Chairperson and hon members, since 1994 we have strived to build capacity and to improve information because these are the requirements facing policy-makers and the implementers of programmes and projects. We were tasked with developing and implementing policy while strengthening our own capacity and developing systems. The combination of these factors thus puts pressure on the pace of service delivery to poor communities.
The House will recall that the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, as well as Administration in the Presidency was established in 2009, specifically to focus on the performance of the public sector. All Ministers driving priority programmes, including antipoverty programmes, have committed themselves to clear targets over the five-year term of this government. The responsible Ministers report every quarter to the President and Cabinet on progress made against these targets. From time to time, the Department of: Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, as well as Administration in the Presidency publishes reports which indicate the degree of progress made. These are significant improvements in our monitoring and evaluation systems.
While the Presidency is the custodian of the government-wide monitoring and evaluation system as a whole, the National Treasury has published the Framework for Managing Programme Performance Information and Statistics SA has published the South African Statistical Quality Assessment Framework to provide policy frameworks for programme performance information and social, economic and demographic statistics.
The National Evaluation Policy Framework, which was approved by Cabinet in November 2011, provides the next essential part of the government-wide monitoring and evaluation system, setting out the basis for government-wide evaluation, focusing on our priority areas. It should contribute to the establishment of a culture of continuous improvement in service delivery.
With these initiatives, I am confident that we are on the right path and that the challenges encountered by the Public Service Commission in the course of the audit process will soon be a thing of the past.