Following an initial reply from the NLC setting out the reasons why they will not be able to provide the requested information within the available time before the Parliamentary Reply was due and requesting additional time, I requested my office to obtain dates when the information will be available. I have received the following reply from the National Lotteries Commission, which I reproduce in full.
“PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION 1039 AND 1109
The NLC has taken note of the questions raised in the above PQ’s and the information to be collated and prepared to be able to fully respond to them accordingly. On the face of it, the information requested is vast and dates to 2009/10 constituting an overwhelming task. The NLC information is managed through the Grant Management System (GMS) and most of the records have been archived. The implication is that there is need for time and resources to be deployed for the purposes of retrieval of records; particularly those older than 2014 as the Records and Archives Act limits the retention of records to five years. Additionally, the Commission has also migrated from the GMS system to a new ERP.
Given the limitations relating to availability of staff due to Covid 19, the retrieval and processing of information, records retrieval from the old and new platform; the NLC would like to be afforded time to retrieve the records, verify and process the information to be able to properly attend to the questions asked. In terms of the NLC processes, only the Chief Information Officer and Chief Audit Executive can extract the information from the legacy system and archives. The proposed implementation plan for the retrieval of information is as follows:
No |
Item |
Expected Start Date |
Expected End Date |
1 |
Notification of the third party that archives NLC information |
10 June 2020 |
10 June 2020 |
2 |
Initiation of the process to access the legacy GMS |
10 June 2020 |
10 June 2020 |
3 |
Retrieval of the information from the legacy GMS and archives |
15 June 2020 |
17 June 2020 |
4 |
Analysis and packaging of information |
18 June 2020 |
29 June 2020 |
5 |
Quality assurance on the information |
30 June 2020 |
1 July 2020 |
6 |
Sign-off of the information and submission to the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition |
3 July 2020 |
3 July 2020 |
We therefore request the Minister to note the NLC plan in retrieving and submitting the required information in response to parliamentary questions 1039 and 1109.
I trust you find the enclosed in order. TCC MAMPANE, NLC COMMISSIONER.”
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