Question NW169 to the Minister of Finance
04 July 2018 - NW169
Gardee, Mr GA to ask the Minister of Finance
(1) (a) What is the total number of research that the National Treasury has commissioned between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2016, (b) what was the purpose of each research, (c) what is the name of each contractor who was awarded the research contract and (d) what is the total amount of each research contract; (2) (a) what is the total number of (i) consultants, (ii) contractors and (iii) commissioned researchers that are currently appointed by the National Treasury, (b) for what purpose have they been appointed in each case and (c) what is the total amount of each contract?
Reply:
I refer the Honorable Member to the response submitted to Parliament on the 24 May 2018, to a very similar question posed by Honorable Shivambu, to Question Number:168 [NW175E] first published on the same date as your question on 8 February 2018.
It should be noted that your question is very wide and assumes that there is a simple way to classify research. The nature of National Treasury’s work is generally research-driven, and ranges from technical support, desk-top research, policy research and formal academic research. Some research is general in nature or, as determined by research institutions, and funding, may be up-front and specific or in the form of a subsidy towards a project, or specifically commissioned if and when the need arises. It is, therefore, not possible to provide a simple attachment of all research commissioned by the National Treasury given that some of the research is conducted internally (as part of the routine work) and other forms of research are conducted externally (by universities or research institutions or consultants commissioned to do so).
Some research leads to a specific output (e.g. research on climate-change or employment tax incentive) and some research may be on-going, involving many months of engagement between the department and specific researchers, where a specific output may take many years (e.g. research on growth or employment-generation) before any final output. Whilst most research is ultimately published as a paper, either directly by National Treasury (e.g. of the employment tax incentive) or by the research institutions themselves (e.g. researchers funded by ERSA), some research projects may take a long time to complete or publish.
The upfront allocations to research institutions like ERSA and UN Wider are published in Budget documents like the Budget Review and Estimates of Expenditure, and actual spending figures are noted in the Annual Report of the National Treasury.