The National Treasury informed the Committee that the provincial departments of education of Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape and North West were spending lower than expected in comparison to the same period in the 2008/9 financial year. With respect to the Provincial Department of Education of Northern Cape, the National Treasury said this provincial department was improving on spending on the HIV/AIDS programme. But the National Department of Basic Education disputed this and reported that the Northern Cape's Provincial Department of Education was the only provincial department that had not submitted its performance reports as required by the Division of Revenue Act (DORA). The Department of Basic Education said this was in violation of Section 12 of the DORA.