Public Service & Administration

2011-09-09

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QUESTIONS 471FOR WRITTEN REPLY

FRIDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2011

471. Ms A M Dreyer (DA) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

(1) With reference to each international trip undertaken by the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (Palama) during the periods (a) 1 October 2007 to 30 September 2008, (b) 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009, (c) 1 October 2009 to 31 March 2010 and (d) 1 April 2010 to 31 December 2010, what (i) was the purpose of each trip, (ii) were the achievements flowing from the trip in relation to departmental performance targets, (iii) are the names of the officials who undertook the trip and (iv) is the name of the head of the delegation;

(2) (a) what is the breakdown of the costs for each specified trip, including (i) travel, (ii) accommodation, (iii) daily allowances, (iv) transport, (v) entertainment (aa) in transit and (bb) at the destination and (vi) registration fees for conferences and (b) from what source were the expenses incurred;

(3) what was the (a) class and (b) star rating of the respective (i) transport and (ii) accommodation that were used by the officials who formed part of each delegation? NW513E

REPLY:

The attached tables consolidate the information of questions (1) and (2) above posed by the honourable member according to the periods, i.e. 1 October 2007 to 30 September 2008, 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009, 1 October 2009 to 31 March 2010, and 1 April 2010 to 31 December 2010.

In response to question 3, the source documents do not specify the star rating. The bookings are made in accordance with PALAMA travel policy, which is as follows:

· Air travel: DG & Branch Heads (Business Class), all other members (Economy Class)

· Accommodation: DG & Branch Heads (up to 5 star or equivalent), all other members (up to 3 star of equivalent)

QUESTIONS 453 FOR WRITTEN REPLY

FRIDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2011

453. Ms A M Dreyer (DA) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

What was the (a) race, (b) gender and (c) linguistic (mother tongue) profile of the staff complement of the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (Palama) working in an acting capacity, for positions ranging from assistant director to director-general on (i) 1 October 2008, (ii) 1 October 2009, (iii) 1 April 2010 and (iv) 31 December 2010? NW492E

01 October 2008
Rank	Race				Gender		Linguistic (Mother-tongue)
	African	Coloured	Indian	White	Male	Female	Afrikaans	English	IsNdebele	IsXhosa	IssZulu	Sesotho	Northern Sesotho	Setswana	siSwati	Tshivenda	Xitsonga
Assistant Director	1	1		2	2	2	2	1									1
Deputy Director				2		2	2
Director		1		2		3	3
Chief Director
Deputy Director-General
Director-General
TOTAL	1	2	0	6	2	7	7	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1

01 October 2009
Rank	Race				Gender		Linguistic (Mother-tongue)
	African	Coloured	Indian	White	Male	Female	Afrikaans	English	IsNdebele	IsXhosa	IssZulu	Sesotho	Northern Sesotho	Setswana	siSwati	Tshivenda	Xitsonga
Assistant Director	1	1		1		3	2				1
Deputy Director				1		1	1
Director		1			1		1
Chief Director	1				1								1
Deputy Director-General
Director-General	1				1				1
TOTAL	3	2	0	2	3	4	4	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
01 April 2010
Rank	Race				Gender		Linguistic (Mother-tongue)
	African	Coloured	Indian	White	Male	Female	Afrikaans	English	IsNdebele	IsXhosa	IssZulu	Sesotho	Sesotho Northern	Setswana	siSwati	Tshivenda	Xitsonga
Assistant Director		1				1	1
Deputy Director	1				1						1
Director
Chief Director	1				1								1
Deputy Director-General
Director-General
TOTAL	2	1	0	0	2	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0

31 December 2010
Rank	Race				Gender		Linguistic (Mother-tongue)
	African	Coloured	Indian	White	Male	Female	Afrikaans	English	IsNdebele	IsXhosa	IssZulu	Sesotho	Northern Sesotho	Setswana	siSwati	Tshivenda	Xitsonga
Assistant Director	2					2					1			1
Deputy Director	1				1						1
Director	1				1											1
Chief Director
Deputy Director-General
Director-General
TOTAL	4	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	1	0

QUESTIONS 452 FOR WRITTEN REPLY

FRIDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2011

452. Ms A M Dreyer (DA) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

What was the (a) race, (b) gender and (c) linguistic (mother tongue) profile of the temporary staff complement in (i) assistant director and (ii) director-general positions of the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (Palama) on (aa) 1 October 2008, (bb) 1 October 2009, (cc) 1 April 2010 and (dd) 31 December 2010? NW491E

______________________________________________________________________

01 October 2008
Rank		Race				Gender		Linguistic (Mother-tongue)
		African	Coloured	Indian	White	Male	Female	Afrikaans	English	IsNdebele	IsXhosa	IssZulu	Sesotho	Northern Sesotho	Setswana	siSwati	Tshivenda	Xitsonga
Assistant Director		1					1								1
Deputy Director		1	1	1	1	0	4	1	2		1
Director		2		1	1	2	2	1	2						1
Chief Director
Deputy Director-General
Director-General
TOTAL		4	1	2	2	2	7	2	4	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
	01 October 2009
	Rank	Race				Gender		Linguistic (Mother-tongue)
		African	Coloured	Indian	White	Male	Female	Afrikaans	English	IsNdebele	IsXhosa	IssZulu	Sesotho	Northern Sesotho	Setswana	siSwati	Tshivenda	Xitsonga
	Assistant Director	1					1							1
	Deputy Director	2	2			2	2	1	1				1	1
	Director	1		1	1	1	2	1	1						1
	Chief Director
	Deputy Director-General
	Director-General
	TOTAL	4	2	1	1	3	5	2	2	0	0	0	1	2	1	0	0	0
	01 April 2010
	Rank	Race				Gender		Linguistic (Mother-tongue)
		African	Coloured	Indian	White	Male	Female	Afrikaans	English	IsNdebele	IsXhosa	IssZulu	Sesotho	Sesotho Northern	Setswana	siSwati	Tshivenda	Xitsonga
	Assistant Director	1					1							1
	Deputy Director	2	2			2	2	1	1				1	1
	Director	1		1		1	1		1						1
	Chief Director
	Deputy Director-General
	Director-General
	TOTAL	4	2	1	0	3	4	1	2	0	0	0	1	2	1	0	0	0

31 December 2010
Rank	Race				Gender		Linguistic (Mother-tongue)
	African	Coloured	Indian	White	Male	Female	Afrikaans	English	IsNdebele	IsXhosa	IssZulu	Sesotho	Northern Sesotho	Setswana	siSwati	Tshivenda	Xitsonga
Assistant Director	2				0	2					1		1
Deputy Director	1	2		1	1	3	2	1					1
Director	2		1		1	2		1						1			1
Chief Director
Deputy Director-General
Director-General
TOTAL	5	2	1	1	2	7	2	2	0	0	1	0	2	1	0	0	1

QUESTIONS 427 FOR WRITTEN REPLY

FRIDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2011

427. Mr L Ramatlakane (Cope) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

(1) Whether a certain person (name furnished) was suspended or charged for any misdemeanour during his time as director-general; if not, why not; if so, what (a) specified allegations were made against the said person while he was director-general, (b) action has been taken since the allegations were made, (c) has been the outcome in each case and (d) are the further relevant details;

(2) whether his department has full records of officials who accepted appointments in other departments or resigned before a disciplinary hearing took place; if not, why not; if so, (a) how many officials (i) accepted appointments in other departments and (ii) resigned and (b) what are the further relevant details;

(3) what measures will he put in place to stamp out the tendency of officials changing department in order to avoid disciplinary hearings? NW455E

RESPONSE

1. Yes, the person in question was suspended and charged during his term as Director-General. The charges were later withdrawn by his Department; hence we cannot provide details of such.

2. We have no record of officials who moved to other Departments to avoid disciplinary hearings.

QUESTIONS 421 FOR WRITTEN REPLY

FRIDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2011

421. Dr H C van Schalkwyk (DA) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

(1) Whether strategic planning sessions take place at the Public AdministrationLeadership and Management Academy (Palama) every year; if not, why not; if so, (a) how many sessions were held in the (i) 2008-09 and (ii) 2009-10 financial years and (b) what was the (i) duration and (ii) total cost of each specified session;

(2) whether all branches attended these specified sessions; if not, in each case, (a) which branches did not attend and (b) what were the reasons? NW332E

______________________________________________________________________REPLY:

(1) Yes

(a) (i) In the 2008-09 financial year, 2 sessions were held; (ii) In the 2009-10 financial year, 2 sessions were held.

(b) (i) In the 2008-9 and 2009-10 financial years, the duration and total cost of each session was as follows:

Financial Year	Date of Session	Duration of Session	Total Cost of Each Session
2008-09	17 – 18 January 2008	2 days	R 63,000.00
2008-09	2 – 3 December 2008	2 days	R 89,910.00
2009-10	2-5 December 2009	4 days	R450,774.02
2009-10	2-3 March 2010	2 days	R120,148.50

(2) All branches were represented at the sessions.

QUESTIONS 420 FOR WRITTEN REPLY

FRIDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2011

420. Dr H C van Schalkwyk (DA) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

(a) How many Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (PALAMA) sessions took place during the period 1 December 2009 to 31 December 2010, (b) what was the cost of each specified session and (c) how have these sessions attributed to the finalising of the new business model? NW331E

________________________________________________________________

2008/2009

A. How many session

Duration

B. Total cost

Branch

1. 2-5 December 2009

Session led by Minister and Deputy Minister

4 days

R450,774.02

PALAMA participants comprising of

· SMS members

· PALAMA Union Members

Representatives from the Ministry of Public Service and Administration portfolio of departments /Agencies

Total of 54 delegates

2009/2010

A. How many session	Duration	B. Total cost	Branch
2. 2-3 March 2010	2 days	R120,148.5	PALAMA participants comprising of · SMS members · PALAMA Union Members National Treasury and DPSA representatives Total of 54 delegates
3. 1 – 3 August 2010	3 days	R73,972.00	PALAMA Participants comprising of · SMS members · PALAMA Union Members National Treasury and DPSA representatives 30 delegates
4. 31 October 2010	2 days	R34,952.50	PALAMA Executive Management 14 delegates

C. The new business model referred by the Honorable Member is encapsulated in the broader further transformation framework document of PALAMA. The framework document make proposals with regard to the review of PALAMA's financial and funding approach, curriculum management, training delivery approach, institutional and governance mechanisms as well as other elements necessary to to make PALAMA better respond to its mandate.

All specified sessions have contributed towards the finalization of proposals giving effect to the framework for the further transformation of PALAMA which includes the new Business Model for PALAMA. This framework will soon be processed through the Cabinet system.

QUESTIONS 404 FOR WRITTEN REPLY

FRIDAY, 18 FEBRUARY 2011

1. Mr. L Ramatlakane (COPE) asked the Minister for Public Service and Administration (MPSA) the following questions:

404 Whether, with regard to the collaboration between his department and the eight service delivery departments to determine accessibility of service points by communities living in poor and underdeveloped areas, any efforts have been made to improve accessibility of service points; if not, why not; if so, (a) what areas have been identified for this project and (b) what is the outcome of these efforts?NW438E

RESPONSE

1. Access to services has been included as a priority in Outcome 12: An efficient, effective and development oriented public service. The aim is to reduce the distance that people travel from their homes to reach government service points and improve access by determining norms and standards between government precincts and where citizens stay.

2. All eight service delivery departments that participated in the 2009 access study in the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Nodes are as follows:

n Health

n Basic Education

n Social Development

n Home Affairs

n Labour

n SA Police Service

n GCIS (Thusong Service Centres)

n Justice

3. They are required to develop geographic access norms and standards for their Service Points and to differentiate points for different types of geographical areas, for instance, for rural and urban areas. Thereafter, the departments must set targets and develop plans for implementing these targets and they must report on progress.

4. During 2010, the DPSA developed a guideline to improve access to Government Service Points and we are rendering advice to a number of departments.

5. Currently the South African Police Service and the Department of Labour are developing access norms while the Departments of Basic Education and Home Affairs are reviewing their existing norms. The Government Communications and Information Service has embarked on a process to develop access norms for Thusong Service Centres. The Departments of Health and Justice and Constitutional Development are required to develop or review their access norms in the 2011/12 financial year. Access norms already exist for Social Grant Pay Points.

6. An Accessibility Study and Audit will be conducted in collaboration with the afore-mentioned eight departments in the metropolitan cities of Johannesburg and eThekwini in 2011/12. This study will include informal settlements, townships and other peri-urban areas. The aims are to assist departments to differentiate their access norms for urban areas and to develop integrated facility plans for the two cities. Such plans will assist departments to implement their access norms in the afore-mentioned cities and to establish more integrated services such as Thusong Service Centres.

QUESTIONS 333 FOR WRITTEN REPLY

FRIDAY, 18 FEBRUARY 2010

Ms A M Dreyer (DA) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

What was the (a) racial, (b) gender and (c) linguistic profile (mother-tongue speakers) of the permanent staff complement of the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (Palama) from assistant director to director-general on (i) 1 October 2008, (ii) 1 October 2009, (iii) 1 April 2010 and (iv) 31 December 2010?NW358E

REPLY:

As on 1 October 2008, the racial, gender and linguistic profiles from Assistant Director to Director-General were as follows:

Racial breakdown: Black, i.e. African, Coloured, Indian (43) and White (20)

Gender: Male (32) and Female (31)

Linguistic profile: African languages of IsiNdebele, IsiXhosa, IsiZulu, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga (28), Afrikaans (19), English (16)

A further breakdown of the above information is contained in the table attached:

As on 1 October 2009, the racial, gender and linguistic profiles from Assistant Director to Director-General were as follows:

Racial breakdown: Black, i.e. African, Coloured, Indian (65) and White (25)

Gender: Male (50) and Female (50)

Linguistic profile: African languages of IsiNdebele, IsiXhosa, IsiZulu, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga (51), Afrikaans (27), English (22)

A further breakdown of the above information is contained in the table attached:

As on 1 April 2010, the racial, gender and linguistic profiles from Assistant Director to Director-General were as follows:

Racial breakdown: 74 Black (including African, Coloured, Indian) and 25 White

Gender: 52 Male and 47 Female

Linguistic profile: 51 (African languages of IsiNdebele, IsiXhosa, IsiZulu, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga), 26 (Afrikaans), 22 (English)

A further breakdown of the above information is contained in the table attached:

01 April 2010

As on 31 December 2010, the racial, gender and linguistic profiles from Assistant Director to Director-General were as follows:

Racial breakdown: 75 Black, i.e. African, Coloured, Indian (75) and White (23)

Gender: Male (51) and Female (47)

Linguistic profile: African languages of IsiNdebele, IsiXhosa, IsiZulu, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga (52), Afrikaans (26), English (20)

A further breakdown of the above information is contained in the table attached:

QUESTIONS 331 FOR WRITTEN REPLY

FRIDAY, 18 FEBRUARY 2010

331. Mr T W Coetzee (DA) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

What was the total number of (a) posts and (b) persons employed in (i) 2000 and (ii) 2010 at the (aa) national government departments, (bb) provincial (aaa) premiers offices and (bbb) departments, (cc) local government departments, (dd) state-owned entities and the 21 other major public entities, (ee) 148 national entities, (ff) 29 government business enterprises, (gg) 66 provincial public entities, (hh) 16 provincial government business entities and (ii) chapter nine institutions? NW356E

________________________________________________________________

REPLY:

(a) Table 1 shows that generally in December 2000 government employed 1,044,427 employees 100% of the post counted during this year and during the 10 years up to December 2010, a huge number of unfunded posts we created in Persal and this resulted in an unexpected growth in number of posts but reluctance in filling the posts.

(b) Table 2 and the attached Annexure A shows a breakdown to Province and Department level and that is aimed at providing a reply to (aa (aa)), (bb (bbb)),

(c) However this report exclude replies to (cc) to (ii), this is due to the fact that government use a central payroll system and the all the other institutions use separate systems hence its impossible to get data from these institutions to this effect.

Table 1.
Years of Comparison	Dec-2000	Dec-2010
Head Count	1,044,427	1,294,571
Post Count	1,044,604	1,537,843
Performance	100%	84%

Table 2.
YEARS	2000		Performance	2010		Performance
PROVINCES	Head Count	Post Count	Performance	Head Count	Post Count	Performance
Eastern Cape	131418	131472	100.0%	147446	196772	74.9%
Free State	58216	58269	99.9%	57217	70922	80.7%
Gauteng	112893	112858	100.0%	150634	181464	83.0%
Kwazulu-Natal	148528	148604	99.9%	193200	236528	81.7%
Limpopo	114038	114066	100.0%	119748	179977	66.5%
Mpumalanga	51158	51177	100.0%	73825	114368	64.6%
National Department	307540	307538	100.0%	392750	353548	111.1%
North West	64502	64508	100.0%	58613	71117	82.4%
Northern Cape	15766	15765	100.0%	22624	31244	72.4%
Western Cape	40368	40347	100.1%	77800	101143	76.9%
Grand Total	1,044,427	1,044,604	100%	1,294,571	1,537,843	84%

QUESTIONS 290 FOR WRITTEN REPLY

FRIDAY, 18 FEBRUARY 2011

290. Mr. JF van der Linde (DA) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

(1) How many documents have (a) his (i) ministry and (ii) department and (b) any (i) institution or (ii) agency which receives transfers from his departmental budget classified as (aa) top secret, (bb) secret,(confidential and (dd) restricted under the provisions of the Minimum Information Security Standards that were adopted by the Cabinet on 4 December 1996 in the (aaa) 2005-06,(bbb) 2006-07,(ccc) 2007-08,(ddd)2008-09 and (eee) 2009-10 financial years;

(2) What is the (a) name and (b) (i) rank or (ii) employment level of the official who decided on the classification at each specified public body? NW312E

______________________________________________________________________

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION

1. Top secret

2. In terms of the Minimum Information Security Standards (MISS), Chapter 4 paragraph 1.2, the responsibility to classify (grade or degrade) the documents rest with the institution where the documents have their origin (i.e. the author).

This means the author of the document or head of the institution or his/her delegate(s) has the responsibility to classify their documents. However, the DPSA had appointed Mr. ME Mphahlele as a Security Manager, Deputy Director, level eleven (11) who is amongst others responsible to advise the authors in terms of classification of documents, handling, dispatching and storage thereof.

In addition, the accounting officer (the DG) has the authority to change the classification of the documents based on its contents.

RESPONSE FROM MINISTRY

1 (i)(aa) Top Secret documentation if any is received and referred to the Private Office of the Minister

(bb) Secret Documents are received by the Cabinet Section which involves Cabinet memoranda are received for the Minister, Deputy Minister and all 4 Directors- General and are distributed to all of the above per the cabinet guideline. (cc) The Ministry receives the following documents that can be classified as confidential:

· Redetermination of Heads of Departments

· Investigations into maladministration of Heads of Departments or members of the Senior Management wherein advice is sought from the Minister: Public Service and Administration

(dd) We did not receive any documentation restricted under the provisions of the Minimum Information Security Standards

	YEAR	DPSA	OTHER DEPARTMENTS	AGENDA'S FROM CABINET	MINUTES FROM CABINET
(aaa)	2005	94	404	110	80
(bbb)	2006	84	425	128	116
(ccc)	2007	101	361	113	112
(ddd)	2008	106	478	141	115
(eee)	2009	88	315	85	91
	2010	101	307	87	82

RESPONSE FROM PARLIAMENTARY AND RESEARCH ANALYSIS UNIT

1 (i)(aa) Top Secret are only received by the Private Office

(bb) Secret

	YEAR	DPSA
(aaa)	2005	94	SECRET
(bbb)	2006	84	SECRET
(ccc)	2007	101	SECRET
(ddd)	2008	106	SECRET
(eee)	2009	88	SECRET
	2010	101	SECRET

(cc) If any are received, confidential documents are given unopened immediately to whoever it is directed to.

(dd) if any are received, restricted documents Confidential documents are given unopened immediately to whoever it is directed to.

RESPONSE BY THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION

1. The Public Service Commission have dealt or handled the following number of classified documents in order of Top Secret, Secret, Confidential and Restricted in line with chapter 4 of the Minimum Information Security Standards that were adopted by the Cabinet on 4 December 1996.

(aa)Top Secret	(bb)Secret	(cc)Confidential	(dd)Restricted	Financial year	Unit or Directorate	Type of Documents
06	04	238	160	(aaa)2005-06	Human Resource Management and Development	Grievances, disciplinary matters, personnel records, Salary advices, Cabinet Memorandums, Submissions on appointments, and documents on remuneration packages
16	04	300	178	(bbb) 2006-07
07	05	388	257	(ccc)2007-08
05	02	244	none	(ddd) 2008-09
07	03	251	02	(eee) 2009-10


05	10	12	04	(aaa)2005-06	Public Service Commission Support	Executive Committee, Plenary, and Executive Management Committee Minutes and Cabinets memos, Cabinet deliberations.
04	06	11	04	(bbb) 2006-07
06	11	10	04	(ccc)2007-08
06	09	08	04	(ddd) 2008-09
05	10	08	04	(eee) 2009-10

none	none	873	none	(aaa)2005-06	Public Administration Investigations	Grievances, investigation of misconducts cases and corruption related cases in the public service.
	none	486	none	(bbb) 2006-07
	none	333	none	(ccc)2007-08
	none	322	none	(ddd) 2008-09
	none	279	none	(eee) 2009-10

none	none	1046	none	(aaa)2005-06	National Anti-Corruption Hotline	Corruption related cases reported by whistle blowers through the NACH.
none	none	1127	none	(bbb) 2006-07
		1469	none	(ccc)2007-08
none	none	1857	none	(ddd) 2008-09
none	none	1430	none	(eee) 2009-10

none	none	none	none	(aaa)2005-06	Conflicts of Interest	Financial Disclosure Forms.
none	none	3376	none	(bbb) 2006-07
none	none	3660	none	(ccc)2007-08
none	none	3774	none	(ddd) 2008-09
none	none	7584	none	(eee) 2009-10

none	none	220	none	(aaa)2005-06	Financial Administration	Budget reports, Salaries records, submissions on approval of the tender proposal
none	none	222	none	(bbb) 2006-07
none	none	220	none	(ccc)2007-08
none	none	222	none	(ddd) 2008-09
none	none	231	none	(eee) 2009-10

none	none	none	48	(aaa)2005-06	Security Services	Completed Z204 forms, Vetting outcomes from State Security Agency, South African Police Service Audit Reports, Technical Surveillance Counter Measures reports, Investigations reports and COMSEC correspondence
none	none	none	54	(bbb) 2006-07
none	none	none	34	(ccc)2007-08
none	none	none	67	(ddd) 2008-09
			43	(eee) 2009-10

none	none	none	none	(aaa)2005-06	Communication	Management Committee minutes
none	none	none	02	(bbb) 2006-07
none	none	none	03	(ccc)2007-08
none	none	none	03	(ddd) 2008-09
none	none	none	03	(eee) 2009-10

This means the author of the document or head of the institution or his/her delegate(s) has the responsibility to classify their documents. However, the OPSC has appointed Mr. M Nemaguvhuni as a Security Manager, Assistant Director, level ten (10) who is amongst others responsible to advise the authors in terms of classification of documents, handling, dispatching and storage thereof.

In addition, the accounting officer (the DG) has the authority to change the classification of the documents based on its contents.

GEMS RESPONSE

1(a) The Government Employees Medical Schemes (GEMS) does not receive transfers from the Minister for Public Service and Administration's departmental budget and further does not possess or handle state information that has been determined under the Minimum Information Security Standards that were adopted by the Cabinet on 4 December 1996.

The Scheme protects the confidentiality of member information in accordance with the stipulations of the Medical Schemes Act, 1998, and Regulations.

CPSI RESPONSE

None of the CPSI's documents are classified or were classified in the period between 2005 and 2010.

SITA RESPONSE

(1) Not applicable. SITA does not receive any transfers from the Minister for Public Service and Administration and accordingly no classification is applied in that regard.

(2) Not applicable, see (1) above.

PALAMA RESPONSE

(1) The Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (PALAMA) has classified the number of documents as per the table below

Year	Top Secret	Secret	Confidential	Restricted
2005/06	0	0	4	0
2006/07	0	1	4	0
2007/08	0	0	2	0
2008/09	0	0	0	0
2009/10	0	0	9	0

(2) The classification was done by the persons reflected in the table below:

Name of incumbent	Director-General (i.e permanent / acting)	Start and end dates
Mr PB Soobrayan	Permanent	22/04/2003 – 31/03/2006
Prof SJH Hendricks	Acting	22/04/2006 – 30/09/2006
Dr FM Orkin	Permanent	01/10/2006 – 30/09/2009
Prof LS Mollo	Acting	01/10/2009 – 31/03/2010

QUESTIONS 266 FOR WRITTEN REPLY

FRIDAY, 18 FEBRUARY 2010

266. Ms A M Dreyer (DA) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

What (a) number and (b) percentage of Public Administration, Leadership and Management Academy (Palama) courses were cancelled within five working days before they were due to start for the periods (i) 1 October 2007 to 30 September 2008, (ii) 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009, (iii) 1 October 2009 to 31 March 2010 and (iv) 1 April 2010 to 31 December 2010? NW287E

________________________________________________________________

REPLY:

The following number of courses was cancelled within five working days before they were due to start, during the specified periods:

(i) For the period 1 October 2007 to 30 September 2008, one (1) course was cancelled out of a total of 878 that was held during this period, thus representing a 0.11% cancellation within five working days;

(ii) For the period 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009, two (2) courses were cancelled out of a total of 793 that was held during this period, thus representing a 0.25% cancellation within five working days;

(iii) For the period 1 October 2009 to 31 March 2010, two (2) courses were cancelled out of a total of 425 that was held during this period, thus representing a 0.47% cancellation within five working days; and

(iv) For the period 1 April 2010 to 31 December 2010, one (1) course was cancelled out of a total of 655 that was held during this period, thus representing a 0.15% cancellation within five working days.

QUESTIONS 265 FOR WRITTEN REPLY

FRIDAY, 18 FEBRUARY 2010

265. Ms A M Dreyer (DA) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

How many days' training were delivered by the Public Administration, Leadership and Management Academy (Palama) compared with targets set in (a) annual and (b) mid-term commitments for each existing Palama programme during the periods (i) 1 October 2007 to 30 September 2008, (ii) 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009, (iii) 1 October 2009 to 31 March 2010 and (iv) 1 April 2010 to 31 December 2010? NW286E

____________________________________________________________________________

REPLY:

(a) Days' training delivered compared with targets set in annual commitments

PALAMA's person training day targets are approved and reported on against its Strategic Plan and Estimates of National Expenditure (ENE). The data below covers the following periods

· 1 April 2007 – 31 March 2008

· 1 April 2008 – 31 March 2009

· 1 April 2009 – 31 March 2010

· 1 April 2010 – 31 December 2010

Financial Year	Achievement	Target
2007/08 (1 April 2007 – 31 March 2008)	104,292	113,000
2008/09 (1 April 2008 – 31 March 2009)	134,375	120,000
2009/10 (1 April 2009 – 31 March 2010)	130,927	185,000
Above achievement figures are as Audited and in the annual reports for above years
2010/11 (1 April 2010 – 31 December 2010	66,471	280,000
Above achievement figure has not been audited

(b) Days' training delivered for specific midterm periods as specified in the question

The PALAMA Training Management System has not been set up to report on monthly targets and achievements that covers two financial year periods as requested by Honourable Dreyer i.e. i) 1 October 2007 to 30 September 2008, (ii) 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009, (iii) 1 October 2009 to 31 March 2010 and (iv) 1 April 2010 to 31 December 2010. The data in the table below has been calculated based on achieved person training days for the aforementioned periods. It differs from the numbers reported in table (a) above.

Periods		Dates Requested	Achievement
(i)	Period 1	1 October 2007 to 30 September 2008	90,272
(ii)	Period 2	1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009	142,575
(iii)	Period 3	1 October 2009 to 31 March 2010	61,607
(iv)	Period 4	1 April 2010 to 31 December 2010	66,471

The breakdown of person training days achieved per programme below is for the financial year reporting periods:

· 1 April 2007 – 31 March 2008

· 1 April 2008 – 31 March 2009

· 1 April 2009 – 31 March 2010

· 1 April 2010 – 31 March 2011

As mentioned above the Training Management System currently does not have the capability to report on number of persons trained per programme per month. The information attached is achievement of actual person training days per programme in a specific financial year.

QUESTION: 181

Mr L Ramatlakane (Cope) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

"Whether, with reference to his department's annual report (details furnished), his department has devised plans to deal with the slow turnaround time of filling vacancies within the department, if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?

REPLY:

The Department at executive management level has prioritized the filling of funded and vacant posts taking into account the critical areas of service delivery.

The prioritized posts will be filled as soon as possible cognisent of the prescribed and legislated processes and procedures which impact on the timing of filling of posts.

QUESTIONS 180 FOR WRITTEN REPLY

FRIDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2010

180. Mr L Ramatlakane (Cope) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

Whether, with reference to his department's annual report (details furnished), his department has put measures in place to ensure that it achieves its (a) five strategic objectives and (b) stated objective of developing human capacity in the public sector so that staff is skilled and professional; if not, why not; if so, (i) what measures, (ii) how will this be achieved and (iii) what is his department's target date in respect of creating a professional workforce? NW196E

___________________________________________________________________

REPLY

a) The department's strategic plan for 2010-2014 sets out outputs that will be achieved against its strategic objectives. These outputs have specific measures in the form of annual and quarterly targets. The achievement of these targets is monitored on a quarterly basis by the departments the programme management office which submits reports to the DG and the Executive for purposes of addressing non-performance and for corrective action to be taken to ensure that the department is meeting its objectives.

b) In 2007, the Department developed a Human Resources Development Strategic Framework, which is a strategic intervention to address the issues of human resources capacity development in the public service. The strategy was approved by the Cabinet in 2007 and subsequently implemented at all national and provincial departments.

i) The implementation followed a multi pronged strategy. Initially a baseline was established to measure the state of HRD in the public service through the Organisational Readiness Assessment. The tool uses 10 Macro Indicators of Performance at departmental Level. From this, the department is able to determine the package of assistance that could be offered to the department with the intention to develop HRD capacity and recommend appropriate systems.

ii) As part of the Human Resources Development Strategic Framework, the department has in place a set of tools through which it measures success and these are, the Human Resources Development Implementation Plans and Monitoring and Evaluation Tool.

The Implementation Plan comprises of performance indicators which guide departments on targets to be achieved in relation to their respective human resource development goals.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Tool is a mechanism through which the successful implementation of the plans is measured. The indicators in the monitoring and evaluation tools are aligned to the indicators in the implementation plan. The tool gives guidance in the evaluation of successes achieved and where there are performance gaps.

iii) As far as the long term goal, the strategy is Vision 2015. The assessment of the implementation by the departments thus far, indicates that much has been achieved. Sets of reports on the State of Organisational Readiness, Departmental Individual Audit Reports and the State of Human Resources Development (HRD) Report in the Public Service tabled at HRD Forums, Public Service Trainers Forums and HRD Steering Committee meetings adheres to this.

Regarding the professionalization of public service workforce, Public Service Human Resources Development Strategic Framework (HRDSF) is pivotal on amongst other objectives, the:

· Knowledge and Information Management

· Performance Management Development Systems

· Promoting appropriate organizational structures for HRD

· Ensuring the adequacy of physical and human resources and facilities

· Managing employee Health & Wellness

· Career Planning & Talent Management

· Mobilization of management support

In accordance with the DPSA's Strategic Priorities and Outputs as per the delivery agreement for the MTSF, against the Outcome 12, particularly Sub-Output 4, the ministry has set out to ensure effective employment entry into the public service and Human Resources Development/Cadre development, putting in place policy directives aimed at:

· Indentifying and implementation of Mandatory Human Resources programmes;

· Utilisation of training budgets

· Adult Education and Training (AET) Policy

· Internship Policy

· E-Learning policy

· Recognition of Prior learning (RPL) policy

· Leanerships Determination

· Integrated Youth, Skills and Rural Development Strategies.

All of these are jointly implemented with other strategic institutions both within the MPSA portfolio and outside.

QUESTIONS 179 FOR WRITTEN REPLY

THURSDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2010

179. Mr L Ramatlakane (Cope) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

Whether his department has implemented strict measures to ensure that all officers at all times fully comply with the rules and regulations in order to meet the requirements of the (a) Auditor-General, (b) National Treasury and (c) Public Finance Management Act, Act 1 of 1999; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW195E

REPLY:

The Directorate Supply Chain Management has implemented controls in the form of "Procurement Checklists" which are signed by various officials within Directorate to make sure that all deviations in excess of R1 million are reported to the National Treasury and the Auditor General within ten working days. The checklists which are currently under implementation are assisting to ensure that 80/20 preference point system formula get calculated for the points for price and historically disadvantaged goals in respect of goods and services with a monetary value equal to or above R30 000 and up to monetary value of R500 000.The department also holds meeting with the Auditor General's office on a regular basis to clarify matters that are raised by the latter during the audit.

QUESTIONS 154 FOR WRITTEN REPLY

THURSDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2010

Ms A M Dreyer (DA) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

What was the vacancy rate in the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy, ranging from Assistant Director to Director-General on (a) 1 October 2008, (b) 1 October 2009, (c) 1 April 2010 and (d) 31 December 2010? NW166E

Response:

(a) The vacancy rate in PALAMA on 1 October 2008 was 55%. The breakdown of the filled, funded, vacant and vacant unfunded posts is reflected in the table below:

Post	Total no. of posts	No. of posts funded	No. of filled posts	No. of vacant posts	No. of vacant unfunded posts	Vacancy rate as a %
Assistant Director	21	21	21	0	0	0%
Deputy Director	64	64	20	44	0	69%
Director	43	43	14	29	0	67%
Chief Director	16	16	9	7	0	44%
Dep Director-General	5	5	3	2	0	40%
Director-General	1	1	1	0	0	0%
TOTAL	150	150	68	82	0	55%

Note: The total number of posts filled for the period ending 1 October 2008 includes 5 additional staff members on fixed term contracts (1 Assistant Director and 4 Deputy Directors)

(b) The vacancy rate in PALAMA on 1 October 2009 was 16%. The breakdown of the filled, funded, vacant and vacant unfunded posts is reflected in the table below:

Post	Total no. of posts	No. of posts funded	No. of filled posts	No. of vacant posts	No. of vacant unfunded posts	Vacancy rate as a %
Assistant Director	23	23	23	0	0	0%
Deputy Director	57	45	35	10	12	22%
Director	34	29	23	6	5	21%
Chief Director	16	16	14	2	0	13%
Dep Director-General	5	5	5	0	0	0%
Director-General	1	1	0	1	0	100%
TOTAL	136	119	100	19	17	16%

Note: The total number of posts for the period ending 1 October 2009 excludes 3 Directors, 3 Deputy Directors and 2 Assistant Directors who are appointed on contracts additional to the fixed establishment against funded vacant posts.

Between October 2008 and October 2009 posts at Director, Deputy Director and Assistant Director Levels were reviewed and some were consolidated to create higher level posts while others were split to create lower level posts. As a result, the number of posts is inconsistent for Director, Deputy Director and Assistant Director Levels for these two periods. The posts of both Assistant Directors and Deputy Directors were referred to as Managers.

(c) The vacancy rate in PALAMA on 1 April 2010 was 17%. The breakdown of the filled, funded, vacant and vacant unfunded posts is reflected in the table below:

Post	Total no. of posts	No. of posts funded	No. of filled posts	No. of vacant posts	No. of vacant unfunded posts	Vacancy rate as a %
Assistant Director	23	23	23	0	0	0%
Deputy Director	56	47	35	12	9	26%
Director	34	27	21	6	7	22%
Chief Director	16	15	14	1	1	7%
Dep Director-General	6	6	5	1	0	17%
Director-General	1	1	1	0	0	0%
TOTAL	136	119	99	20	17	17%

Note: The total number of posts for the period ending 1 April 2010 excludes 2 Directors, 4 Deputy Directors and 1 Assistant Director who are appointed on contracts additional to the fixed establishment against funded vacant posts.

(d) The vacancy rate in PALAMA on 1 December 2010 was 18%. The breakdown of the filled, funded, vacant and vacant unfunded posts is reflected in the table below:

Post	Total no. of posts	No. of posts funded	No. of filled posts	No. of vacant posts	No. of vacant unfunded posts	Vacancy rate as a %
Assistant Director	22	22	22	0	0	0%
Deputy Director	56	47	36	11	9	23%
Director	34	28	21	7	6	25%
Chief Director	16	15	14	1	1	7%
Dep Director-General	6	6	4	2	0	33%
Director-General	1	1	1	0	0	0%
TOTAL	135	119	98	21	16	18%

Note 1: Unfunded vacancies were only declared from 1 April 2009.

Note 2: The vacancy rates calculation excludes unfunded vacancies.

Note 3: The total number of posts for the period ending 31 December 2010 excludes 3 Directors, 4 Deputy Directors and 2 Assistant Directors who are appointed on contracts additional to the fixed establishment against funded vacant posts.

QUESTIONS 154FOR WRITTEN REPLY

THURSDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2010

154. Ms A M Dreyer (DA) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

REPLY:

	1/10/2008	1/10/2009	1/04/2010	31/12/2010
Assistant Director	0%	0%	0%	0%
Deputy Director	69%	37%	35%	33%
Director	67%	30%	35%	35%
Chief Director	44%	18%	13%	13%
Deputy Director-General	40%	0%	17%	33%
Director General	0%	100%	0%	0%

QUESTIONS 153 FOR WRITTEN REPLY

THURSDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2010

Ms A M Dreyer (DA) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

How many employees, ranging from Assistant Director to Director-General, have left the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (Palama) during the periods (a) 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009, (b) 1 October 2009 to 1 April 2010 and (c) 1 April 2010 to 31 December 2010? NW165E

__________________________________________________________

REPLY:

(a) During the period 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009, a total of nine (9) employees ranging from Assistant Director to Director-General left PALAMA. The reasons for leaving are: resignation, expiry of contract, voluntary severance package, and transfers to other public service departments. The table below provides a breakdown per post level from Assistant Director to Director-General.

Post	Resignations	Expiry of contracts	Voluntary Severance Package	Transfers to other public service departments
Assistant Dir.
Deputy Dir.	1		1	1
Dir.	4	1
Chief Dir.
Deputy DG
DG		1
TOTAL	5	2	1	1

(b) During the period 1 October 2009 to 31 March 2010, a total of six (6) employees ranging from Assistant Director to Director-General left PALAMA. The reasons for leaving are: resignation, expiry of contract, and transfers to other public service departments. The table below provides a breakdown per post level from Assistant Director to Director-General.

Post	Resignations	Expiry of contracts	Voluntary Severance Package	Transfers to other public service departments
Assistant Dir.		2		1
Deputy Dir.	1
Dir.	2
Chief Dir.
Deputy DG
DG
TOTAL	3	2	0	1

(c) During the period 1 April 2010 to 31 December 2010, a total of five (5) employees ranging from Assistant Director to Director-General left PALAMA. The reasons for leaving are: resignation, and expiry of contract. The table below provides a breakdown per post level from Assistant Director to Director-General.

Post	Resignations	Expiry of contracts	Voluntary Severance Package	Transfers to other public service departments
Assistant Dir.
Deputy Dir.	2
Dir.
Chief Dir.		1
Deputy DG	1	1
DG
TOTAL	3	2	0	0

QUESTIONS 90 FOR WRITTEN REPLY

THURSDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2010

90. Ms M Smuts (DA) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

(1) Whether the Government adopted a policy on Free and Open Source Software in August 2006; if so,

Yes, Government adopted a policy on Free and Open Source Software; but it was in 2007 that it was adopted.

(2) Whether this policy (a) remains Government policy, (b) has been (i) implemented and (ii) amended and (c) incorporates a commitment to open content; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW100E

a) Yes, the policy still remains Government Policy.

bi) Yes, the Policy is being implemented. Some of the activities that were performed in the implementation of the Policy:

· Integrated Financial Management System has been developed on an Open Source Development environment.

· The telemedicine project launched in Limpopo by SITA used open source software for managing the network traffic.

bii) No, the Policy has not been amended.

c) Yes, the Policy incorporates a commitment to open content. The policy states clearly that "The South African Government will ensure all Government content and content developed using Government resources is made Open Content, unless analysis on specific content shows that proprietary licensing or confidentiality is substantially beneficial.

However, it must be noted that since Open Content allows for the copying and modifying of information by anyone, as such most of the government systems do not allow for open content. The major reasons are those linked to confidentiality, security and prevention of illegal re-use and distribution of government and citizens information.

QUESTION WRITTEN REPLY

THURSDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2011

139. Mr JJ van der Linde (DA) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

What (a) statutory provisions, (b) regulations, (c) policy instruments and (d)

practices govern the (i) classification, (ii) protection against the release or

access, (iii) protection for other purposes such as preservation and (iv) release

upon request for access of (aa) documented information and (bb) undocumented

information held by (aaa) his department or (bbb) any other entities who receive

budgetary transfers from his department? NW151E

________________________________________________________________

REPLY:

With regard to the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) the

answers to the questions and where applicable, the specific instrument for

dealing with a are as follows:

(a) Statutory provisions - Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act 2 of 2000 - requests for documented information and protection against release of, or access to, documented information); Protection of Information Act, 1982 (Act 84 of 1982 – protection against release of or access to information); National Archives and Record Service of South Africa, 1996 (Act 43 of 1996 – classification of information, release of, or access to, information and protection of information for preservation purposes); and Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 (Act 25 of 2002 – protection of personal information and release of and access to all information).

(b) Regulations – Regulations regarding the Promotion of Access to Information, 2002 (requests for documented information); Public Service Regulations, 2001 (regulations C.2.9 and C.4.12 in Ch 2 – access to and protection of information) and the National Archives and Record Service of South Africa Regulations, 2002 (classification of information, release of, or access to, information and protection of information for preservation purposes);

(c) Policy instruments - Minimum Information Security Standards approved by the Cabinet in 1996 (classification and protection against release of, or access to information);

(d) Practices – File Plan of the DPSA -internal filing system (classification and protection for other purposes such as preservation)

With regard to entities that receive budgetary transfers from the DPSA's budget:

(a) The Office of the Public Service Commission and PALAMA receive budgetary transfers but both are listed as separate departments in Schedule 1 to the Public Service Act, 1994, and therefore are responsible for the management of their own information.

(b) The Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority (PSETA) may receive budgetary transfers from 1 April 2011 from the DPSA. However, it is listed as a public entity in Schedule 3 to the Public Finance Management Act, 1999, and therefore is responsible for the management of its own information.

QUESTIONS FOR WRITTEN REPLY

THURSDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2010

153. Ms A M Dreyer (DA) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

_______________________________________________________________

REPLY:

	1/10/2008 to 30/09/2009	1/10/2009 to /1/04/2010	1/04/2010 to 31/12/2010
Assistant Director	0	3	0
Deputy Director	3	1	2
Director	5	2	0
Chief Director	0	0	1
Deputy Director-General	0	0	2
Director General	1	0	0
Total	9	6	5

QUESTION 83

83. Mr J R B Lorimer (DA) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

(1) What (a) progress has been made on the review of the ministerial handbook and (b) is the current status of this review;

(2) whether he will make the findings of the review public; if not, why not; if so, when will these findings be made public? NO2322E

RESPONSE

(1) (a) The comments and suggestions received from various stakeholders regarding the review of the Ministerial Handbook have been collated and referred to the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers by Cabinet for recommendations to Cabinet; and

(b) Cabinet is awaiting these recommendations before approving a revised Handbook;

(2) An amended Ministerial Handbook will be made public after the Commission has made its recommendations, the Cabinet has considered these recommendations and approved the revised Handbook.

Once the commission has done its work and Cabinet considers their report, we will communicate accordingly.

2011-09-09

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