BUDGETARY
REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON LABOUR ON THE
PERFORMANCE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR, DATED 24 OCTOBER 2012
1. Introduction
The purpose of the report is to
analyse the performance of the Department of Labour (the Department) against
its Predetermined Objectives for the 2011/12 financial year. The Department
presented its Annual Report to the Portfolio Committee on Labour (the
Committee) for the year under review on the 9th of October 2012, and therefore
based on those deliberations the report will carry the recommendations that
emanated from the meeting.
2. The
role of the Committee
The role
of the Portfolio Committee on Labour is to facilitate public participation by
providing a national forum for public consideration of issues through
legislation and overseeing executive action over the national Department of
Labour. In terms of the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act
(Act No.9 2009), the procedure hinges on the constitutional obligation of Parliament
to maintain oversight over the national executive authority. Therefore the
annual assessment of national departments by the National Assembly through its
committees provides the starting point of the procedure.
The Act also requires
Committees of the Assembly to submit annually their Budgetary Review and
Recommendation Report (BRRR) after the adoption of the Appropriation Bill and
prior to the adoption of the reports on the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement
(MTBPS). The BRRR and the reports on the MTBPS serve as an indication of
whether amendments might be proposed to the fiscal framework and the budget
bills when these are introduced in the following year. When the Minister of
Finance introduces the National Annual Budget, a report to Parliament setting
out how the Division of Revenue Bill and the national budget give effect to, or
the reasons for not taking into account, the recommendations contained in the
BRRR and the reports on the MTBPS.
The Committee consulted
various sources in order to make an objective and informed assessment and
recommendations on the Department’s performance during the 2011/12 financial
year. These are:
·
The 2011 State of the Nation Address (SONA);
·
The Department of Labour’s 2011 Strategic Plan;
·
The Department of Labour’s 2011/12 Annual Report;
·
Auditor General Reports presented before the Committee;
·
2011 BRR Report;
·
Oversight Reports.
3. The
Department
The mandate of the Department of
Labour is to regulate the labour market through policies and programmes
developed in consultation with social partners, which are aimed at:
·
improved economic efficiency and productivity;
·
creation of decent employment;
·
promoting labour standards and fundamental rights at work;
·
providing adequate social safety nets to protect the
vulnerable workers;
·
sound labour relations;
·
eliminating inequality and discrimination in the workplace;
·
enhancing occupational health and safety awareness and
compliance in the workplace; and
·
giving value to social dialogue
in the formulation of sound and responsive legislation and policies to attain
labour market flexibility for competitiveness of enterprises which is balanced
with the promotion of decent employment.
3.1. The
Department’s Strategic Objectives
The Department’s key
strategic objectives are to:
·
Contribute to employment creation;
·
Promote equity in the labour market;
·
Protect vulnerable workers;
·
Strengthen multilateral and bilateral relations;
·
Strengthen social protection;
·
Promote sound labour relations;
·
Monitor the impact of legislation;
·
Strengthen the capacity of labour market institutions;
·
Strengthen the institutional capacity of the
department.
During the 2011/12
financial year, the Department focused on the following strategic programmes:
·
Labour law amendments;
·
Re-building Public Employment Services;
·
Implementation of the Decent Work Country Programme;
·
Strengthening of Department of Labour inspectorate;
·
Reducing inequality and discrimination in the labour market;
·
Improved access to income protection services.
4. An Analysis of Section 32 Expenditure Report: 1st
Quarter Expenditure Report of 2012/13
The
Department has a total budget of R2.1 billion in the 2012/13 financial
year. Programme allocation was as
follows:
Programme 1:
Administration receives the largest allocation, at 35% of the total allocation;
Programme 4: Labour Policy and Industrial Relations, which receives 30%;
Programme 2: Inspection
and Enforcement Services, with an allocation of 25%; and Programme 3: Public
Employment Services, which receives 15%.
When viewed by economic
classification, the allocation for the compensation of employees is 42%,
followed by transfers and subsidies at 30%, goods and services at 27% and
payments for capital assets at 2%.
The overall variation from the financial
plans in the Department is mainly under goods and services (R55.7 million)
followed by compensation of employees (R28.2 million). This trend is consistent
with the previous financial year, and points to the inability of the Department
of Public Works to provide invoices on a regular basis, and the slow filling of
posts at the Department of Labour.
Compensation of Employees: expenditure was R189.5 million, or 21.5% of
the available budget of R883.3 million. Planned expenditure was R217.7 million
so the department under spent by R28.2 million. This is primarily within
Programme 2: Inspection and Enforcement Services, due to vacancies, additional
posts not yet filled, and delayed implementation of the Annual Salary
adjustments from April 2012.
Goods and Services: expenditure was R79 million, or 14% of the
available budget of R563.6 million. Planned expenditure was R134.7 million so
the department is behind by R55.7 million. This is primarily within Programme
1: Administration, due to major payments towards leases of office buildings that
were not made as invoices were not received. These issues have persisted for
three months so far. Other factors responsible for the slow spending include
outstanding invoices from Travel with Flair, as well as travel and subsistence
expenses due to delayed public hearings on the Labour Relations Amendment Bill
and the Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Bill that only occurred in
July 2012.
Transfers and Subsidies: expenditure was R295.2 million, or 46.2% of
the available budget of R639.3 million. Planned expenditure was R285 million so
the Department is ahead by R10.2 million. This is primarily within Programme 3:
Public Employment Services, due to a request for funding made by the Sheltered
Employment Factories (SEF) to pay salaries due to slow sales at the start of
2012/13. These issues have persisted for three months so far.
Payments for Capital
Assets: expenditure
was R28.3 million, or 84.4% of the available budget of R33.5 million. Planned
expenditure was R5.4 million so the department is ahead by R22.9 million. This
is primarily within Programme 1: Administration due to the procurement of
vehicles for Labour Inspectors which was made earlier than expected.
Programme
1: expenditure was R145.2
million, or 19.8% of the available budget of R732.6 million. Planned
expenditure was R173 million so the department is behind by R27.7 million. This
is primarily due to major payments towards leases of office buildings that were
not made as invoices were not received from National Department of Public Works
(NDPW), and these issues have persisted for three months so far.
Programme
2: expenditure was R88.4
million, or 20.6% of the available budget of R429.2 million. Planned
expenditure was R107.3 million so the Department is behind by R18.9 million. This
is primarily due to vacancies and additional posts not yet filled, and these
issues have persisted for three months so far.
Programme
3: expenditure was R86.2
million or 26.8 per cent of the available budget of R322 million. Planned
expenditure was R80.6 million, so the department is ahead by R5.6 million.
This is primarily attributable to an early transfer of funds to the Sheltered
Employment Factories (SEF) due to slow sales to date, and these issues have
persisted for three months so far.
Programme 4: expenditure was R272.2 million, or 42.8% of the
available budget of R635.9 million. Planned expenditure was R281.9
million, so the Department is behind by R9.7 million. This is primarily due to
outstanding invoices from GCIS for the 2011 Annual Day against Child Labour
communication strategy. Invoices for the Public Hearings on Sectoral
Determinations have not yet been received from Travel with Flair, and there are
still outstanding payments for the International Labour Conference (ILC) that
are still outstanding. Various Travel with Flair
invoices are still outstanding as they are only submitted approximately two to
three months after trips had occurred.
Additional Information
The Department was required to make an
early transfer of funds to the Sheltered Employment Factories due to cash flow
shortages at the factories, stemming from slow sales at the start of 2012/13.
In addition, there is currently an on-going process to develop a business case
to restructure the Sheltered Employment Factories to make them financially
sustainable and to prevent the problems that have persisted for the past few
financial years after the loss of their preferential procurement status, such
as cash flow constraints and operating at a financial loss.
Virements
The Department moved R512
000 out of the Research, Policy and Planning sub programme in Programme 4:
Labour Policy and Industrial Relations to the Management and Support Services
sub programme within the same programme. This was done to supplement the travel
and subsistence budget as the Deputy-Director General (DDG) responsible for
this programme was required to travel more frequently to Parliament, Imbizos and Ministerial stakeholder meetings throughout the
provinces due to the public hearings on the Labour Relations Amendment Bill and
the Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Bill. This shift occurred within
goods and services and the amount is under 8% of the budget, therefore Treasury
approval was not required.
5. Analysis of
the 2011/12 Department’s Annual Report
The entire 2011/12 financial year
was dominated by the impact of the deteriorating global economy, in particular
the ongoing European debt crisis. Both
the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have recently lowered
their global growth forecast, projecting a slight recession for the Eurozone in 2012. Consequently, the South African Reserve
Bank’s forecast for 2012 growth is around 2.8%, much lower than the previous
year’s 3%. As a result, this has had a negative impact on government’s goal to
fight unemployment, poverty and inequality.
While transformation of the South
African labour market remains a top challenge, low productivity and sluggish
economic growth, especially in labour-intensive industries,
make it difficult to fight unemployment and restructure apartheid employment
patterns. As such, when compared with other emerging markets,
5.1. Programme
Performance
Programme 1:
Administration
Currently, the most critical
projects under this programme are:
·
Organisational Review and Design;
·
Information technology transition;
·
Improvement of service delivery access and quality; and
·
Management of organisational Performance Information.
Over the years, the Administration
programme has become critical given the institutional incapacity of the
Department to deliver on crucial services due to lack of proper management of
assets and contracts, and the general poor resourcing of key programmes. In
response to these challenges, the Department established two key positions to
further enhance institutional capacity, i.e. that of the Chief Operations
Officer (COO) and Chief Information Officer (CIO). However, there were also
other notable challenges such as high vacancy rates in critical positions due to
high staff turnover. As such, the Department has a total of 304 vacancies. Some
of the provinces with high vacancy rates are
Much progress has been made
regarding the management of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) contract
between the Department and Siemens.
Programme 2: Inspectorate and Enforcement Services (IES)
In the Department’s 2011-2016
Strategic Plan, the IES unit listed the following challenges:
·
Lack of capacity and requisite competencies within
inspectorate due to lack of appropriate training which includes induction of
new recruits into IES, and functional competence based on training programmes
for new and existing inspectors;
·
No sufficient funding for tools of trade for inspectors such
as: motor vehicles, cellular phones, lap tops and other technical equipment;
·
Lack of Inspection and Enforcement Manual and Poor
Enforcement of Legislation have resulted in non-uniform or non-standardised
procedures applied by inspectors in different provinces. This has had the
effect of poor enforcement of legislation as a result of poor inspections and
investigations;
·
Inadequate stakeholder relationship strategy. There is no
structured relationship between the DoL and the
Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to ensure speedy and
successful prosecution of cases brought before courts by labour inspectors;
·
No Inspection and Enforcement Case Management System to
ensure case management which includes registrations, referrals and document
management. The IES branch has been operating without a reliable and efficient
technology for the past few years. This has resulted in unreliable data, poor
reports generated, and poor management of cases and feedback to clients;
·
The IES unit has experienced high staff turnover due to
inspectors leaving for better remuneration packages elsewhere, the Department
has been unable to retain highly skilled and qualified inspectors due to the
low salaries paid compared to market related salaries in the private sector.
This affects performance and visibility of labour inspectors;
·
Lack of a coherent communication strategy to ensure advocacy
and education of employers and employees about labour legislation. This results in employees not knowing their rights on employment
conditions and standards, no respect of worker rights, non-existent health and
safety standards, and employers not knowing their obligations.
According to the Strategic Plan, the
Department has reviewed the job profiles of inspectors and a new structure with
commensurate salaries will be developed and implemented, funds permitting, and
a new cadre of inspectors will be appointed over the years. Further, the
filling of vacancies will be expedited. However, the IES branch did not put
targets on these challenges, and the 2011/12 annual report has also not
reported on these challenges and how they have been addressed thus far.
Furthermore, while the IES programme
is one of the core programmes of the Department, it has not achieved a number
of its set targets. In addition, notwithstanding that the programme has
identified a number of key challenges and risk areas,
these have not been translated into specific targets. Therefore, there are
challenges when analysing actual performance of the programme. It is for that
reason advisable that the IES programme outline targets, especially on
administrative challenges, that hamper on the inspectors’ operations.
Programme
3: Public Employment Services (PES)
Some of the challenges that were
listed by this programme include:
·
Inadequate communication and marketing strategies of the
Department bills and objectives;
·
Inadequate IT support;
·
Resistance to the Employment Services Bill by external
stakeholders;
·
Resistance by private employment agencies to collaborate
with the Department;
·
An incomplete Sheltered Employment Factories’ Business Case.
A number of planned targets were not
achieved under this programme. Part of the challenge relates to legislation
that has not yet been finalised. Therefore, for both the PES and SEF the
biggest challenge has been lack of clarity on the policy framework.
The programme has successfully
registered a total of 553 883 job-seekers on the system. However, the
placement rate has been very low, with the Department reporting a total of
96 505 job-seekers successfully placed or referred to opportunities.
According to the Department, the biggest challenge is the high percentage of
job-seekers with low level skills to match registered opportunities. Another
area of non-achievement is the profiling of job-seekers. The department has not
achieved its target owing largely to the fact that candidates not turning up
for appointments for assessments. The majority of these challenges are long
term, as they reflect socio-economic shortcomings posed by the country’s
economic structural deficiency. Therefore, the Department has to find creative
solutions to these challenges.
Programme
4: Labour Policy and Industrial Relations
In the 2011/12 Strategic Plan of the
Department, the Labour Policy and Labour Relations programme listed the
following challenges:
·
Inadequate data quality
collection and dissemination: To develop and implement data quality policy framework in
line with Statistics South Africa’s (SASQF)
·
Resistance in accepting
research findings by the Department stakeholders: Involve stakeholders in the
planning and implementation process
·
Lack of sufficient
resources, particularly human resources, to cover all the identified employers: sensitise senior
management about the realities of available resources and match the
deliverables to the resources
·
Changes to legislative
changes:
to develop implementation plan with the budget
·
Economic climate
impacting on collective bargaining and labour relations: investigate increase to dispute
resolution subsidy to bargaining and statutory councils
While these challenges
and planned response action were outlined in the 2011 Strategic Plan, the
2011/12 annual report did not report on implementation progress.
The Department had planned to establish provident funds for
domestic and farm workers to improve their conditions and bring them in line
with other sectors. However, this target was not achieved. According to the
Department, National Treasury informed the Department that its target group, in
terms of social security fund, also includes domestic and farm workers.
Treasury also indicated that it had already developed a model within the social
security fund for both sectors. This
report by the Department of Labour raises unanswered questions regarding
whether adequate consultation processes and planning within government
departments are adhered to, especially since the DoL
is the custodian of vulnerable workers and part of its mandate is to provide a
social security net to this group of workers.
5.2. Budget
Expenditure for 2011/2012 Financial Year
The Department was originally
allocated R1 981 458 000 for the 2011/12 financial year. The
allocation included the R599 402 000 million provision in respect of
transfer payments. During the adjustment period, the budget was increased by
1.81%, increasing the total budget to R2 017 383 000 billion.
The total budget utilisation was 99.5%, translating to an underutilisation of
R10 261 million (0.5%).
The Administration programme was
allocated R698 455 million (adjusted appropriation) during the 2011/12
financial year. Following a total of R8 578 million from virements, the
programme’s final appropriation was R700 033 with the variance of
R2 763 million.
The Inspection and Enforcement
programme was allocated R389 290 million during the 2011/12 financial year
(adjusted appropriation). Following the shifting of R3 541 million to the
Administration programme, the final appropriation was R375 749 million,
and the IES spent all its funds.
The Public Employment Services
programme was allocated R324 809 million during the 2011/12 financial
year. A total of R10 million was shifted to the PES from the IES. As a result,
the programme’s final appropriation was R332 719 million. The programme spent
R332 194 million, and the variance was R525 000.
The Labour Policy and Labour
Relations programme received R604 829 million during the 2011/12 financial
year. A total of R2 090 million was shifted to the Administration
programme. As such, the programme’s final appropriation was R601 882
million. The programme spent R594 909 million, and the variance was
R6 973 million.
The Department underutilised its
allocation under the following economic classifications:
·
On compensation of employees, a total of R609 million;
·
On goods and services, a total of R5 953 million;
·
On transfer and subsidies, a total of R620 million;
·
On payment for capital assets, a total of R3 079
million.
The total amount unspent is
R10 261 million. Under spending on Payments for Capital Assets and Goods
and Services is due to less than anticipated orders being processed for the
procurement of new office furniture and equipment.
Under spending on transfers and
subsidies is attributed to less than anticipated expenditure by the National
Councils for the Blind, Physically Disabled and the Deaf Federation of South
Africa.
The Department expected to pay for
South African Police Service (SAPS) VIP Police, National Intelligence Agency
(NIA) and Emergency Medical Services during the 12th International
Labour Organisation (ILO) African Regional Meeting, however, when stakeholders
submitted their claims in terms of services rendered, the final amounts were
much lower than what was initially projected.
On virement
applied:
·
A total of R3 541 million was shifted from the IES
programme to Administration;
·
A total of R2 947 million was shifted from the Labour
Policy and Industrial Relations programme to the Administration programme;
·
A total of R2 090 million was shifted from the Public
Employment Services programme to Administration programme.
In total, R8 578
million was shifted to Administration programme during the 2011/12 financial
year. In addition, a total of R10 million was shifted from the Inspection
and Enforcement Programme to the Public Employment Services programme.
According to the Department, an amount of R10 million was
shifted from Programme 2: Inspection and Enforcement Services (Compensation of
Employees), to Programme 3: Public Employment Services (Transfers and
Subsidies), in order to increase the provision made in respect of the SEF,
aimed at funding operational losses of the SEF.
6. Audit
Performance
For the second
consecutive year, the Department has maintained an unqualified audit opinion.
Although the audit opinion has not remained unqualified on Financial
Statements, Predetermined Objectives remain qualified. In addition, there has
been a regression in terms of Supply Chain Management and the Human Resources. Asset and expenditure management remains
unchanged.
Similar to the previous
financial year, the AGSA has raised a number of areas for concern. These
include:
Leadership
·
The accounting officer did not effectively exercise
oversight responsibility regarding compliance with laws and regulations and
related internal controls relating to assets (including Public Private
Partnerships (PPP)), supply chain management and reporting on predetermined
objectives;
·
Management did not establish an Information Technology (IT)
governance framework that supports and enables the Department to report
efficiently on its activities, including reporting on predetermined objectives
which resulted in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) strategy
for the Department and its entities reporting to it not being developed and
approved; and
·
There was a lack of monitoring policies for entities
reporting to the Department’s executive authority.
Financial and Performance Management
·
Management did not prepare adequate, regular and complete
financial and performance reports that are supported and evidenced by reliable
information;
·
Material differences which were not identified by management
prior to submission of the financial statements were identified between the
financial statements and the supporting schedules for PPP assets, lease
commitments, commitments and accruals; and
·
Further, differences were noted on the figures reported in
the annual performance report and the auditor’s recalculation.
Governance
·
Management did not implement adequate risk management
activities to ensure that IT governance risks of the Department are addressed;
·
The ICT strategy and policies were not adequate; and
·
The business continuity plan which should form a basis for
the IT governance framework to direct the positioning of IT, resource
requirements, risk and internal control management was not developed and
implemented.
The Department has four programmes,
namely: Administration, Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES), Public
Employment Services (PES) and Labour Policy and Labour Market Programmes. In
terms of performance targets, the Department has not been consistent in its
achievement of targets.
Measurability
of targets
·
25% of strategic priorities relevant to the Public
Employment Services Programme were not clear or specific in identifying the
nature and the required level of performance;
·
A total of 28% of the targets related to the IES did not
specify a deadline for delivery;
·
A total of 33% reported indicators relevant to IES were not
accurate when compared to source information. This was due to lack of
monitoring, review, standard operating procedures and information systems for
the recording of actual achievements by senior management; and
·
22% and 47% of the indicators relevant to IES and Public
Employment Services, respectively, were not verifiable in that valid processes, and systems that produce the information on
actual performance did not exist.
Reliability
of Information
·
A total of 47% of the actual reported performance relevant
to the selected programmes was not valid, accurate or complete when compared to
the source information.
Achievement
of Planned Targets
·
Of the total number of planned targets, only 82 were
achieved during the year under review. This represents 59% of the total planned
targets that were achieved during the year under review.
While the Department has
improved in addressing numerous issues related to financial management and
received an unqualified opinion, it still struggles to improve on predetermined
objectives (performance targets) as it received a qualified opinion in this
area.
7. Outstanding Issues to be considered by the Committee
·
During the 2011 BRRR, the Committee recommended that the
Compensation Fund must commission a study on the reasons for reduction in
claims payments to determine whether there is an increase in compliance levels
or, on the other hand, poor reporting from employers. In addition, it
recommended that the study must be able to reflect on sector compliance and
no-compliance in reporting workplace injuries. The Fund should therefore report
to the Committee whether this recommendation has been heeded.
·
The Committee recommended that due to an increasing demand
for the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration’s (CCMA’s) services, the Department and the CCMA should have a
sustainable funding model for the entity. The CCMA and the Department should
report back to the Committee on their achievements in this regard.
8. Committee’s Observations
Programme 1:
Administration
·
The Committee observed a general decline in the Department’s
entities’ supply chain management. Entities such as the Compensation Fund, the
Sheltered Employment Factories, Commission for Conciliation Mediation and
Arbitration (CCMA) have all regressed. As such, irregular expenditure has
increased
·
General negative audit findings from the Department and
entities have been due to lack of leadership and proper oversight
·
Non-alignment of set targets versus budget expenditure on certain programmes
·
The department has high vacancy rate, i.e. 554 vacancies at
the time of reporting.
Programme 2: Inspection
and Enforcement Services
·
There is a high vacancy rate within the IES.
·
There is a high number of targets
which have not been achieved.
·
IES has not set targets on human resources challenges that
continue to face inspectors, and as such it is difficult to evaluate progress
made thus far towards addressing issues raised by inspectors during the
Committee’s previous oversight visits.
Programme 3: Public Employment Services
·
While the programme has successfully registered
approximately 600 000 jobseekers in its database, the placement rate is
very low due to a high number of unskilled jobseekers.
·
Growing trend by employers requesting corporate permits for
low-skills level, especially in the agricultural and transport sectors.
·
A majority of government departments use the print media to
advertise vacancies at a high cost, instead of using the free PES system from
the DoL.
Programme 4: Labour Policy and Industrial Relations
·
The current industrial relations environment in
Compensation Fund (CF)
·
The Fund’s internal audit committee is not fully functional.
·
Previous improvements in the Fund were mainly due to consultants.
However, there was no skills transfer to the CF staff, hence the regression in
performance.
·
By and large, the CF does not have proper skills training
regime.
·
The Fund has not met planned targets. Only eight targets
were met out of 22.
·
There is a high prevalence of fraud by the Fund’s staff and
medical service providers.
·
The number of compensation benefits processed and the number
of payments made during 2011/12 shows a sharp decline, yet there are numerous
cases of people who report frustration with the Fund’s non-delivery service.
Sheltered Employment Factories (SEF)
·
While the SEF received an unqualified report, the Committee
observed that targets were not properly aligned to the Department’s mandate.
·
The SEF achieved only two of their targets, and 78% of these
was not achieved, yet a total of R10 million had been
transferred from IES, being money that was meant for compensation of
inspectors.
·
SEF took long to fill vacancies. The committee was concerned
about the AG’s observations that the entity opted for short-term solutions,
which is appointing consultants instead of recruiting permanent staff.
·
An expense of R30 359 825 was incurred due to
irregular expenditure, R130 374 due to criminal conduct, and
R1 006 852 due to material losses.
·
The is lack of proper monitoring of the SEF supply chain
management, revenue management, expenditure management and human resources, and
this points to lack of leadership within the SEF.
9. Recommendations
Having assessed the performance of the Department of Labour,
the Portfolio Committee on Labour recommends that the Minister of Labour
should:
9.1 Ensure that
the Accounting Officer plays an active role in overseeing performance of the
entities of the Department of Labour, especially the Compensation Fund and the
Sheltered Employment Factories. In doing so, the Department should report
quarterly to the Committee on the Compensation Fund’s activities, starting in
January 2013.
9.2 Take
reasonable measures to improve on performance targets and performance indicators
by ensuring that reported information is measurable and reliable. In doing so,
the Department and entities should report quarterly to the Committee, starting
in January 2013, to ensure that planned targets are achieved, and that
corrective measures are in place on issues identified by the Auditor-General to
ensure increased service delivery.
9.3 Closely
monitor the Public Private Partnership contract of Siemens as it draws to an
end and ensure that there is smooth handover from Siemens to the Department. In
doing so, the Department should submit a progress report, which includes the
financial status, to the Committee by 28 February 2013.
9.4 Ensure that
all performance agreements are signed by all senior managers within the
stipulated deadlines.
9.5 Monitor the
use of consultants and ensure that there are comprehensive programmes aimed at
transferring skills to permanent staff. In doing so, the Department should
report to the Committee bi-annually, starting in June 2013.
9.6 Set an
example and place vacancy adverts on its Public Employment Services system in
order for other government departments to register vacancies as well, starting
with the next list of vacancies and continuing into the future.
9.7 Ensure that
all critical posts are filled within six months in the Department of Labour and
its entities, starting in January 2013.
9.8 Ensure that
the Unemployment Insurance Fund assesses the impact of its investment into
employment programmes to alleviate poverty, inequality and unemployment. In
doing so, the Department should report quarterly to the Committee, starting in
January 2013.
9.9 Ensure that
the Compensation Fund commissions a study on the reasons for the reduction in
claims payments to determine whether this is due to an increase in compliance
levels, or poor reporting from employers, or any other reason. In doing so, the
Department should ensure that the Committee is briefed by 31 January 2013 on
the action plan to be followed so that it can set a deadline for the completion
of the study.
9.10 Ensure that
the Inspection and Enforcement Services branch reports quarterly on the
progress made in addressing the challenges associated with the new structure of
the inspectorate.
10. Conclusion
The Department of Labour
has a critical role to play in order to stabilise the labour market through
sound labour policies that not only ensure peaceful workplace relations but
that also sustain employment creation. As such, the Department has the
responsibility to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in delivering services to
the people through proper oversight over its entities.
Report to be considered.