Question NW1089 to the Minister of Social Development

Reply:

National Assembly Written Reply: 1089 of 2021

a) The following are performance areas which contributed to the decline in performance during the third quarter. There has been significant progress made in meeting some of the targets that could not be met at the end of the third quarter:

• Entity Oversight: At the time of reporting, The Entity Governance and Oversight Framework could not be presented at governance structures as anticipated. DSD Management decided that the framework be finalized using internal expertise. As a result, DSD has since finalized the Framework and it was approved before end of March 2021. The implementation of the Framework will continue in the new financial year.
• Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E): The Analysis of existing M&E tools within Social Sector Programmes was not achieved at the time of reporting. More substantial work has since been concluded including the draft “as-is report” on all existing M&E tools in the Sector as well as a draft M&E Framework with indicators for 5 priority programmes within DSD.
• Human Capital Management: The Sector Human Resources Plan was to be presented in the relevant Departmental management structures. The Plan did not serve on time as planned because critical inputs were being incorporated and the targets were also to be presented in the 4th quarter. To date, the Sector Human Resource Plan (SHRP) has been finalised and has been approved by Departmental Management Committee and a forum of all Heads of Social Development on 9 March 2021.
• Social Assistance: The target of Monthly transfers of funds to SASSA was not achieved, since the DSD does not “transfer’ the funds, but the funds are provided in monthly allocations to SASSA to pay social grants. The Auditor-General has advised that the use of the word “transfer” is inaccurate, which means the target will never be achieved. The DSD has revised the indicator in its 2021/22 APP to address the ambiguity.
• Social Security: The Regulations to the Social Assistance Amendment Act were not approved for public comment until early January 2021. The Regulations were subsequently published for public comments with the closing date of 24 February 2021. The Regulations were revised and completed based on public comments. The Regulations will be finalised during the first quarter of 2021/22 financial year.
• Early Childhood Development (ECD): The target to employ 36 111 compliance monitors to monitor the norms and standards and COVID-19 compliance in DSD managed and supported facilities was not achieved. This was due to funds being allocated towards the ECD Stimulus Relief Fund instead of appointment of compliance monitors. However, many ECDs will be supported through the allocated R496 million for the ECD Presidential Employment Stimulus Relief Fund, which seeks to provide employment protection for an additional 80 000 employees in the ECD sector.
• Families: The Framework for review of the White Paper on Families was not completed due to misalignment between the third quarter APP target and the set process to achieve the annual target. To date, consultations have been completed and the review of the White Paper has been completed.
• Professional Social Services: The Draft Social Service Practitioners Bill could not be submitted to the Office of Chief State Law Advisor (OCSLA) for precertification due to lack of capacity to support the drafting process at the National office. Provincial departments have assisted with the redrafting of the Bill and the Bill has been submitted to the office of Chief State Law Advisor for Pre-Certification.
• Population and Development: The annual target of Research report on Youth perception survey on Socio-economic, health, & gender on Impact of COVID19 was not achieved. The appointment of a Research Institution to conduct this study required approval from National Treasury, which was only granted in October 2020. Other procurement and contract management processes had to follow after receipt of National Treasury approval. The remaining time was not sufficient to complete the final study reports as planned. The timelines of the study have been adjusted to ensure that the study is completed in the new financial year.

b) The Department held intensive Programme Performance Review meetings in February 2021 to interrogate the root causes of decline in performance. During these Review Meetings, Management committed to implement various corrective actions to ensure improvement in performance for all areas where targets were not achieved in the third quarter. Preliminary analysis of the year-end performance of the Department shows improvement in achievement of set targets as compared to the third quarter. This improved performance may be attributed to the intensive Branch Performance Review Sessions and corrective actions which were implemented during the last quarter of the financial year.