliament itself. For this programme, three annual performance targets were outlined for the 2021/22 financial year. This involved achieving a 73% client satisfaction for ICT services, 69% client satisfaction for institutional support services, and 75% of staff members showing sufficient engagement levels.

The medium-term expenditure estimate for Programme One was reported to be R697.66 million for the 2021/22 financial year with R88.01 million budgeted for the Executive Authority, R8.29 million for the Office of the Secretary, and R601.3 million for Corporate and Support Services. The budget for the compensation of employees amounts to R550.87 million, and R146.79 million for goods and services.

Annual targets for Programme Two (Legislation and Oversight):

For Programme Two, it was reported that the first sub-programme involves a new programming framework with a shift towards dedicated constituency, committee and plenary weeks to be followed. This new framework will also need to schedule joint committee and joint inter-sectoral work. Regarding this framework, two annual performance targets were set including the achievement of one parliamentary framework completed, and the establishment of four draft quarterly parliamentary programmes.

The second sub-programme pertains to the capacity-building of Members that will be conducted on a continuous needs assessment, with input and feedback from Members. This will improve the coordination and cooperation from role players, integrate individual capacity building programmes, and initiate processes to measure the usefulness of programmes through regular satisfaction feedback. One annual target was established with the goal of achieving 65% usefulness through client satisfaction of capacity-building programmes in the 2021/22 financial year.

Regarding research and information for Programme Two, the goals are to develop a three-year research plan to support the oversight plan, to coordinate the various information providers into an integrated and seamless delivery model, to ensure equal access to information services, to forge improved collaboration with partners, to augment the information dissemination process, ensuring improved packaging, information simplicity, and ease of use of information products, to introduce institutional standards and quality management processes to ensure quality and objectivity, to establish a Research Advisory Panel to guide and advise information services, and to implement an institutional knowledge management strategy, ensuring institutional data and information management processes. In this regard, six annual targets were established for the 2021/22 financial year pertaining to ensuring usefulness from client satisfaction surveys for the parliamentary services for research, information, content advice, procedural advice, legal advice, and the support provided to Parliamentary Committees. Regarding public involvement, the goal was to ensure the delivery of public education and information programmes, virtual public meetings, e-hearings, and e-petitions. In addition, the Programme is sought to broaden cooperation with partners and stakeholders, to improve the coordination of programmes with that of constituency offices, and to consolidate current programmes, capacities, and resources. One annual target was outlined with the goal of ensuring a 60% usefulness report from client satisfaction surveys regarding the public participation service of Parliament.

The medium-term expenditure estimate for Programme Two was estimated at R739.7 million for the 2021/22 financial year with R45.95 million for the National Assembly, R49.15 million for the National Council of Provinces, R598.44 million for Shared Services, and R46.17 million for Sectoral Parliaments. The budget for the compensation of employees amounts to R569.42 million, and R170.28 million for goods and services.

Annual targets for Programme Three (Associated Services and Transfer Payments):

The goal of this Programme is to provide facilities and financial support for political parties including leadership, administrative and constituency support. The Programme also provides transfer payments to entities in Parliament. The Programme contains no performance information. For this Programme, the medium-term expenditure estimate was estimated at R747.64 million with R218.38 million budgeted for Members’ Facilities, R513.03 million for the Transfers for Political Party Allowances and R16.23 million for the Transfers for the Parliamentary Budget Office. The total budget for the compensation of employees amounted to R114.94 million, R119.66 million for goods and services, and R513.03 for transfers and subsidies.

The total budget for Parliament across its three administrative programmes amounts to R2.66bn for the 2021/22 financial year, R2.87bn for the 2022/23 financial year, and R3.02bn for the 2023/24 financial year. There is still a deficit in Parliament’s budget as it is carrying a wage bill of R1.1bn. It was reported that Parliament has received its sixth consecutive clean audit outcome thanks to the hard work of parliamentary staff and the inputs from the Joint Standing Committee on improving the financial situation of Parliament.

Institutional Oversight Plan:

For the strategy of the Sixth Parliament to be successful, there is a need to implement the inputs required by Members, as provided by the parliamentary services, and put forward in the Draft APP, the activities performed by Members in constituencies, committees and plenaries, and a plan to measure the performance targets of Members which necessitates the development of an Institutional Oversight Plan. This will consist of 11 chapters regarding the setting of focus areas for each year, determination of oversight activities to be executed, determination of appropriate oversight structures, coordination and programming of activities, capacity-building programmes, information and research plan, improvement of facilities, public information and access plan, ethics and behaviour through a Code of Conduct, a plan for monitoring and evaluation, and a budget for the implementation of the Institutional Oversight Plan.

Briefing on Parliament’s performance during the first quarter of the 2020/21 financial year:
The second item on the agenda was for the Committee to be briefed on Parliament’s performance during the first quarter of the 2020/21 financial year. Ms Tyawa presented the briefing to Members.

Background to the briefing:

Parliament’s first quarter performance report is based on the latest tabled APP aligned to the Strategic Plan of the Sixth Parliament aligned to Parliament’s integrated strategic management framework. The new approach to measuring performance is based upon client satisfaction with the services provided by the parliamentary service. Member satisfaction with services is measured quarterly through a survey that is conducted quarterly with all Members of Parliament, where services are rated along six dimensions which are statistically correlated.

In the first quarter under review, a total of 96 oral questions and 1 105 written questions were answered in both the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, and 24 debates were held in both Houses of Parliament. With regards to the work of committees, 17 oversight visits were undertaken with one parliamentary enquiry, ten Bills were processed, and 46 public hearings were conducted in the quarter under review. Parliament has spent 99% or R585.9 million of its appropriated budget of R590.06 million in the first quarter. It was reported that public participation via social media platforms have increased. Parliament has achieved all of its targets set for the first quarter of the 2021/22 financial year, resulting in a 100% overall performance score.

An overview of the financial performance of Parliament:

Parliament has spent 99% or R585.09 million of its appropriated budget of R590.06 million for the first quarter. An overspending of 1% (R4.17 million) is expected by the end of the 2021/22 financial year. The expenditure of Parliament for the first quarter were broken down as follows: R117.93 million was spent on the compensation of Members, R272.51 million on the compensation of employees and support staff, R46.82 million on goods and services, R20.6 million on Members’ entitlements, R128.26 million on transfers, and R3.95 million on capital expenditure. The spending on direct charges amounted to R121.8 million (103%) of its first quarter budget of R117.93 million, and there is a projected overspending of R15.5 million (3%) by the end of the financial year. This projected overspending will be refunded.

The spending on the compensation of Members amounted to R121.8 million (103%) of the first quarter budget of R117.93 million. The projected overspending for the financial year of R15.5 million is as a result of budget reductions. The spending on compensation of employees was 100% or R272.51 million of the first quarter budget of R272.51 million, and indications are that there will be an underspending of R11.33 million by the end of the financial year. The projected underspending relates to the discontinuation of membership to PARMED by Members. The spending on goods and services, which relates to the APP, was 99% or R46.5 million of the first quarter budget of R46.82 million and indications are that the full annual budget will be spend at the end of the financial year.

The spending on goods and services, which relates to Members’ entitlements, was 100% or R20.6 million of the first quarter budget of R20.6 million. Indications are that the full annual budget of R113.88 million will be spent at the end of the financial year. Spending on transfer payments, which relates to transfers to political parties represented in Parliament for the quarter, was 93% or R119.73 million of the R128.26 million budget for the first quarter. The underspending of 7% on transfers to political parties is due to the political parties that have not submitted financial statements and funds have been withheld until submission of the financial statements. Indications are that there will be a full spend at the end of the financial year. The spending on capital expenditure was 100% or R3.95 million of the first quarter budget of R3.95 million and the full annual budget of R32.72 million will be spent.

Overview of performance per administrative programme:

For Programme One (Administration), it was reported that two out of the two set targets were met, resulting in the achievement of 100% of the targets. The ICT services had the highest scores for reliability, followed by usefulness, and then timeliness and lastly ease of access. Facilities however, had the highest scores for usefulness, and then reliability, ease of access and lastly timeliness. It was reported that this programme has spent 100% or R143.82 million of the budget of R143.82 million for the first quarter, and indications are that there will be a full spend of the R697.66 million annual budget by the end of the financial year. The spending on compensation of employees was 100% or R115.88 million of the R115.88 million first quarter budget and indications are that there will be a full spend of the R550.87 million annual budget at the end of the financial year. The spending on goods and services was 100% or R24.05 million of the first quarter budget of R24.05 million and indications are that there will be a full spend of the R128.83 million annual budget at the end of the financial year. The capital expenditure was 100% or R3.9 million of the first quarter budget of R3.9 million and indications are that there will be a full spend of the R18 million annual budget by the end of the year.

For Programme Two (Legislation and Oversight), it was reported that nine out of the ten targets were achieved with one target being an annual target, showing 100% achievement of targets. For capacity building services, usefulness scored the highest, followed by reliability, timeliness, and ease of access. For capacity building services, usefulness scored the highest, followed by reliability, timeliness, and ease of access. This programme has spent 99% or R154.58 million of the budget of R154.89 million for the first quarter and indications are that there will be a full spend of the R739.7 million annual budget at the end of the financial year. Spending by the National Council of Provinces’ sub-programme was at 96% and first quarter variance of R315 000 (4%) was as a result of prior year travel invoices that was credited during the first quarter and as a result decreased the actual spending by the sub-programme. The spending on compensation of employees is 100% of the R132.2 million first quarter budget or R132.2 million, and indications are that there will be a full spend of the R569.42 million annual budget at the end of the financial year. The spending on goods and services was 99% or R22.32 million of the first quarter budget and indications are that there will be a full spend of the R22.63 million annual budget at the end of the financial year. The National Council of Provinces spending decreased due to prior year travel invoices that was credited in the quarter and resulted in an 1% variance of R315 000. Spending on capital expenditure was 100% or R58 000 in the first quarter and indications are that there will be a full spend of the R10.16 million annual budget by the end of the year.

For Programme Three (Associated Services and Transfer Payments), it was reported that this programme has spent 95% or R164.89 million of the budget of R173.42 million for the first quarter and indications are that there will be an underspend of R11.33 million or 2% of the R747.64 million annual budget at the end of the financial year due to less Members joining PARMED. Spending on compensation of employees, which includes medical aid contributions for former Members of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures, was 100% or R24.44 million of the R24.44 million first quarter budget and indications are that there will be an underspending at the end of the financial year due to the decline in Member’s usage of PARMED. The spending on goods and services, which includes Members’ entitlements, was 100% or R20.73 million of the first quarter budget of R20.73 million, and indications are that the full annual budget will be spent at the end of the financial year. Spending on transfer payments, which relates to transfers to political parties represented in Parliament for the quarter was 93% or R119.73 million of the R128.26 million first quarter budget, and indications are that there will be a full spend at the end of the financial year. The variance of R8.5 million or 7% is projected to be spend in the next quarter due to outstanding financial statements from political parties. Spending on direct charges, which relates to Members’ remuneration, is R121.8 million or 103% of the first quarter budget and indications are that there will be an overspending of 3% or R15.5 million of the R471.71 million annual budget at the end of the financial year due to the 2021/22 budget reductions.

Conclusion:

It was reported that all parliamentary services have a satisfaction rating considerably higher than the South African average for institutions of 75%. This shows that the quality of services provided has been and is quite high but can always be improved. All indicators met target. In the past, challenges with regards to the collection, collation and maintenance of performance information was misinterpreted by some as actual institutional performance challenges. Actual client feedback has proven useful in the determination of areas of improvement for parliamentary services and the overall functioning of Parliament as an institution.

Briefing on Parliament’s Draft APP for the 2022/23 financial year:

The third item on the agenda was for the Committee to be briefed on Parliament’s Draft APP for the 2022/23 financial year. Ms Tyawa presented the briefing to Members.

Overview of the requirements for the APP:

Sections 15 and 16 of the Financial Management of Parliament Act 10 of 2009 (the FMPPLA) requires that the Accounting Officer prepares and presents the draft APP and Budget to the Executive Authority by 31 May 2021. In 2020, the Executive Authority requested a working meeting to strategically direct and provide inputs for the draft APP and Budget, before the final drafts are presented. A working meeting was scheduled in May 2021 for the Executive Authority to direct and provide inputs for the drafts.

The Accounting Officer submitted the final drafts on 31 May 2021. The tabling of the draft APP and Budget occurred in the second week of June 2021 in line with the FMPPLA (see the attached presentation on the draft APP and Budget for the 2022/23 financial year which is similar to what has been summarised above for the 2021/22 financial year’s Revised APP and Budget for Parliament).

Discussion:

Mr M Rayi (ANC, Eastern Cape) appreciated the briefings were detailed and well covered. He proposed that the surveys for Members’ satisfaction should not only be limited to Members but should be extended to the Committees and the respective Chairpersons.

Mr X Qayiso (ANC) also welcomed the briefings noting good progress was made and there was always room for improvement. He suggested using the experience emanating from the Zondo Commission and what had come out regarding the work of Parliament.

Mr B Radebe (ANC) appreciated the information presented to the Committee on the financial performance of Parliament and appreciated that Parliament received another clean audit outcome – its sixth consecutive one.

He noted that it is appropriate that Parliament’s Strategic Plan is aligned with the National Development Plan (NDP). The issue of oversight by parliamentary committees must be emphasised and strengthened in line with the NDP targets especially as it reached its finality.

Mr J Julius (DA) noted the changes and thought it looked much better than before. He requested that the changes in the key performance areas/indicators per programme be summarised, if possible.
Responses from the Acting Secretary to Parliament:

Ms Tyawa appreciated the encouraging feedback from Members and was thankful that there was recognition from the Committee regarding the positive changes in Parliament’s financial performance. Regarding the surveys, this would also be targeted to chairpersons of committees for immediate feedback on meetings. This would assist in identifying areas for further improvement such as skills, quality or accessibility of information etc. There will be strategic surveys for strategic innovation.

She said former Speaker Modise was supported when she appeared before the Zondo Commission by herself, both secretaries of the Houses and Dr Gabriel. What came out from the Commission was ineffective parliamentary oversight. One of the weaker areas to address was the primary research provided to Members regarding oversight – Dr Gabriel was looking at a strategy to introduce primary research. It was important for Members to be equipped with primary and alternative research to what was presented by departments during meetings. For example, if a department reported that bridges were built somewhere, the committee would have its own information to verify that. This comes back to the matter of skills and packaging information. This was part of the end-to-end oversight.

Ms Twaya said the breakdown would be provided to Mr Julius as requested.

Co-chairperson Mahlangu remarked that on the Zondo Commission and ineffective oversight, one also needed to evaluate the role played by departments such as providing documentation very late, which disempowered Members and the support staff. The Executive and Leader of Government Business needed to address this with the departments – departments received timeous invitations but did not submit documents on time. She said in Mpumalanga, departments had to submit documents on time so that Members and staff had enough time to go through it.

Dr Gabriel (Knowledge and Information Services) agreed that primary research was one of the areas that needed development mindful of the fact that Parliament did not have the full capacity or expertise for such intensive primary research. Parliament would collaborate with other research institutions and universities to commission research for committees in a bespoke way.

What came out from the Zondo Commission was the quality of input made by Members so the administration is looking into this in terms of support provided along the lines of administration, research and content. It was important that a range of content was used to inform input and deliberations such as resources from civil society, institutions supporting democracy and even media reports – this speaks to the support provided to Committees for oversight. There was a proposal for preparatory meetings of committees in a closed session where Members could meet with support staff and researchers to go through documents before the official meeting got underway – this was separate to political study groups. Electronic document management was also being looked at regarding reliability and patents – committee chairperson and support staff would be engaged on establishing file plans for each committee for proper electronic management and storage of all committee documents and records such as committee reports. This formed part of enhanced support.

Co-chairperson Mabe noted that Parliament existed because of the people so it is the people that must be happy regarding satisfaction surveys. She was concerned that there was no mention of broadcasting Parliament on the SABC – this was a standing recommendation of the Committee. A report on this was needed to ensure the Parliament Channel was no longer privatised but accessible to all. This is an urgent, burning issue that needed to be finalised in the past two financial years – would this ever be done?

Ms Twaya said Parliament now had its own independent studio run by its own staff. The report would be provided. There were service level agreements with 90 community radio stations and the administration was working with the SABC. All Parliament’s feeds were given to the African language stations and the SABC. Chairpersons of committees were encouraged to use the studio to communicate with the public in an unmediated way. This could be transmitted to the community stations – this direction would be intensified.

She clarified that while there were satisfaction surveys for Members, the public was also independently surveyed to poll the experience with Parliament. The results would be received at the end of the day. It was a national survey. So there was a balance between the surveys. After the survey of the public was run, focus groups could be run to further probe responses which could be shared. This would also be used to strategise Parliament’s approach in engaging with the public. The Committee would be provided with a report explaining more about the public survey and the platform being used.

Chairperson Mabe, in closing, welcomed the briefings noting the work in progress and applauding the sustaining of a clean audit for multiple years.  

She welcomed the new Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, and it was indicated that the Committee will invite the new Speaker to one of its meetings for a formal welcome and introduction.

The meeting was adjourned.