Mtef.

8. Deliberations

The Committee was concerned about the delays in the introduction of legislation to regulate M&E in South Africa, i.e. the Results Bill to strengthen enforcement. The Committee was of the view that the introduction of legislation will assist in ensuring that all departments comply with the Government's M&E Framework.

The Department highlighted that emphasis will be placed on developing M&E practices in the organisational culture of the broad public service. The Department indicated that virtually all departments had functional M&E units. The primary concern was that information and work undertaken by the M&E units is not fully utilised by Programme Managers.

The Committee expressed concern that there were targets which were reflected in percentage terms in the Department's APP and this compromised the degree of measurability of stated targets. The Department responded that all its targets were measurable as far as possible and that it only used percentages where the underlying absolute number might change such as the number of budget votes for the new government term.

The Committee sought clarity on the number of Internal Auditors that are to be employed by the Department for the 2013/14 financial year and whether the outsourcing of the Internal Audit function was more cost effective. The Department indicated that a cost-benefit analysis has been undertaken in this regard and the outcome therein was that it was more cost effective to outsource the Internal Audit function. The Department further reported that there was one permanent employee who managed the outsourcing of the Internal Audit function given the fact that it was a relatively small department. An amount of R600 thousand was spent on consultants for this function in the 2012/13 financial year and R1.7 million has budgeted for same in the 2013/14 financial year. The Committee stated that there was a need for the Department to establish internal capacity and/or shared services for an internal audit function as prescribed in the Public Finance Management Act.

The Committee was concerned at the current levels of capacity and the readiness of the Department to meet all its pre-determined objectives given the fact that not all funded vacancies were filled. Furthermore, the Committee emphasised the need for the Department to fill all its funded vacant positions for the 2013/14 financial year given the fact that it could not achieve same during the 2012/13 financial year where 25 funded positions remained vacant. The Department indicated that it should have sufficient capacity to achieve all its targets for the 2013/14 financial year provided that it fills all its funded vacant positions as per its approved organisational structure. The Committee cautioned the Department against the classification of funding earmarked for positions not filled as savings.

The Committee stated that there existed M&E related resource capacity such as ward committees and Government led community forums. The Committee highlighted the need for the Department to forge links with these community based structures, especially for citizen-based monitoring in order to enhance its M&E programmes and thus be able to assess outcomes more effectively at community level.

The Committee supports the development and rollout of M&E frameworks for municipalities for the 2013 MTEF and emphasized the need for the development of an MPAT tool for municipalities. The Department stated that it will replicate the MPAT tool utilised in provinces to municipalities. The municipal MPAT tool will include basic service indicators and the results will be made publicly available.

The Committee emphasised the need for strengthened cooperation and joint work programmes between the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) and the Department on performance audits. The Department stated that there are ongoing engagements with the AGSA and use is made of the various AGSA reports in carrying M&E projects.

The Committee was concerned at specific areas of Government performance such as library services that showed consistent challenges and weakness due to the complicated interplays between the three spheres of government. The Department stated the there are delivery agreements in place which bind all three spheres of Government towards common goals. The Department is to strengthen the monitoring of delivery agreements across all spheres of government

The Committee was concerned at the level of capacity and readiness of the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) to service the comprehensive needs of the Department. The Department indicated that it had a Service Level Agreement with SITA which it continuously monitors and will intervene where necessary in case of breach of agreement.

9. Observations and Findings

The Standing Committee on Appropriations, having considered the Annual Performance Plan and Budget Vote 6: Performance Monitoring and Evaluation for the 2013/14 financial year, made the following findings and observations:

9.1 The Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation utilised consultants for the Internal Audit function. The Committee viewed the utilisation of shared internal audit services with other national departments as a cost effective alternative to the current use of consultants. The Department agreed to consider the in-sourcing of internal audit capacity from other departments.

9.2 The Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation expressed the view that government wide M&E systems need to develop and settle before they are embedded in legislation. The Committee however remained concerned at the lack of enforcement mechanisms for the critical work undertaken by the Department and was of the view that the introduction of legislation should be expedited.

9.3 Some performance targets and indicators in the 2013/14 APP of the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation were unclear and unspecific, hence immeasurable; and this was because they were expressed only in percentages.

9.4 The Committee supported co-operation and collaboration between Department and Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA). The Committee was of the view that the enhanced co-operation between the Department and AGSA would lead to improved M&E systems and assist in the effective sharing of resources for some specific projects.

9.5 The Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation was in the process of developing performance monitoring systems for municipalities. In 2013/14 ten municipal assessments will rolled out and an MPAT will be developed for municipalities.

9.6 While recognising that the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation was legally bound by the prescripts of Chapter 3 of the Constitution pertaining to Co-operative Governance when implementing Government Wide M&E Systems through the three spheres of government, the Committee remained concerned about the lack of enforcement mechanism contained in this chapter that empowered the Department to uniformly implement M&E systems throughout the spheres of government.

9.7 The Committee found that there was a need the Department of Performance of Monitoring and Evaluation to establish open linkages with structures at local level such as ward committees and community police forums and integrate these within the government wide M&E policy framework.

10. Recommendations

The Standing Committee on Appropriations, having considered the Annual Performance Plan and the Budget of the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation for the 2013/14 financial year, recommends as follows:

10.1 That the Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation as well as Administration should ensure the following:

10.1.1 That the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation provide measurable and achievable performance targets.

10.1.2 That the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation consider utilising shared services for its internal audit function.

10.1.3 That the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation should evaluate and investigate ways to develop a white paper that will inform the legislative framework to implement government wide monitoring and evaluation systems.

10.1.4 That local level structures such as ward committees, community development workers and community police forums and other community based structures be integrated within the government-wide Monitoring and Evaluation Policy Framework.

10.2 That the National Assembly approve the Committee's report on Budget Vote 6: Performance Monitoring and Evaluation for the 2013/14 financial year.

Report to be considered.