Memorandum

To: Chairpersons of Committees: National Assembly Whips of Committees

Section Management: Committees

From: House Chairperson: Committees

Date: 25 April 2006

Subject: Functioning of Committees

Welcome back from a well deserved recess!

The Committee of Chairpersons will not be meeting for the first few weeks of the 2nd term due to pressing commitments of the Office and for reasons that will become clearer in this communique.

As you may well be aware that there is no longer an Office of the Chairperson of Committees whose sole mandate was the functioning of Committees. That Office had a Deputy Chairperson and a total of 5 administrative support staff, excluding any seconded staff. So at any given stage we were a team of 7 and more.

Since 2004 the positions of House Chairperson's were created in the Office of the Speaker, several additional functions have been delegated by House resolution to this office over and above those that pertain to the functioning of Committees.

As you may be aware that this office is manned by an Executive Secretary and Executive Assistant whose functions are other than dealing with Committee's. Khaya Lala who was seconded to the Office of the Speaker, by Committee Section, as Coordinator of Committees has since resigned and not been replaced, the post has had to revert to the Committee Section. Keith Williams is based within the Committee

Section and is not part of this Office; his functions are similar to those of Khaya but at Committee Section level. This Office has to continuously work on its gradual development and is currently part of a process of making recommendations on the support structure of the boarder Office

of the Speaker, which will ultimately address this undesirable situation. However undesirable this current situation is we have to, as we surely must, continue to provide the kind of support that Committees require by working smarter.

What is of first consideration to this office is the smooth functioning of all Committees, so it's about working smarter and in an organised manner.

To ensure that we are able to improve on the current service levels that we provide to more than 36 Committees excluding the Committee of Chairpersons which has no support structure other than the Chairperson at present, a framework for Committee activities is attached, which will hopefully address some of the current shortcomings that have been experienced by committees during the April recess, which has been regrettable but again, beyond our control.

The framework attempts to align the internal business and planning processes of Committees with that of Parliaments programme, business planning cycle, budgeting cycle, financial year and procurement processes coupled to the proceedings of the House that impact on the consideration of Committee business.

It is worth noting that approvals span over more than 36 Committees, involving more than just this office, so it does become a rather large family to provide individual attention to, therefore sufficient time has to be built into a framework that will provide for the careful consideration, interrogation and consultation of all the applications and submissions made for consideration and approval processes within the Office of the Speaker, Chief Whip, NCOP counterparts, Provinces to mention but a few. Therefore strict adherence to the deadlines becomes important.

Business Planning: This process sets out the broad framework for committees' programmes and also informs the budgeting process. It will enable committees to develop budget proposals based on concrete plans. This process also assists Committees to develop plans that can be budgeted and implemented within the Medium Term Expenditure Framework. These must be adopted within Committees. In order that these plans can inform the budgeting process, it is suggested that the business planning should be undertaken by all committees and are to meet the deadline of the 1^st week in February, as this has not been possible this year, with the exception of one Committee, a revised deadline has been issued of 26 May 2006. The Business Plan is subject to approval by this office.

Annual Committee Programmes: The National Assembly Programme Committee resolved that all Committees should submit Annual Programmes based on the Parliamentary Programme Framework and should be tabled within the first quarter of every year for consideration. Tabling in this case is Tabling to the NAPC. To accommodate any changes that may be necessary from time to time these can be reviewed quarterly and submitted for consideration and approval. The attached framework outlines the envisaged timeframes as in the case of Business Plans.

Committee Budgeting Process: This process starts during the second term between May and June. It is proposed that once committees have completed their business plans, these should be given to staff to develop the budget estimates/proposals based on them. The proposals should then be discussed and refined within the Committee and are to be submitted by the deadline of the 15th of June. Committee Budgets are subject to approval of this Office.

Application for the rolling over of funds for specific functions: It is suggested that from September (6 months into the financial year), committees should revise their plans and programmes, reconciling them with what is still available in their budgets. This will assist them to identify those items of their programmes which have not been implemented due, for instance, to constraints in the parliamentary programme. This will assist to identify funds for which we need to seek approval to roll - over for specific activities. The staff will assist by preparing the required documentation for consideration and recommendation by this office and will be submitted to the Accounting

Officer to seek the approval of the Treasury to roll over the required funds. '"(he framework outlines the deadlines for submissions.

Local/Provincial Study Tours/Visits: Provincial Speakers have requested us to improve communication and co-ordination of all oversight visits. All stakeholders i.e. NCOP, Provincial Legislatures and Local Government (where applicable) will in future be timeously communicated with to respond to this request. Provinces have made a very passionate plea through their Speakers at a recent Workshop of the Speaker's Forum, for us to consider their existence and own programmes when doing oversight in Provinces. Business plans and the Budgets of Committees must reflect such oversight travel which will be given an in principle approval at, the beginning of the year to enable committees to plan in advance.

International Visits: Experience has taught us that all applications for international visits have to be submitted timeously to ensure that committees themselves are able to be adequately prepared in terms of content and logistically and that that they are able to get optimal value out of their exposure, visit. Business plans and the Budgets of Committees must reflect such travel which will be given an in principle approval at the beginning of the year to enable committees to plan in advance. These will soon fall within the provisions of the Travel Policy, as adopted by the Committee Chairpersons 10 November 2004.

Important notice for all travel by committees

NB: Applications not falling within the urgent category will not be considered after the deadline or during recess periods.

NB: Prior approval of the application must be sought from this office prior to any arrangements being commenced with; this office will not be pressured into "face saving" exercises.

Training/Planning: This should be reflected in the Business Plans and Budgets, however this office will also advise on what donor funding or other sources of funding are available for this purpose. If these requests are reflected in the Business and Budget plans committees will get an in principle decisions early in the year and will be able to plan better.

In the case of all the applications that require further detailed consideration e.g. International, Travel, Oversight Visits, Training and planning sessions which require financial authorisation, should be submitted nearer the time but within the deadlines as outline in the Framework. Adherence to deadlines in this case is crucial.

Committee Reports: Committee Annual Reports, Budget Vote Reports, Reports on the Consideration of Departmental Annual Reports and Oversight Reports' timeframes and deadlines are outlined in the Framework. It is important to note that it is within the mandate, powers and functions of Committees as outlined in Constitution and the House Rules that Committees are to ensure that reports are adopted by the House and that the Executive responds to reports tabled where required to do so. Once a report is adopted by the House the Speaker writes to the Member of the Executive concerned and brings to their attention the decisions of the House.

Committees are advised to develop effective internal mechanisms, to ensure that Members of the Executive respond, that is holding the Executive Accountable, which is at the heart of the Constitutional Sec 55 (2) (a) and (b) which is the mandate of Parliament and therefore Committees. Committees are the mechanisms that this section refers to. Where the committee's fail to get such responses a written report should immediately be submitted to this office, detailing what action has been taken to ensure accountability, for us to recommend appropriate action to the Speaker.

Several Committee Reports are not adopted in the house and are "noted" Committees are urged to urgently conduct an audit of all reports "noted" and to engage with the Office the Chief Whip of the Majority Party to clarify reasons for this and to take those reports back into the committees for further consideration and after consultation with the OCWMP should be tabled again for consideration, the deadline for this exercise is 23rd June 2006.

Referrals to Committees: It has been brought to our attention that several referrals be they written instruments, reports or correspondence which require consideration, get lost in the system resulting in them not being considered. A point we must not lose is that it is up to Committees themselves to decide how to deal with matters, however given the seriousness of some of the glitches and for whatever reason, it has become necessary for this office to develop monitoring mechanisms to assist committees. Soon this tracking will be done electronically.

Attendance of Committee meetings: Whilst I am in communication with Chairpersons let me take advantage of the opportunity to raise a very serious challenge that is gradually getting worse. We have been monitoring and will continue to monitor the attendance in committees; we must however draw to the attention of Chairpersons that although the numbers of required committee membership has been drastically reduced, in some cases that has made attendance even worse. Whilst attendance is not a responsibility of this office we are requesting Chairpersons to communicate these challenges to the relevant Chief Whips as a matter of urgency. Committees may consider insisting on written apologies, reasons for leaving meetings and reasons for non attendance, whatever you may deem necessary will certainly assist as we are being severely criticised and rightfully so.

In the case of some Committees the Budget Vote briefings have been particularly poorly attended e.g. Committee 1 had 3 ANC, 1 DA out of 15, Committee 2 had 4 ANC out of 15 the better of the three had 6 ANC and 3 opposition out of 15 members when presentations were being made by Departmental Officials who travelled from Pretoria and they outnumbered the membership in attendance.

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Some senior departmental officials and members of Cabinet have raised concerns about Committee members being "poorly prepared" "their questions were inappropriate" "appearances hardly seem worth the effort" Failure to take some form of action as Chairpersons will continue to adversely affect the functioning of committees and exacerbate the perception that we are not taking our work seriously.

Cancellation of approved Committee meetings: The NAPC had resolved that we develop guidelines on the process to be followed when a committee wishes to cancel an approved meeting, to date we have not done this, as we felt that if it was managed better it would be less cumbersome. However the cancellation of meetings is gradually becoming worse and the unintended consequences of cancellations have resulted in Parliament being confronted with requests to refund travel expenses. Chairpersons are requested to first submit the required application for cancellation before the actual cancellation and before the meeting is removed from the Z list.

Several Chairpersons have written to me and brought to my attention a practice by Departmental Officials to agree to attend meeting or appear before a committee, but then the Minister does not authorise their attendance, which results in the Committee having to cancel their meeting.

A possible solution to this problem could be as follows:

1. Committees should, in all circumstances when requiring submissions and/ or the attendance of a department, address the request to the Minister from the committee chairperson.

2. It remains for the minister to identify who from the department should attend the committee meeting on behalf of the Ministry.

3. An exception to this practice would be if, operationally, it had been agreed between the committee and the Ministry that the committee secretary, acting on the instruction of the committee chairperson,

writes to the director-general of the department.

4. An decisions should be communicated timeously to ensure the smooth running of the committee's programme.

Flexibility: Further to the attached framework and the provisions of this correspondence, the need may arise for deviation or for an urgent or extra ordinary application to be submitted, the above deadlines should not be interpreted to mean that there is no room for such applications to be considered, we remain flexible however to the exception rather than the rule.

An earnest and sincere request is being made to all Chairpersons and Whips of Committees to assist us in this regard to be able to facilitate the effective functioning of Committees and the institution. We would also appreciate any suggestions on how to improve on these time frames as issued.


As the Offices of House Chairpersons are still evolving your understanding and cooperation in this regard would be highly appreciated.

I trust that Chairperson's will see the value of what is being proposed in a positive light rather than being rigid. The reality of the situation is that this office simply cannot continue to function on an adhoc and unstructured basis which is beginning to frustrate so many of you and is beginning to have a negative impact on the functioning of your committees and members, let alone on our blood pressure levels.

Wishing you all, a very successful second term and look forward to being in a better position of rendering an improved service and shorter response times, for the facilitation of the all important work done by you and your committees.

Thanking you