2.5 Committee's observations The Committee raised concerns regarding the following: . The inability of the Department to pick up irregular and fruitless expenditure timeously in SOCs, such as the R8.5 billion fruitless expenditure reported by Transnet. . The slow pace of finalising the executive remuneration review report and the lack of consistency in remuneration across SOCs. . The adverse effects of decisions taken by policy departments and the lack of policy decisions that were hampering the Department. . The escalating costs of power stations and the slow pace of introducing renewables. . The Committee acknowledged the shortage of skills and the inability of the Department to recruit due to competitive market-related packages offered by the private sector.