Question NW4171 to the Minister of Public Service and Administration
17 December 2015 - NW4171
Lovemore, Ms AT to ask the Minister of Public Service and Administration
(1)Whether ethics and integrity officers have been appointed for each national and provincial department; if not, (a) why not, (b) what are the relevant details in each case and (c) by when is it intended that such appointments will be made; if so, what (i) minimum criteria were used for the recruitment of the ethics and integrity officers, (ii) vetting or screening have the incumbents undergone and (iii) training are the incumbents required to attend after commencement of their employment as ethics and integrity officers; (2) (a) what are the details of the job description of an ethics and integrity officer in the public service, (b) what job grade does an ethics and integrity officer occupy in a (i) national and (ii) provincial department and (c) to whom does an ethics and integrity officer report in a (i) national and (ii) provincial department?
Reply:
(1) Yes. There are currently 306 Ethics Officers either appointed or designated in the public service.
(b) Appointments are made in terms of the prescribed public service procedure, with regard to designation, existing employees in their respective departments are assigned a new or additional functions in line with the responsibilities attached to the post of an ethics officer.
(c) (i) Departments follow an open recruitment process to identify and appoint appropriate officials. The grade of the post is determined using the approved Job Evaluation process and System. Departments currently utilise the job description as contained in the Public Service Integrity Management Framework.
(ii) All employees, prior to appointment to the public service, are subject to a background checks, which include credit and criminal record, verification of qualification, disciplinary record, etc.
The DPSA has initiated a process of amending the Public Service Regulations, 2001. One of the objectives is to formalize and standardize the designation and / or appointment of Ethics Officers and provide for more functions relating to the management and promotion of ethics in the public service. This process will be finalised early in 2016.
(iii) The Department of Public Service and Administration together with the National School of Government have development a set of new ethics courses. These courses were finalised and are being rolled-out. These courses include the following:
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- Ethics Management for Local Government
- Ethics Management Workshop for National and Provincial Government
- Ethics Module to use in senior management induction
- Ethics Workshop to use for Ethics Officer Training
- Ethics Module to use in Compulsory Induction Programme for Public Service
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Furthermore, all designated Ethics Officers have been trained on the Financial Disclosure Framework and the use of the e-Disclosure system.
(2) (a) Departments currently utilise the job description as contained in the Public Service Integrity Management Framework. The following functions are performed by ethics officers:-
- Promote integrity and ethical behaviour in departments;
- Advise employees on ethical matters;
- Ensure integrity of organisational policies, procedures and practices;
- Identify and report unethical behaviour and corrupt activities to the head of department;
- Manage conflicts of interest, including:
- Financial disclosures of employees;
- Application for external remunerative work; and
- Departmental gift registers.
- Develop and implement awareness programmes to educate officials on ethics, good governance and anti-corruption measures; and
- Keep a register of all employees under investigation and those disciplined for unethical conduct.
(d) The job grade is determined using the approved Job Evaluation process and System. Where Ethics Officers are appointed (and not designated), whether in the national or provincial department, the size, risk profile, budget, qualification requirement, etc of the post will determine the job grade.
(d) Ethics officers are generally appointed under programme 1 (administration), and report to the head of Corporate Services or the Director’s-General head of office. However, going forward, ethics officers will report to the Head of the Department (HoD) in terms of the proposed Public Service Regulations.