Click to edit Master subtitle style Consolidated M&E Report on the Departments of Human Settlements (Housing), 2009/2010 Evaluation Cycle Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration 22 June 2011 STRUCTURE OF PRESENTATION Background and purpose Ranking of the departments Comparison between previous and 2009/10 assessments Performance per principle highest three and lowest three Conclusion 22 BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The aim of the consolidated report on the housing sector was to provide an overview of the national departments and the nine provincial housing departments performance against the Constitutional values and principles listed in section 195 of the Constitution. 33 44 Name of Department Performance Band Excellent 81%-100% Good 61%-80% Adequate 41%-60% Poor 21%-40% No performance 0% - 20% Average Western Cape National Gauteng Northern Cape KwaZulu-Natal Limpopo Mpumalanga Free State Eastern Cape North West Total11620 RANKING OF THE DEPARTMENTS COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PREVIOUS AND THE 2009/10 EVALUATION CYCLES FOR 7 DEPARTMENTS 55 Previous Evaluation Cycles = 33% (Poor performance) 2009/10 Evaluation Cycle = 53% (Adequate performance) Five of the seven departments have improved their performance by 10% or more: Western Cape from good (72%) to excellent performance (86%). National from 63% to 76% which is good performance. Northern Cape from poor (36%) to adequate performance (55%). Mpumalanga from poor (23%) to adequate performance (43%). Free State from poor (22%) to adequate performance (42%). Of concern is the 2 departments where no real improvement in performance was noted: Limpopo declined from 52% to 49% which is still adequate performance. North West remained at poor performance with a rating of 32%. COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PREVIOUS AND THE 2009/10 EVALUATION CYCLES FOR 7 DEPARTMENTS 66 PERFORMANCE PER PRINCIPLE 77 PERFORMANCE PER PRINCIPLE Departments scored the highest against the principles of accountability (75%), transparency (68%) and development orientation(67%). Departments scored the lowest against the principles of good human resource management practices (39%), Representivity (37%) and fairness (31%). Some pertinent issues about these 6 principles are highlighted in the next slides. 88 ACCOUNTABILITY Constitutional Principle and Value Performance Indicator Standards Accountability Value: Public administration must be accountable. Adequate internal financial controls & performance management are exerted over all departmental programmes. FPPs, based on risk assessments, are in place & implemented. Internal financial controls are adequate and effective. A performance management (M&E) system on all programmes is in operation. FPPs are based on a thorough risk assessment. FPPs are in place, comprehensive, appropriate, & implemented. Key staff for investigating of fraud, are operational. 99 ACCOUNTABILITY The average score for the ten departments is 75%. 7 of the 10 departments received unqualified audit opinions. The departments use the Housing Subsidy System to monitor performance, even though KZN said they experienced challenges with using the system as a project management tool and the Northern Cape said the system is highly bureaucratic (to may elaborate procedures). There is an 86% compliance with the requirements of a good fraud prevention plan, even though five of the plans did not mention specific strategies for housing projects. Although most departments do produce monthly management reports, few management teams provide feedback on these reports. The ability to respond to problems in a timely fashion is, therefore, severely curtailed by such an omission. Given the limitations in the form of feedback on management reports, the issue of utilising performance information and promoting evidence-based decision-making, therefore, remains a challenge. 1010 TRANSPARENCY Constitutional Principle and Value Performance Indicator Standards Value: Transparency must be fostered by providing the public with timely, accessible and accurate information. Departmental AR The departmental Annual Report (AR) complies with NTs guideline on annual reporting. The AR is attractive, clearly presented & well written in simple accessible language. The content of the AR covers at least 90% of the areas prescribed by NT & the DPSA. The AR clearly report on performance against predetermined outputs in at least 66% of the programmes listed. Access to Information The Department complies with the provisions of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA). At least one deputy information officer with duly delegated authority exists. A manual that complies with the requirements of the PAIA is in place. Systems for managing requests for access to information are in place. 1111 TRANSPARENCY The average score for the ten departments is 68%. Departments complied with the key requirement for annual reporting, namely that performance should be reported against predetermined objectives. More meaningful information around housing delivery could have been provided, for example: The number of houses completed reported separately from those under construction The proportion and number of properties that have been transferred to their occupiers The value of the housing Norms around average construction time Compliance with PAIA still not satisfactory. 1212 DEVELOPMENT ORIENTATION Constitutional Principle and Value Performance Indicator Standards Value: Public administration must be development- oriented. The Department is effectively involved in programmes/ projects that aim to promote development and reduce poverty. Beneficiaries play an active role in the governance, designing and monitoring of projects. A standardised project plan format is used. Poverty reduction projects are aligned with IDPS. Organisational learning takes place. Projects are successfully initiated and/or implemented. 1313 DEVELOPMENT ORIENTATION The average score for the ten departments is 67%. Departments generally complied with the PSCs standards. Seven of the ten departments could show beneficiary participation in the design and implementation of projects. Project management was generally of an acceptable standard. IDPs were considered by 8 of the ten departments. Housing departments do not optimally use the information derived from municipal IDPs. For example, In Zululand the housing committee identified projects in their wards worth R800 million, whilst the budget for the province as a whole was R800 million highlighting the importance of having provincial government officials participating in municipal technical planning committees. Six of the ten departments had a procedure in place to record lessons learnt and applying those lessons to future projects. 1414 DEVELOPMENT ORIENTATION Government has set development objectives for the housing programme beyond the mere provision of a house. Housing values have increased by between 13 and 57% between 2003 and 2008, depending on the area. About jobs have been created over the last ten years. Slightly more female-headed households benefited from the programme than male-headed households. For some beneficiaries the experience of formalisation has increased their financial burden, since they must spend their limited resources paying rates and services. It has even been argued by some analysts that informal housing may provide financially more viable options for the poor 1515 GOOD HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES Constitutional Principle and Value Performance Indicator Standards Value: Good human resource management and career development practices, to maximize human potential, must be cultivated. Recruitment Vacant posts are filled in a timely and effective manner. A recruitment policy is in place. Vacant posts are filled within 90 days. Regular management reporting on recruitment is done. Skills Development The Department complies with the provisions of the Skills Development Act. A skills development plan, based on a skills needs analysis is in place. Activities planned for are implemented. The results achieved through skills development are monitored & recorded. 1616 GOOD HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES The average score for the ten departments is 39%. There was a limited relationship between the existence of a Work Place Skills Plan (WPSP) and the implementation thereof. Only half of the departments managed to implement their planned skills development plans. Only Western Cape assesses the impact of skills development on service delivery. None of the departments met the PSCs compliance standard of 90 days to fill staff vacancies. It takes the departments of housing on average 339 calendar days to fill a post. The lack of effective monitoring of the recruitment process is one of the possible reasons for the delay in filling posts. The PSC views efficiency in the filling of posts as an indicator of the efficiencies of many other processes. In other words, if the recruitment process is not efficient, many other administrative processes are probably also inefficient. 1717 REPRESENTIVITY Constitutional Principle and Value Performance Indicator Standards Value: Public administration must be broadly representative of SA people, with employment and personnel manage- ment practices based on ability objectivity fairness and the need to redress the imbalances of the past to achieve broad representation. The Department is representative of the South African people and is implementing diversity management measures. Employment Equity policies & plans are in place and reported upon. All representivity targets are met. Diversity mana- gement measures are implemented. 1818 REPRESENTIVITY The average score for the ten departments is 37%. The main reason for the poor performance is that two of the three employment equity targets, namely the targets for women and people with disabilities have not been met. None of the departments has met the new target for women at senior management level of 50% by March All of them have, however, exceeded the previous target of 30%. 1919 FAIRNESS Constitutional Principle and Value Performance Indicator Standards Impartiality & fairness Value: Services must be provided impartially, fairly, equitably and without bias. There is evidence that the Department follows the prescribed procedures of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA) when making administrative decisions. All decisions are taken in accordance with prescribed legislation/policies and in terms of delegated authority. All decisions are justified and fair considering the evidence submitted in this regard. The procedures required in the PAJA in communicating administrative decisions are duly followed. 2020 FAIRNESS The average score for the ten departments is 31%. The main reason for the poor performance is that 7 out of ten departments did not submit information for assessment against this principle. The key administrative decision affecting the public is the allocation of houses. This is many times experienced as unfair by beneficiaries. This decision is, however, not taken by the departments, but by municipalities. One would have expected though that the provincial departments would have taken steps to ensure that the municipalities comply with PAJA. 2121 FAIRNESS Fairness requires that policies like eligibility for services should be applied evenly across the country. E.g. allocation of houses: The following factors determine the allocation of housing: Whether a housing project is undertaken in the area where the beneficiary lives. This requires coordination between spatial planning and planning for housing. However, many housing projects undertaken in areas of low level of need as well as low development potential. The beneficiarys position on the waiting list. The vulnerability of the beneficiary The responsibility to apply the above criteria rests with municipalities. Given the capacity challenges of municipalities the criteria are many times not applied evenly, fairly and transparently. 2222 CONCLUSION The picture which is emerging is one of departments struggling to institutionalise sound administrative practice, which will allow them to manage towards and realize proper policy outcomes. Encouraging is that there was substantial improvement in performance. Five of seven departments that were re-assessed improved their performance by more than 10%. The challenge facing the public housing sector is not a lack of instruments, mechanisms and institutions to manage policy outcomes, but the institutionalisation of systems and a performance culture, as well as the capacity and will of all staff members to implement the policies and systems. 2323 THANK YOU!