Question NW535 to the Minister of Public Service and Administration
11 April 2016 - NW535
Lovemore, Ms AT to ask the Minister of Public Service and Administration
With reference to his department’s Budget Vote speech on 13 May 2015, what are the full relevant details of the progress made to date with his department’s commitments to (a) address gaps in efficiency and effectiveness of measures through improving performance measurement instruments in the 2015-16 financial year, (b) strengthen both the (i) Head of Department evaluation system and (ii) performance management system for all employees to ensure service quantity outputs and service quality outcomes are met and that the Government gets value for money and (c)(i) justify the number of employees recruited to the senior management level and (ii) review the post provisioning norms in order to ensure optimal utilisation of employees and personnel spend?
Reply:
(a) The Department of Public Service and Administration has undertaken a systemic review and revision of the performance management and development systems (PMDS) applicable to all levels of staff. The focus of the exercise was to align organisational performance with employee performance whilst also bringing administrative efficiency to the processes. These revisions have been consulted extensively with national departments and provincial administrations as well as at various Public Service Consultative forums
(b) (i) Heads of Department (HODs) Evaluation system is at an advance stages of finalization for approval, with increased focus on departmental programme performance, performance against the Annual Performance Plan and the audit findings and opinions of the Auditor-General. The policy is in the final stages of consultation for concurrence with the Presidency and the Public Service Commission before being tabled at Cabinet for approval.
(ii) On a similar vein, the department has structured revised performance management and development systems for each of the other levels of the Senior Management Service (SMS), which will be communicated and implemented subject to the approval of the HOD PMDS.
In addition, as per Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) Resolution 1 of 2012, the department has crafted revisions to the Employee Performance and Development System (EPMDS) for non-SMS staff. These revisions have been published in the Government Gazette: 3 August 2015, Notice 800 of 2015 as part of the Draft Public Service Regulations, 2015: Invitation for public comment. The department has received comments which are being processed for finalisation and submission for approval.
(c) (i) Since the powers to perform organisational review and redesign process are decentralized to departments. The competency of Executive Authorities regarding the internal organisation of departments is exercised within the Norms and Standards issued by the Minister for Public Service and Administration (MPSA). The MPSA gives effect to the organisational design Norms and Standards through the Public Service Act (PSA), 1994, the Public Service Regulations (PSR) (2001), Guidelines, Directives and Frameworks.
Furthermore, the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) for example, has recently conducted a study on the Minimum Norms and Standards for the provisioning of SMS posts for provincial administrations, which is calculated on citizen segmentation factors, geographic accessibility and spatial norms, reasonable minimum span of control and the complexity of the job role.
(ii) The Norms and Standards will also assist in determining an ideal split between how many SMS posts as a maximum should be located at a national level and how many SMS posts should be located at a provincial level. Furthermore, the MPSA has issued a Directive on the process to coordinate the grading of an entire occupational category or certain level within an occupation category that is utilised by more than one department. The aim of the Directive is to ensure consistence in the provision and grading of posts.