Personnel Expenditure Review;Restructuring of Public Service;Service Delivery Restructuring; Service Delivery Improvement and Ba

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Meeting report

PUBLICE SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION PORFOLIO COMMITTEE

PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
21 August 2001
PERSONNEL EXPENDITURE REVIEW; RESTRUCTURING OF PUBLIC SERVICE; SERVICE DELIVERY RESTRUCTURING; SERVICE DELIVERY IMPROVEMENT AND BATHO PELE.

Documents
Update on Batho Pele Power Point Presentation
Planned Activities for September 2001
Service Delivery Improvement Point Presentation
Personnel Expenditure Review Point Presentation

SUMMARY
The Department of Public Service and Administration discussed personnel expenditure and the need to improve service delivery through restructuring. The major challenge for implementing Batho Pele was delivery improvement and communication. The need for training and information was emphasised.

MINUTES
The Chairperson introduced Mr Rapea from the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) . The DPSA delegates were Mr S Rasethaba- State Information Technology Agency; Mr K Ngema- Executive Manager in Service Delivery Improvement; Mr I Assam- Director for Batho Pele; Mr J Maseko-Public Service Innovation; and Ms L Bhali.

Personnel Expenditure Review
Mr Rapea stated that in 1990 an analysis of PERSAL (the public service information system) showed that:
- The largest share of public expenditure was on personnel. There was a need to improve service delivery.
- 51% of the government’s non-interest spending will be spread on personnel cost for three years.
- There was no significant change in the structure and profile of the public service.
- Public expenditure is currently stabilising at 49,7% due to the cleaning of PERSAL, the loss of 60 000 employees and the scrapping of the "rank and leg promotion".

Mr Rapea then outlined a strategy for the improvement of service delivery which included: restructuring the public service; Implementation of the Service Delivery/Innovation Scheme; Introduction of Senior Management Service (SMS) to train top management to respond to challenges facing them in their daily work.

Progress that was made so far was as follows:
-Completion of the Pietersburg Job Summit
-A framework of that informs the restructuring process in state departments has been defined
-The DPSA has facilitated the restructuring process in the Department of Water Affairs
- The implementation of the Service Delivery Innovation Scheme as manifested by the Public-Private Partnership, Mobile Service Delivery and Shared Services (e.g. Imbumba Project)

In terms of improving the quality of government spending Mr Rapea mentioned that the DPSA had concluded the PSCBS Resolution 7 of 2000 that proposed:
- new leave pay system
- scrapping of the rank and leg promotion
- task team to facilitate the review of macro benefits (e.g. medical aid, pension and housing)
- decreasing the level of differentiated salary increase to favour employees at lower salary level.

Restructuring of Departments & Sectors: human resource needs
Mr Rapea stated that the process of restructuring state departments and sectors was preceded and informed by the Public Service Job Summit. The summit concluded the framework to guide and facilitate the restructuring process as well as having developed and concluded the Exit Management Framework (EMF) at PSCB level.

The EMF agreement was to cover issues of procedure and structures to facilitate, co-ordinate, and monitor the process. In case of disputes the agreement was to cover the establishment of dispute resolution structures. The main focus was on developing managerial skills in the public service to respond to the needs of human resources and skills in the public sector.

The purpose of restructuring was to establish an optimum level of staffing and alternatives for excess staff to ensure fair treatment of all personnel, This process has been guided by present legislation such as the Employment Equity Act, Basic Conditions of Employment Act, and the Labour Relations Act. Mr Rapea emphasised that the process of management development is in keeping with the Public Finance Management Act, Treasury Regulations and the Public Service Regulation.

The procedures to be followed in department placements involved the following: an analysis of skill and competencies and development profiles; definition of job requirements; matching of profiles and post requirements. The procedures to be followed before declaring excess staff and vacancies were outlined as follows: possibility of training; expected vacancies and attrition rate; following the Employment Equity provisions and measures.

The procedures to be followed in inter-departmental or sector development included two options. The first one was transfer of matching of profiles against requirements. The second option was advertising vacancies to excess personnel and to shortlist for interviews and appointments. In both options the employer should explore other alternatives such as local government and private companies. If all fails excess staff would be offered lower positions with reduced benefits or retrenched. This process will be facilitated by bodies employer and employee party with dispute resolution structures.

There would be inter-departmental committees to facilitate inter-departmental redeployment and provincial and national levels with dispute resolution structures. The redeployment cost package would include uniform package for relocations, transport, subsistence, interim accommodation,assistance school going children, transfer of property fees and sundry.

In the case of employer initiated voluntary severance packages where employees could not be redeployed the following benefits would be payable: pensions, severance pay, service bonus, leave pay, compensation for employee benefits and social plan. These redeployment procedures have been piloted with the Department of Defence and currently exploring the Department of Transport (Eastern Cape), South African Railways, Durban Metro and Tshwane Metro Council.

Service Delivery Improvement
Mr Ngema stated that historically service delivery was focusing on macro policy and that it was time to focus on the situational experience of citizens and target priority needs with particular attention to provinces. It was important to support departments that set policy and service delivery framework and the actual units that supply those services. However, there was an urgent need to support the interface between citizens and those units.

To improve service delivery the following interventions were recommended: micro focus on citizens; re-engineering funds to mobilise resources; support partnerships between departments and provinces; research and analysis of service delivery value chains; make Batho Pele a positive customer experience; sharing knowledge through learning and knowledge management.

Update on Batho Pele
Mr Assam focused on challenges facing the implementation of Batho Pele and then provided dates for Batho Pele activities. The major challenges were delivery improvement and communication. While national government executive structures supported the idea of Batho Pele it was difficult to integrate it with other policies. Services are still inaccessible to the majority of citizens. There was lack of information of what the government offers. The staff morale in public services was low. There was an urgent need for training,innovation and institutional support in the whole public service sector.
In terms of communication, there was lack of general public knowledge about Batho Pele. There was also lack of feed back and reporting on the progress of Batho Pele.

Mr Asaam gave a list of a programme of action dates and some of the activities that had taken place since January 2001.

Discussion
Question: Why did the restructuring of public services need special funding as if it were a project. Restructuring was part of management duty.

Mr Ngema replied that there was no funding for restructuring but the process itself needed physical and human resources. Most funding was donor funded.

Mr Sithole asked how the DPSA was going to break the cycle of poverty if salaries in the public sector were not competitive.

Mr Rapea replied by stating that it was difficult to answer that question because the department was still battling with the unions on how to define and operationalise a living wage.

One member commented that the cycle of poverty was not going to be broken by offering higher wages but through economic growth and providing more jobs.

Mr Sithole enquired how the government measures quality of service against the inefficiency in the public sector. He mentioned several anecdotes to emphasise his point.

Mr Rapea explained that it was for such reasons that the rank and leg promotion was scrapped to ensure that rewards matched performance.

Question: Has the restructuring process supporting bodies been established yet.

Mr Rapea answered that they were not yet established. There was an agreed framework of such bodies and the negotiations are in place.

Question: Which departments had excess personnel?

Mr Rapea stated there was no reliable data to answer that questions.

Question: What was the reason that the term ‘placement problem’ has replaced the term ‘bloated public service’.

This question was however, not answered.

Question: Could the DPSA replace the "Proud to be South African Campaign" with its "Proud to be Public Servant Campaign".

Mr Ngema said that could be possible but that the main focus of their campaign was to get rid of the stigma of associating inefficiency with public servants.

A member commented that the Batho Pele presentation was repetitive and that it was unnecessary to have had it.

The Chairperson reminded him that it was the Committee that invited Mr Assam to give an update afterwards.

One member commented that it was useless for the DPSA to consider making the Telkom phone directory to have accurate and accessible government department contacts when the personnel do not bother to answer the telephone.

Mr Assam agreed with him but he said that part of not accessing government departments was Telkom’s fault.

A member commented on the inefficiency of the public service and he gave a very long personal experience of the South African Police Services (SAPS).

Mr Ngema agreed but explained that it was difficult to balance public pressure and the actual resources of the service unit. The DPSA’s was committed to improving the interface between citizens and service units. SAP’s personnel would undertake functional literacy programmes to deal with such problems.

Question: Does the DPSA have the power to force departments to conduct the process of implementation?

Mr Rapea said that it had no such powers but rather relied on persuasion and advocacy.

At the end of the meeting Mr Sithole urged the DPSA to stop giving them slides but rather actual documents which Committee members could refer to.

Mr Rapea and Mr Ngema agreed and the Clerk of the Committee also reassured the house that in future there will be documents preceding slides.

The meeting was adjourned.


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