Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1694247353499.pdf (Fiji)
LIST OF WITNESSES WRITTEN EVIDENCES Report of the Auditor General – 2017 Audit Report on Social Services Sector: (Parliamentary Paper No.

8 of 2019) No.

Witnesses 1.

Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts 2.

Ministry of Health and Medical Services 3.

Department of Housing 4.

Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation 5.

Ministry of Youth and Sports Page No.

3 5 12 24 54 2016-2017 Financial Year: Volume 3 Social Services Sector – Government Ministries and Departments 1.

Head No.
Head No.

21 – Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts 2.

Head No.

22 – Ministry of Health & Medical Services 3.

Head No.

23 – Department of Housing 4.

Head No.

24 – Ministry of Women, Children & Poverty Alleviation 5.

Head No.

25 – Ministry of Youth & Sports MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, HERITAGE AND ARTS Resident Address: Marela House, 19 Thurston Street, Suva, Fiji.

Ph: (679) 3314477 Postal Address: Private Mail Bag, Government Buildings, Suva, Fiji.
Fax: (679) 3303511 File Ref: ESU1/1 Date: 6 September 2019 The Hon A Maharaj Chairperson Public Accounts Committee Parliament Suva Dear Hon Chairperson Clarification of issues: 2017 Audit Report on Social Services Sector Thank you for your letter dated 28 August 2019 which we received on 2 September 2019 on this matter.

Please find below for consideration our responses.

We are available at your convenience to respond to further requests for clarification.

Underutilization of Capital Expenditure Budget 1.


Can you provide an update on the status of cyclone rehabilitation of schools?

Agency CIU (Ministry of Economy) AMU (MEHA) Total 206 150 Completed 156 147 Progress 50 3 These schools are those built back better through Government funding.

They do not include those school re-built by foreign donors.

2.

With the lack of personpower, how is the Ministry planning to tackle this problem in order to complete planned projects?
The Ministry works with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MIT) and the Construction Implementation Unit on TC Winston rehab projects.

Large projects are contracted out, often through CIU and the tender process, to registered contractors while the Ministry engages other small contractors and school management for projects usually under $50,000.

Monitoring remains an issue due to the large scale (over 400 buildings constructed since TC Winston) and the work being around the country.
The remaining projects are scheduled to be completed by the end of December 2019.

Part of the perceived delays are also linked to budget allocations being spread over a number of financial years.

3.

What is the average turnaround time for the vetting of the Ministry’s Memorandum of Agreement by SG’s Office?

Turnaround time varies depending on the complexity of the MOA and the workload of the SG’s office.
The SG’s office aims for 3 to 5 days but in some instances, it can be 2 ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO BE ADDRESSED TO THE PERMANENT SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION, HERITAGE & ARTS weeks or up to 4 weeks or longer as the MOA has to go to the Ministry of Economy (budget office and CIU) before they are returned.

- 2 - 4.

What approved building plans were followed in building new structures for schools damaged in the tropical cyclone?
How did the Ministry monitor that this was complied with in all projects carried out during the rehabilitation process?

There were differing approaches:   Some contracts were based on the design developed and built by the same In the case of CIU, plans were approved by relevant specialists contractor.

 Some were designed by consultants but built by other construction companies.

 For the Ministry, we used standard Ministry plans or in some schools, we used standard MIT plans.
Monitoring was done by CIU for projects under its auspices and by the Ministry with MIT for those under the Ministry.

For those projects being managed by some donor partners, they usually made arrangements for monitoring.

Unbudgeted Expenditure 5.

On the issue of unbudgeted expenditures has this issue been rectified or how is the Ministry planning to bring in these capital projects into the plans of the Ministry?

Capital projects are always an expensive item.


The Ministry submits a list of projects in priority order but due to limitations in funding, fewer projects than desired are approved and that is the list the Ministry implements.

There are inevitably accidents which sometimes lead to the Ministry adding a project e.g.

a fire at a school.
a fire at a school.

The Ministry usually is advised by the Ministry of Economy to source such funding from within its current budget through virements and this leads to unbudgeted expenditure.

The Ministry is working on an infrastructure audit to be able to provide an evidence based list of schools requiring assistance.
In cooperation with the urban planning project being led by the Ministry of Local Government, the Ministry will also begin to develop an infrastructure plan to guide future infrastructure investment.

This should assist in more accurate budgeting.

Building Grant 6.

Has the Ministry implemented audit recommendations?

Yes, the Ministry has implemented the audit recommendations and continues to monitor the process.

As indicated, the Ministry will respond to any further clarification requested.
Yours faithfully ALISON BURCHELL Permanent Secretary c.c.

Ms M Konrote Permanent Secretary: Ministry of Economy Management Comments to Standing Committee on Public Accounts 2017 Audit Report on Social Services Sector Department of Housing Head 23 2017 1 Section 23: Department of Housing 1.

Statement of Losses i) .

What were the reasons for funds under "R" not released?

Was it because the Department did not provide required documents?

Please provide evidence.


As part of the Departments approved budget for 2016-2017 period, the all the expenditure items under the Operating Grants (SEG 6), Capital Construction (SEG8) and Capital Grants and Transfers (SEG 10) were held as restricted funds "R" under Ministry of Economy.
The Department requested the funding via Requisition to Incur Expenditure (RIE) for the following expenditure SEGs: Operating Grants (SEG 6) The Department derequisitioned sum of $1,000,000 via RIE application under Public Rental Board subsidy vote and released to subsidy component of the government to Public Rental Board as per signed operating grant agreement.
Capital Construction (SEG8) The Department derequisitioned sum of $5,498,725.92 via RIE applications were submitted based on percentage of work completed under the following projects namely; 1. squatter upgrade and resettlement ($2,122,851.73), 2.

City Wide Squatter upgrade project ($390,735.09); and, 3.

Lagilagi Housing Development Programme - phase 2 (2,985,139.10).
Capital Grants and Transfers (SEG 10) Financial Year 2016 to 2017 utilisation for SEG 10 under Capital Grants & Transfers reflected the following :-  Budget Estimate  Appropriation Changes  Revised Estimate  Actual Expenditure  Lapsed Appropriation - - - - - 20,889,550 (3,253,802) 17,635,748 8,355,155 9,280,593 The details of the different Capital Grants are as follows:- # Capital Grant Budget ($) Revised Budget ($) Actual Expenditure ($) Variance ($) Remarks 2 1 HART 500,000.00 500,000.00 287,500.00 2 HA Social Policy 500,000.00 500,000.00 0 341,332.00 341,332.00 207,945.21 3 Sustainable Income Generating Project 212,500.00 The Programme involved construction and renovation of The HART Homes.
delay was due to the unfavorable weather (Winston conditions Cyclone) where there was a shortage of building materials.

500,000.00 Housing Authority was in the processes of reviewing the Social Policy Housing to the grant reduce assistance ratio.

hence, there was no submission for expenditure.

133,388.79 The Programme was only focusing on the monitoring of the existing project and there were no grant release to the new projects to rehabilitation process for Cyclone Winston.
due 4 First Home Buyers 10,000,000.00 6,746,198.38 3,340,000.00 3,408,196.38 The Programme is demand driven and for the requisition was expenditure on based applications received.

5 Housing 500,000.00 500,000.00 245,000.00 Assistance to Fire Victims 255,000.00 The on Programme the depends number of applications received from fire victims.
6 Town Wide 4,000,000.00 4,000,000.00 525,601.19 3,474,398.81 The Programme looks informal after settlements and there 26 3 for processes are land involved on lease development tender accusations, the process ongoing informal settlement upgrading programs.

the main focus during the year was the rehabilitation process for cyclone Winston.

7 PRB Simla Project 2,598,218.00 2,598,218.00 1299,109.00 1,299,109.00 The budget for PRB Simla Project was 50% Tender utilized.
process the building works was assessed where 6 for companies bid the No tender.

decision made as none 6 companies met the requirement.

the for of 8 Housing Authority Matavolivoli 2,450,000.00 2,450,000.00 2,450,000.00 0 Capital Grant 100% utilised TOTAL 20,889,550.00 17,635,748.38 8,355,155.40 9,282,592.98 ii) What action has the Ministry taken to ensure that errors like negative expenditures do not re- occur in future?
As a way forward to alleviate this problem the Ministry is in a process of recruiting 3 Accounts Personnel in Accounts Section to increase the staffing capacity to effectively and efficiently provide the financial support services to avoid such anomaly.

The other measures that the Ministry has taken onboard are as follows: 1.

Identify the anomalies in all underline reconciliations and undertake the adjustment exercise to ensure the reconciliation report are true & fair 2.
Provision of FMIS training for Accounts Personnel 3.

In house capacity building training to motivate staffs on procedures and processes pertaining to reconciliations.

4 4.

All underline reconciliations are to be prepared on a monthly basis 5.

All reconciliations prepared are verified and signed copy of the reconciliation is submitted to Ministry of Economy 6.

Closely monitor the works of the subordinates to ensure the procedures and processes are adhered to at all times.

2.
2.

Timeliness of draft Financial Statements What was the reason for delay in submission of draft financial statements and what strategies has been put in place by the Ministry to ensure timely submission of draft financial statements for audit, timely provision of management comments and signing of financial statements?

The Ministry had prepared draft financial statement based on the figures extracted from FMIS system after the closure of accounting period.
Due to shortage of staffs in the Accounts Section then, the adjustments for misallocation of expenditures and variances were not cleared from the underline accounts on a timely basis as a result draft financial statement were submitted in late, followed by management comments and signing of agency financial statements accordingly.
As a way forward to alleviate this problem the Ministry is in a process of recruiting 3 Accounts Personnel in Accounts Section to increase the staffing capacity to effectively and efficiently provide the financial support services to avoid such anomaly.

The other measures that the Ministry has taken onboard are as follows: 1.

Identify the anomalies in all underline reconciliations and undertake the adjustment exercise to ensure the reconciliation report are true & fair 2.
Provision of FMIS training for Accounts Personnel 3.

In house capacity building training to motivate staffs on procedures and processes pertaining to reconciliations.

4.

All underline reconciliations are to be prepared on a monthly basis 5.

All reconciliations prepared are verified and signed copy of the reconciliation is submitted to Ministry of Economy 6.

Closely monitor the works of the subordinates to ensure the procedures and processes are adhered to at all times.
The process will be up to date with effect from the 2019-2020 financial year statement.

3.

Internal Control and Governance system What is the update on the preparation and submission of annual reports?

The department is in consultation with Ministry of Local Government staffs to complete the pending annual reports from 2015-2018 of the department when they were under the Ministry.

A Committee has been formed to compile the pending Annual Reports from 2015 till to date.
The Permanent Secretaries are closely monitoring the update of pending reports.

5 4.

Anomalies in the Recruitment of Senior Consultant Engineer i) What was the reason for such a short term engagement of the engineer and what works were carried out by the Engineer?

There is a skills shortage of Consultant Engineer in the Construction Sector in Fiji.
The Senior Consultant Engineer was engaged by the department initially for period of 3 months commencing on 18/6/2017 and his contract agreement were further extended till 26/3/2019.

The Senior Consultant Engineer provides Consultancy Services to the 3 Departments of the Ministry.

The said consultant’s agreement were further extended by the Department till 26/3/2020.

The works were carried out by the Engineer?
The following projects is/was handled by the Engineer under the Informal Settlements projects: CAUBATI INFORMAL SQUATTER SETTLEMENT (PHASE 1 AND 2) - 248 Lots / 8.7 Ha NADONUMAI - 376 households / 23.16 Ha WAIDAMUDAMU - 270 Lots / 13.23 Ha WAKANISILA - 124 households / 7.77 Ha SASAWIRA - 160 Lots / 4.00 Ha RIVER ROAD - 14.13 Ha QAUIA - 443 Lots / 26.5 Ha The following projects is/was handled by the Engineer under the Local Government projects: LANDSCAPING – CBD AREA, NADI URBAN DESIGN - SAVUSAVU URBAN DESIGN and TRAFFIC PLANNING OF LABASA CBD AREA 5.
Incorrect posting of expenditures i) What was the reason for making final payment of $245,380 before the expiry of the defect liability period?

Notice of Stop Work Issued to Contractor by Project Architect The Project Architect, APPi Design on 20 th January 2017 had issued a Notice of Stop Work to the Contractor: Fortech Construction Limited due to the Peoples Community Network was still working on obtaining Funds of $3,253,801.62(VIP) from the Ministry.

(Please refer to Attachment 1- Site Instruction No.
10.)

The Addendum to the Grant Agreement was signed between the Ministry and PCN on 30 January 2017 for the approval of funding of $3,253,801.62(VIP) which was vired from the 1st Time Home 6 Owners Grant budgeted of $10.0 million(VIP).

(Please refer to Attachment 2- Addendum to the Grant Agreement.)

The final payment of $245,380.16 was part of this funding of $3,253,801.62(VIP) which was vired from 1 st Time Home Owners Grant.

(Please Attachment 3 – Virement Approval.)


The Virement of Funds of $3,253,801.62(VIP) from 1st Time Home Buyers Grant was approved by Ministry of Economy on 25th November 2016 as Budgeted only for 2016-17 Financial Year.
Payment Record of RIEs 1 st, 2nd, 3 rd & Final Payments The 1 st Payment of $800,000.00 was paid to Peoples Community Network on 10 February 2017 and the Official Receipt with the Acquittals was submitted by Peoples Community Network, and the Issued Payment Certificates 13, 14 & 15 was submitted by APPi Design, and; the Progress Reports 28, 29, 30 & 31 was submitted by Fortech Construction Ltd.
The 2 nd Payment of $1,104,210.73 was paid to Peoples Community Network on 10 March 2017 and the Official Receipt with the Acquittals was submitted by Peoples Community Network, and; the Issued Payment Certificate 16 was submitted by APPi Design, and; the Progress Report 32 was submitted by Fortech Construction Ltd.
The 3 rd Payment of $1,104,210.73 was paid to Peoples Community Network on 5 July 2017 and the Official Receipt with the Acquittals was submitted by Peoples Community Network, and, the Issued Payment Certificate 16 was submitted by APPi Design, and; the Progress Report 33 was submitted by Fortech Construction Ltd.
The Final Payment of $245,380.16 was paid to Peoples Community Network on 5 July 2017 and the Official Receipt with the Acquittals was submitted by Peoples Community Network, and, the Issued Payment Certificate 16 was submitted by APPi Design, and; the Progress Report 33 was submitted by Fortech Construction Ltd. ii) Has the outstanding works (community hall and kindergarten) been completed?
Commitment of Funding The Peoples Community Network had committed to seeking for funding outside of government for the construction of a Community Hall/Office and Kindergarten as stated in the submission of Paper on Options dated 10 January 2015.

The Peoples Community Network had not secured funding outside government outstanding work (community hall and kindergarten).

nor completed 6.
nor completed 6.

Waiver of Tender i) Did the contractor complete works in the electricity reticulation of Ledrusasa Squatter Upgrading Residential project?

Yes, the work were completed by the Contractor.

ii) What actions has been taken by the Department to ensure that these issues do not reoccur?

7 The Ministry has implemented measures and thorough checks to reinforce the process so there is no recurrence of the same.

7.
7.

Absence of underline Accounts Reconciliations Please provide an update on the Drawings account and Revolving Fund account (RFA) reconciliations?

Please provide evidence?

The department completed both reconciliations for 2016-2017 period.

the Drawings Account and Revolving Fund Account In 2018, as a way forward, the Ministry with the assistance from FMIS Division of Ministry of Economy had undertaken the reconciliation exercise from the inception of the department's Trust Fund Account.
The said account was reconciled and adjusted and the unsubstantiated variances that had resulted from previous years misposting had been submitted via a Memorandum for Book Entry Adjustment to Ministry of Economy on 14/10/2018.

On 16th August 2019, the Ministry obtained confirmation from Ministry of Economy that request for book entry adjustment is in progress.

8 Ministry of Housing & Community Development Supplementary Response: 2016-17 Audit Report on Social Services Sector (PP No.

08 of 2019) 1.
08 of 2019) 1.

Statement of Losses Can the Department provide evidence of the Responses received for 1-5 on actions taken by the Ministry to ensure that errors such as negatives expenditures do not re-occur in future?

Supplementary Response In 2019-2020, the Ministry for Housing & Community Development has established its own Accounts Unit.

Currently, the Ministry has fully fledged accounts unit and has streamlined all the processes of the Ministry.

The current accounts unit comprises of: 1.


Senior Accounts Officer- Salesh Naidu 2.

Assistant Accounts Officer- Nileshni Devi 3.

Clerical Officer- Danish A Ram EDP No.

63422 EDP No.96142 EDP No.99372 With the current team the Ministry’s utilization for operating and capital grant release has significantly improved.

All the RIE submissions made for the current financial year’s operating and capital grant was approved by Ministry of Economy.

All reconciliations are up to date.

2.


Timelines of draft Financial Statements Can the Department provide conformation and evidence on whether it has recruited (3) Accounts Staff outlined in the response and please provide evidence of the anomalies identified as of date?

Supplementary Response The three (3) Accounts staff recruited are listed below: 1.

Senior Accounts Officer- Salesh Naidu 2.

Assistant Accounts Officer- Nileshni Devi 3.

Clerical Officer- Danish A Ram EDP No.


63422 EDP No.96142 EDP No.99372 3.

Internal Control & Good Governance What is the expected date of the Annual Report of the Ministry of Housing and Community Development to be released and what is the progress on this?
Supplementary Response In the Financial Year; 2016-17; the Department of Housing was under the Ministry of Local Government, Housing & Environment, the Report is currently being complied, and shall be submitted to the Ministry of Local Government by 31st July, 2020.

1 4.

Anomalies in the requirement of Senior Engineer Consultant Can the Ministry clarify the statement and identify whether this is factually correct – “There is a skills shortage of Consultant Engineer in the Construction Sector in Fiji”.
Supplementary Response Yes; In particular as relating to the Capital; Squatter Upgrading; Municipal Urban Designs; Master Planning; Environment Landfill Projects undertaken by the Ministry of Local Government, Housing & Environment in 2016-17; the Senior Technical Consultant was engaged to assist in providing professional technical design oriented advice and guidance to the Department of Local Government, Housing and the Department of Environment.
The Senior Technical Consultant is a qualified Architect and Urban Designer from Premier Institutions of India and has more than 45 years International Experience.

The area of urban development & scheme planning is extremely shortage of skills and those available are operating from their own private practice and come at a extremely high costs.

Hence, not financially viable when handling multiple projects.

.

5.
.

5.

Incorrect Posting of Expenditures Please provide an update on the status of Lagilagi Settlement.

Supplementary Response The Public Enquiry on Lagilagi Settlement has been completed by Fiji Competition and Consumer Council and a case has been filed for charges by FCCC.

The Ministry is currently compiling a Information Paper on Recommendations and is working on the transfer of Leases from Peoples Community Network to the Ministry.
A detailed report for taking over of the project is expected to be submitted to Cabinet soon.

6.

Waiver of Tender Can the Ministry provide a copy of the Certificate of Completion on the works carried out in the electricity reticulation of Ledrusasa Squatter Upgrading Project.

Supplementary Response The Electricity reticulation works of Ledrusasa Squatter Upgrading Project has been completed and the copy of the Certificate of Completion is submitted below as Attachment 1.
2 Attachment 1: Certificate of Completion 3 MINISTRY OF WOMEN, CHILDREN AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION 5th Floor Civic Towers, Victoria Parade PO Box 14068, Suva, Fiji Island Tel: (679)3312 199 Fax: (679) 3303829 Website: www.welfare-women.gov.fj Honorable Alvick Maharaj The Chairperson Public Accounts Committee RE: Response to Queries and Recommendations of the Public Accounts Committee in Relation to the 2017 Audit Report on the Social Services Sector Dear Sir, I wish to thank the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for giving the Ministry for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation an opportunity to provide responses in relation to the comments and queries of the PAC on the 2017 Audit Report on the Social Services Sector.
We are pleased to submit the responses from the Ministry in the enclosed attachment for the reference of the PAC.

We will be happy to respond to any further queries that the PAC may have in relation to this submission, for which you may contact me on email jennifer.poole@govnet.gov.fj or phone 9991184.

The response is kindly forwarded for your further action.
Yours faithfully Ms. Jennifer Poole Permanent Secretary for Women, Children & Poverty Alleviation All correspondence to be addressed to Permanent Secretary for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE 2017 AUDIT REPORT ON SOCIAL SERVICES SECTOR NO ISSUE 1 What Progress has been made to resolve the emphasis of matter paragraphs raised in the audit report?
MINISTRY’S COMMENTS The Ministry managed to complete the Board of Survey and have forwarded the report to the Ministry of Economy.

We are currently awaiting their confirmation.

2 Annual Board of Survey not conducted i) What was the reason ii) for not carrying out the Board of Survey?

Has the Board of Survey being completed?

3 Missing Payment Voucher and other Records What changes has the Ministry implemented to tackle the issue of missing records?
i) ii) The Board of Survey was not carried out due to staff shortage in Corporate Services and also the high turnover of staff.

Board of Survey has been conducted for the period 2018-2019 and has been submitted to Ministry of Economy.

As mentioned above, MWCPA is now awaiting confirmation on the disposal of items.

The Ministry has identified an officer who is solely responsible for the Payment Vouchers.

This will ensure quality management and better focus in this area.
4 Fixed Asset and Expandable Items Register not maintained up-to-date The Fixed Asset Register has been completed and is now being maintained by Corporate Services Department of MWCPA.

What is the progress on the updating of the Fixed Asset Register (FAR) for the Ministry?

5 Does the Ministry have a timeline for the completion of FAR?
Anomalies in the Social Welfare Program i) Does Ministry verify with FNPF to establish that the Social Welfare Scheme i) The Ministry had in 2016 signed an MOA with FNPF for the sharing of information and for assistance in the verification of social protection applications.

We had started with the verification too.


However, it was noted that the data that was sent to All correspondence to be addressed to Permanent Secretary for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation ii) applicants are not in FNPF records receving Pension?

If Yes, where is this evidence in the individuals file?

If not, how then does the Ministry carry out this verification?

iii) What is the update on the Ministry in the maintenance of individual case files?
6 Pending Applications What strategies has Ministry implemented to ensure that applications are processed in a timely manner?

FNPF could not be verified due to reasons such as birth certificate number from the new extract no being captured in the FNPF system for those holding onto the old copies of the birth certificate at that time.

Also names of some women changed after marriage.

We were requested to provide maiden names of female recipients.
These were provided but it still could not be matched in their system.

ii) Thus, the Ministry resorted to asking the recipients to provide a verification letter from FNPF to validate that they are not beneficiaries of the superannuation.

iii) The Ministry is trying its best to ensure the safe keeping and maintenance of individual case files.
The Ministry has procured new filing cabinets for the storing of these case files but again faces the challenge of office space, especially with the large volume of (Total number of recipients -89,283) cases to maintain in these file cabinets.

The Ministry is focused in ensuring that all applications are processed in time.

However, there are several issues that hinders some of these applications not to be completed within the time frame given as in the SOPs.
One of the challenges, especially for the Poverty Benefit Scheme is the home visit which is a requirement for the processing of the application.

In maritime and rural communities, this poses as a challenge for the completion of a case, especially with the lack of appropriate transportation means at all times.
The other challenge is the submission of incomplete documents, especially the Birth Certificates which is a requirement because the birth registration number is used as the primary key to process the application in the system.

Without it, the case cannot be processed.

All correspondence to be addressed to Permanent Secretary for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation In other occasions applications were submitted through 3rd parties, many times with incomplete documents.
Therefore, it is quite a challenge to try and trace the applicant when there is no contact.

There were situations where documents were lost or misplaced by officers because of the volume of applications that come in every day and also during handing over from one officer to another which add up to the delays.
In trying to clear the pending cases, the Ministry: i) ii) iii) conducts sweeps in the divisions, bringing officers from the District offices and working together in a district to clear the pending cases before moving to the other district (For example, officers from Ba and Tavua working together with officers in Rakiraki to clear the pending cases in Ra before they move to Tavua and then to Ba, however, this is a costly exercise.

Uses the REACH program to reach out to the rural and maritime communities.
Has reviewed its process and has amended its procedures to fast track the processing of these applications, for example, with the Care and Protection allowance for children in poor families which in the past required a home visit, has now been amended with only birth certificates and school letters required now for the processing of the application.
With the number of cases that were identified to be late in processing, the number of cases completed on time speaks volumes of the efforts that the Ministry is doing to ensure that the time frames are met.
In the past financial year (2018- 2019), the Ministry received a total of 20,099 new applications with the completion of 21,725 cases approved, (with a carry forward of 1,626 pending cases from the previous year) and a pending of 3,648 to be addressed in this new All correspondence to be addressed to Permanent Secretary for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation financial year.

7 Anomalies in hire of vehicles i) Why is Ministry still hiring vehicles despite being provided with leased vehicles?
ii) Why was the hired vehicle taken out by a person who was not an employee of the Ministry?

Is this allowed in Ministry?

iii) Why was the Police report not obtained for the accident vehicle used by the Ministry?

iv) What action has been taken by the Ministry to ensure that the issue above do not reoccur?

8 Maintenance of Running sheets i) for rented vehicle ii) i) Why wasn’t a running sheet maintained for a hired land cruiser?
Can the Ministry explain the whereabouts of the vehicle for the 9 days (24/12/16-03/01/17) mentioned in the report?

ii) iii) i. ii.

iii.

iv.

The leased vehicles were given to the Ministry in 2018.

The hire of the vehicles were used during the Homes Care Initiative The transport policy is the same throughout Government.

This was an oversight by the Ministry and it was brought to our attention after the incident had happened.
The Transport Officer at that time did not consult her supervisor at for advice but acted on her own accord.

We have since terminated her from the Ministry.

The Ministry notes that the processes were not followed in regards to the accident reports.
The appointment of a Transport Officer who follows the processes through and always refers to the Transport Policy and also seeks the advise of his supervisors before he acts on issues he is not familiar with While the policy is quite clear, we note the non-compliance on our part.

We did inform the Senior Officer who was driving the hired vehicle at the time.

However the running sheets were never filled.


Considering there were no running sheets provided, we were not able to ascertain the whereabouts of the vehicle as it was driven by a very Senior Officer of the Ministry.

The Ministry was not able to convene an investigation of the vehicle iii) What is the status of the internal investigation carried out by the Ministry on this?

Anomalies noted in SLG Accounts 9 The Ministry had requested for additional staff in 2019-20 FY budget and 4 posts was approved.
All correspondence to be addressed to Permanent Secretary for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation What strategy does the Ministry have to overcome the issue of shortage of staff to prepare the account reconciliations?

10 Stale cheques not journalized from Drawings Account Has Ministry journalized these stale cheques?

11 Anomalies in the Revolving Fund Account(RFA) i) Has Ministry identified all those officers who have taken advances from Ministry and have yet to acquit.
ii) What is the status of the preparation of reconciliation of the RFA?

12 Unsubstantiated Operating Trust balances i) What is the status of the reconciliation of the operating trust accounts?

ii) Has the Ministry being able to identify the subsidiary account that make up the total operating trust fund accounts?

13 Absence of Risk Management Policy What is the progress on the development of the Risk Management Policy?
Since MOE was handling the Drawings account, stale cheques was journalize towards the end of the Financial Year.

i) ii) i) ii) iii) The Ministry is in the process of identifying the balances in the RFA but recovery of salary is currently being imposed to officers for not acquitting on time.

Preparation of RFA reconciliation has been updated.

The Ministry has identified most mispostings done and have rectified it.

The reconciliation of the Operating Trust accounts is up to date.
The Ministry has identified all subsidiary account with its separate outstanding balances.

The Ministry is in the process of developing a Risk Management Policy.

The Ministry has however developed a Risk Management Matrix which is captured in the Ministry’s Costed Operational Plan 2019-2020.

All correspondence to be addressed to Permanent Secretary for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation All correspondence to be addressed to Permanent Secretary for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation