DEVELOPING A PROGRAMME FOR THE FIVE YEAR TERM LINKED TO THE MEDIUM TERM EXPENDITURE FRAMEWORK (2005-2009)

1. SOURCES OF REFERENCE:

1.1 The social contract with the electorate;

1.2 The state-of-the-nation address;

1.3 The budget speech by the Minister of Finance;

1.4 The strategic plans of the portfolio/departments for which the committee is responsible;

1.5 Budget votes;

1.6 Annual reports

1.7 Legislation targeted for monitoring, etc

2. DETERMINE AREAS OF LEGISLATION AND OVERSIGHT THAT ARE CONSIDERED CRITICAL e.g.:

2.1 Identify key pieces of legislation that the Committee considers critical to monitor the implementation thereof and oversight;

2.2 Identify key programmes which the state-of-the-nation address determined that the state organs will pursue towards achieving the key elements of the social contract viz. job creation and poverty alleviation and time frames e.g. quarterly review meetings with departments and bi-annual visits to the identified areas in the country:

2.3 Identify key activities in the strategic plans of the portfolio/department/entities to follow up;

2.4 Identify key programmes for which budgets have been appropriated and areas to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act;

2.5 Identify areas of oversight from the annual reports;

2.6 Identify key elements of the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement that are priority for the following year's budget consideration and determine committee's oversight programme.

3. DETERMINE PLANS AND METHODOLOGY

3.1 Determine plans and method/s to be used for the monitoring of the implementation of legislation. These should include activities to be undertaken, performance measures for successful implementation and time frames for such activities. Time frames worked in consultation with the programme committee or in line with the parliamentary programme;

3.2 Determine plans and method/s to be used to evaluate the government programmes and progress made. These should include the elements in 3.1 above;

3.3 Determine intervals and/or milestones for such evaluation;

3.4 Determine timeframes and milestones for reporting to the House.

4. IDENTIFY RESOURCES THAT ARE REQUIRED AND BUDGETING

4.1 Identify the resources required for the work determined through steps 2&3;

4.2 Translate the resources to rands and cents using the applicable institutional norms;

4.3 Budget numbers with motivation confirmed against the identified priorities contained in the committee's business plan or work programme.

PROPOSED FORMAT FOR PLANS

These are the key elements of a detailed plan or programme of action stipulating the activities to be undertaken to achieve the main task, key performance indicators which determine the measure of success, assigning responsibilities within specified timeframes.