Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697752224751.pdf (Fiji)
LIST OF WITNESSES WRITTEN EVIDENCE Consolidated Reponses – Compliance Audit Report (PP No.

269 of 2020) No.

1.

Ministry/Department Ministry of Lands & Mineral Resources - Commencement of Quarry Development Projects and Appointment of Certified Foreman-In-Charge Ministry of Economy 2.

- Government Payroll System - Financial Management Information System (FMIS) 3.

Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts - Fiji Education Management Information System (FEMIS) Page No.
2 11 36 MINISTRY OF LANDS AND MINERAL RESOURCES RESOURCES Management Responses to PAC Questions in Relation to the Compliance Audit carried out by Office of the Auditor General (OAG) on the Commencement of quarry Development Project and Appointment of Certified Foreman- In - Charge Questio n No.

1.

2.

3 PAC Questions Management Responses Has the Ministry of Lands & Department of Mineral Resources been able to rectify all the issues raised by the Office of the Auditor General (OAG)?
What measure have been put in place to assist in better coordinating and sharing of Information with other related agencies?

Has there been any progress made to the review of the Quarries Act 1939 or other legislations related to quarrying?

If not, explain the reasons The Mineral Resources Department has been able to rectify around 90% of the issues highlighted by the OAG.
Sporadic meetings have been undertaken with other relevant agencies in terms of information sharing and MRD has commenced discussions with FRCS for an MOU for sharing of information in relation to Importation of Mobile Crushers.

However, with the other agencies like TLTB, and DoE who are the other approving agencies for the development of Quarries, MRD relies on the individual Department’s professional courtesy to inform the Department of any new or potential Quarry developments.
At the moment the focus of the Department is the Review of the Mining Act which has been approved by Cabinet.

However the Department has had discussions with the UNDP coordinator for the NDM project for the possibility of the NDM project or UNDP to assist the Department to conduct a Gap Analysis on the current Quarries Act which will be used for justifying any review of the Quarries Act.
Also, discussions have been brought forward to incorporate the Quarries Regulation into the current review of the Mining Act.

1 4.

5.

Provide an update on the review of the Standard Operating Procedure to take into account the recommendations made by the Auditor-General.

Can the Committee be provided a copy of this SOP The draft SOP for Quarry development has been in use since it was submitted to the PPQA team and the Department is awaiting the SOP to be adopted.
What improvements have been made to records management to improve the capturing of information relating to quarrymen and quarry development?

The use of excel to keep a digital copy of the quarryman records is in practise however the Dept.

Will not have a complete shift to digital copies and hard copy records will be maintained as normal.

Checklist are used for vetting of new quarry development approvals and documents are scanned for digital copy.
Approval is not given to any Quarry development unless the documents in the checklist is met.

2 INSPECTORATE UNIT QUARRY APPROVAL APPLICATION STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES OBJECTIVE i.

To define parameters employed for the assessment of quarry approval applications [Extraction of common minerals using explosives and/or rock crushing]; in reference to Section 2[QUA 2] of the Quarries Act 1939 ii.
On receipt of application and approvals from relevant government agencies, quarry proposal assessed by PEM/SEM, STOM and if deemed meritable, make proposal to Director via Manager Mines for: a. the Gazetting of quarry declaration to be a prescribed undertaking (Section 2A [QUA10,015] of the Quarries Regulations1939) b. the application of the provisions of Part 11 of the Mining Regulations 1966 (Section 2A[QUA10,015], Part (2) and (3) of the Quarries Regulations 1939) The Mines Inspector will issue a written notice pertaining to the waiver or suspension of any provisions of Part 11 of the Mining Regulations 1966 (Section [QUA10,020] of the Quarries Regulations 1939) which are deemed 2B impractical for a quarry operation.
To verify and monitor resource extraction, and monitor/regulate OHS in accordance to provisions set out in the Quarries Regulations of 1939 and Part 11 of the Mining Regulations 1966. iii.

iv.

DESCRIPTION/ METHOD Officer/s Responsible: PEM/SEM, STOM/TO I Method: a.

Application is received by Sec; b.
Documents to be submitted with application – Full Quarry Lease (issued by relevant land administrator), [Environment Impact Assessment(EIA) approval, Resource Definition & Verification, Extraction Lease/Licence, Department of Town and Country Planning(DTCP)development approval, Rural Local Authority approval and business licence, Quarry Operational and Environment Management Plan(QOEMP)]; c. Inspectorate officer receives and registers application using the Quarry Approval Application Form; d. Acknowledgement of receipt of application sent to applicant in writing; incomplete application will not be processed and made known to the applicant in writing e. Inspectorate Officer updates database and files all documentations/digitize hard f. copies; If the Quarry Operational Environment Management Plan (QOEMP) assessment is not approved due the to some Developer/Applicant for them to rectify issues and re-submit; and issues, PEM/SEM to notify is g. Once assessment is done and there are no issues, the application is approved through: a. notice published in the Gazette in accordance to Section 2A of the Quarries Regulations 1939 i. declaration of a quarry to be a prescribed undertaking ii.
application of the provisions of Part 11 of the Mining Regulations 1966 b.

Inspector issues approval in writing with the waiver of Part 11 of the Mining Regulations 1966 EVALUATION AND MONITORING a. Inspectorate Officer(s) to ensure that all documents are in order before assessments are done and approval letter is issued.

b.
b.

Periodic site inspections (Inspectorate Officers, Environment Officers, Resource Geologist) to ensure compliance (OHS, Environment Risk Management); c. Monitoring of monthly, half-yearly and yearly production figures; and d. Any stop work notice, to be issued with the concurrence of the Director of Mines REPORTING (a) Monthly Operational Statement; (b) Half-yearly Operational Statement (c) Periodic field inspection reports; (d) ICO; and (e) Yearly Return.
QUARRY APPROVAL APPLICATION FLOW-CHART Applicant submits application Application registered Notify applicant to submit complete application Application acknowledged & reviewed Application complete Updating database and digitizing of hard copies Assessment of application, verification, site visits and feedbacks for unsuccessful application for resubmission (PEM, SEM, STOM – 14 Working days) Notify applicant of issue and resubmission of application NO Application Approved YES Director by notice, published in Gazette declaring quarry to be a prescribed undertaking – 10 – 14 Working days Application of the provisions of Part 11 of the Mining Regulations 1966 Waiver of the provisions of Part 11 of the Mining Regulations 1966 through written approval Updating database and file documents (Inspectorate Officers – 1 day) Doc Type: STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE File Ref: CV 5 Doc No: Quarry 01 Department: Mineral Resources Department Division: Mines Title: Quarry Approval Application Section E: Official Use Only April 2021 Author: Next Revision Date: (Yearly) Inspector of Mines Signature Manager Mines Approval Signature Purpose: Assessment of Quarry Application Date of Preparation: Date: Date: QUARRY APPROVAL APPLICATION FORM Section A: Company Details Company Name: __________________________________________________________________ Quarry Site Location: _______________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ Company Address: _____________________________________________________________ Phone Contact: _______________________________ Fax: _____________________ Section C: Documents to be attached with this application: New Application Renewal 1.
Extraction License/Approval & Site Lease Approval 2.

Environment Impact Assessment Approval 3.

Dept.

Town & Country Planning Approval if required; 4.

Rural Local Authority approval if required 5. Business Licence or Registrar of Companies Evidence; 6.
Quarry Operational Environment Management Plan - Blast Plan, OHS Management System; Date received: ___________________ Approved Not Approved Reason:________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ Signature: ____________________________________ Date: _____/_____/_________ A GUIDE FOR QUARRY DEVELOPMENT APPROVAL PROCESS 1.
Identify site for extraction of rock or river gravel; 2.

Seek site lease approval to enter area of interest from land owning unit to conduct survey of area (Lands Dept, TLTB, Rural Local Authority, Free Hold Owner).

3.

Conduct survey of area of interest for volume of resource available, possible core log drilling to obtain resource estimation of aggregate available at site.

4.

Send rock sample for testing to see if it meets FRA/buyer standards and to determine its use.

5.
5.

Conduct EIA assessment and obtain approval from Ministry of Environment; 6.

Obtain extraction license from land approving authority; Waiver of customary fishing rights for river gravel extraction; 7.

Seek approval from Dept.

Town & Country Planning to re-zone area into Industrial zone if required; 8.

Register Business and obtain Business license if not already existing in Fiji; 9.
Develop Quarry Operational Environment Management Plan – which includes Blast Plan if explosives is used for extraction means, OHS Management System; 10.

Provide approval documentation to MRD with FRCS & FNPF Compliance letter (letter of good standing) for assessment by MRD.

11.

Seek approval from Director of Mines to commence development of Quarry setup with the MRD General Quarry Inspection Checklist as a guide.
Do not commence quarry operations (drill and blast, crushing) without Director of Mines approval.

12.

Notify in writing to Director of Mines of the Appointment of the MRD licensed quarry foreman-in-charge; Licensed quarry foreman in charge to send written letter to Director of Mines stating his confirmation as the quarry foreman in charge.

13.

Seek approval for commencement of quarry (drill and blast, crushing) operations from Director of Mines.
MINERAL RESOURCES DEPARTMENT QUARRY DEVELOPMENT APPROVAL CHECKLIST Company Name: Kashmir Transport Company Ltd QFIC Name: Jone Batiniika Quarry Location: Quarry Type: Site Lease Type Savulutu Pit, Seqaqa, Macuata Hard Rock Extraction – Drill & Blast Native - TLTB Site Lease No#: 4/9/042937 QFIC License No#: 184 Blaster (Shot Firer) Jone Batiniika Blaster’s License No#: EIA Proposal No#: 2342 EIA-N/45/2019 Approval Documentation - Require copies of approval for file.

Tick if document available for file.


EIA Approval Explosives Management Plan Business License Site Lease approval/Extraction Lease/ Licence/ Approval Licensed Blaster/Quarryman Appointment Letter for QFIC QFIC Appointment acknowledgment/acceptance Letter Prepared by: Ratu Seone Lum Signature: Approved by: Raymond Mohammed Signature: Designation: Mines Inspector Date: 25/02/2021 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, HERITAGE & ARTS Resident Address: Marela House, 19 Thurston Street, Suva, Fiji.

Ph.
Ph.

: (679) 3314477 Postal Address: Private Mail Bag, Government Buildings, Suva, Fiji.

Fax: (679) 3303511 24 April 2021 File: IT 04/24 The Honorable Alvick Maharaj Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee Parliament Complex Gladstone Road Suva Dear Sir RE: Clarification of Issues – Compliance Audit Report (PP No.
269 of 2020) With respect to the above report, the responses have been compiled and provided in a separate document named “ MEHA_Reponse to Clarification of Issues Paper 269 of 2020” For any clarifications, please do reach out to me on edwin.kumar01@govnet.gov.fj Yours sincerely for Dr. Anjeela Jokhan Permanent Secretary Education, Heritage & Arts ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO BE ADDRESSED TO THE PERMANENT SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION, HERITAGE AND ARTS IT Audit Response to the Public Accounts Committee 1.0 Introduction MEHA IT Unit has been working closely with the Government ITC regarding the IT plans, documentation and frameworks as all these have to be aligned to the Government ITC.
2.0 Responses 1.

IT Governance Framework for MEHA Since the Audit was carried out, MEHA IT Unit has developed a draft IT Governance Framework, which has also been sent to the government ITC for feedbacks.

All agency IT governance frameworks should be aligned to a national ITC one and we will await ITC’s feedback and respectively incorporate any changes respectively.
The MEHA IT Unit will carry out quarterly reviews of all its plans and policies related to IT as such this Framework will be again reviewed in May 2021.

The deadline for all feedbacks from ITC to be incorporated in MEHA’s governance framework is end of July 2021 Attached is the draft IT Governance Framework for MEHA IT.

Business Continuity Plan and Disaster Recovery Plan MEHA IT Unit has developed a Business Continuity Plan (BCP), which also has been sent to ITC for their feedbacks.
This draft plan will be finalized accordingly upon ITC’s comments.

The MEHA IT Unit will carry out quarterly reviews of all its plans and policies related to IT as such this BCP Plan will be again reviewed in May 2021.

Attached is the draft BCP Plan for MEHA IT.

The work is in progress regarding the Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) and MEHA IT Unit is seeking guidance from ITC regarding this since the DRP for MEHA is dependent on that of ITC.

The deadline for a draft DRP is end of July 2021.


Information Security Policy This is work in progress and MEHA IT Unit is currently seeking guidance from ITC regarding this specially with the fact that all of our servers are hosted in ITC’s data center.

The deadline for a draft policy read is end of July 2021.

2.

Service Level Agreement (SLA) between MEHA – IT Department and ITC Service Level Agreement is something new that the MEHA IT unit is working in this year.
While we have identified and agreed on the key performance indicators from our end, we need agreement on the same by ITC.

The Unit has been liaising with ITC and is in the process to meet with the ITC team to get an agreement on the performance benchmarks that will be incorporated in the SLA.

The team will then draft an SLA based on this agreed benchmarks.

The deadline for a draft SLA to be ready is end of August 2021.

3.
3.

Risk Management Plan A lot of the risks identified for the IT systems for MEHA that overlaps and is dependent with the systems and process at ITC.

MEHA IT Unit will work in collaboration with the Government ITC to draw up a Risk Management Plan by end of July 2021.

4.
4.

Physical Security MEHA IT unit has managed to secure funding to upgrade its official facilitates at Senikau house in order to introduce more physical controls to governance the accessibility of its operational systems as well as safeguard its’ physical IT assets.

A Vendor for an upgrade has been selected after a Tender process.

The Contract is currently with the Office of the Solicitor General for vetting before execution.

Works are expected to begin around mid-May 2021.


MEHA IT facility is expected to be upgraded by July-2021.

5.

SSL MEHA IT Unit did not get any budget in this financial year to procure this and is liaising with government ITC to provide us with the SSL certificates that we can use.

Government ITC has not become back to MEHA on this yet, but we will seek another update in early May 2021.
On the same note a request has been put in with MEHA’s finance team to request for funding and if available MEHA IT unit will procure the SSL certificates independently.

3.0 Conclusion MEHA IT Unit is prioritizing the work on IT Governance, plans and systems security.

The Unit will work to get all these Frameworks, plans and documentation completed in a reasonable timeframe based with its current resources.
MEHA will work on the tasks in the MEHA Strategic Plan 2019-2023 which includes project design for ISO27005.

Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts IT Governance Framework 1.0 Introduction Governance means establishing accountability while creating a model that balances operational excellence and innovation to enable service delivery and streamline business processes.
The goal of IT Governance is to ensure that the balanced mix of Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts (MEHA) services is aligned with strategic and cross-functional business objectives.

Governance activities are targeted at understanding the issues and strategic importance of IT, enabling the enterprise to sustain its operations, and implementing the strategies required to advance IT in response to future needs of MEHA.
Governance practices aim at ensuring that the expectations for IT are met and IT risks are mitigated.

2.0 Governance Processes Like most large IT organizations, Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts (MEHA) is a strong advocate of using industry frameworks such as the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) to help manage the IT service lifecycle and more efficiently align IT with MEHA strategic and business goals.

MEHA aims to work towards aligning its IT Governance Framework with frameworks such as ITIL.
In consideration to the information security standards, MEHA plans to work towards the project design for ISO27005.

One way of describing IT governance is the stewardship of IT resources on behalf of the stakeholders who expect a return from their investment.
MEHA addresses that stewardship by:  Ensuring close alignment between IT and the business  Maintaining a centralized structure that is process-oriented, cross-functional, and stresses IT's value to the business  Using an operating model that emphasizes to work towards compliance with industry frameworks and overall excellence in operations A handful of principles define MEHA’s IT governance objectives and keep IT focused on priorities:  Business value and quality of solutions  Established systems to enable the clients and stakeholders including schools and students benefit from the technological initiatives implemented by MEHA.
 Ensuring that IT delivers against the Costed Operation Plan (COP) through clearly defined expectations and measurement (Operational excellence)  Architectural compliance  Security governance and compliance 3.0 Governance Roles and Responsibilities As a Ministry, MEHA is measured on its ability to improve productivity, improve clients and stakeholders satisfaction and drive the usage of technology.

These goals cannot be met without close alignment between business and IT.
To that end, MEHA plans to form a centralized, cross-functional Business Process Technical Working Group (BPTWG) A primary function of the BPTWG is IT investment spending.

When a governance model does not move some accountability for IT investment to a centralized body, duplication in investment and initiatives can be the consequence.

The inverse of this is a model that emphasizes speed in decision making.

MEHA values business agility, but it must be balanced by a commitment to judicious spending.
The BPTWG ensures that such a balance exists between agility and accountability.

Page 1 of 3 The IT Unit shall attend to hardware faults in a systematic and timely manner subject to the resources available.

The software deployments would preferably be done after normal working hours subject to the availability of testers.

4.0 Strategic and Operational Planning MEHA has developed an IT operating model, a set of interrelated processes by which IT makes decisions and governs its functional activities.
The operating model focuses on these high-level areas:  Architecture  Planning  Software Development  Release Management  User Training  Operations  Support MEHA is diligent in making sure that everyone in IT understands the operating model (COP) and how it can be applied productively to their work.

MEHA IT follows a change request process with documentation to implement the operating model in each functional area.
MEHA’s operational model now serves as a framework to streamline IT decision-making and the organization.

MEHA IT Unit use the appropriate practices to form a basis to move towards the ITIL process framework.

MEHA’s investment in IT governance has provided positive results Ministry-wide, notably increased business agility, as well as improved IT accountability.

Planning to commit to standards such as ITIL will be critical for success, as is full participation and involvement from other sections at MEHA.
These guidelines will help to eliminate unnecessary spending and duplication of efforts.

With the operating model in place, MEHA can sustain a healthy balance between technology innovation and operational excellence, fueling productivity and business growth.
Page 2 of 3 5.0 IT Governance Process Business Units/ Sections meet with the IT Team with innovative ideas Business Units requests is signed off by their Managers/ Heads Business Process Technical Working Group (BPTWG) makes a recommendation to Head Corporate Services (HCS) Head Corporate Services approves the IT Unit to work on the task Page 3 of 3 Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts Business Continuity Plan (BCP) IT Unit Page 1 of 4 1.
Purpose Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts (MEHA) IT Unit’s Business Continuity Plan (BCP) focuses on the recovery from a disruption in IT service.

Specifically, this plan provides guidance to ensure that the MEHA IT Unit can respond effectively to a disruption and restore essential services to the students, staff, schools, public and stakeholders as quickly as possible.

2.
2.

Objectives of this Plan The objectives of this business continuity plan are to:  Identify advanced arrangements and procedures that will enable the MEHA IT Unit to respond quickly to an emergency event and ensure continuous performance of critical business functions.

 Protect essential facilities, equipment, vital records, and other assets.

 Reduce and mitigate disruptions to business operations.

 Identify teams which would need to respond to a crisis and describe specific responsibilities.
 Facilitate effective decision-making to ensure that MEHA IT Unit operations are restored in a timely manner.

 Identify alternative courses of action to minimize and/or mitigate the effects of the crisis and shorten MEHA IT Unit’s response time.

 Quantify the impact of any kind of emergency in terms of dollars, time and services.

 Recover quickly from an emergency and resume full service to the students, staff, schools, public and stakeholders in a timely manner.
 Service level agreements are met with the Government ITC in the event of a disruption that impacts the IT services supporting MEHA, students, staff, schools, public and stakeholders.

3. Business Impact Analysis  The MEHA IT Unit and each Section must perform a risk threat assessment and business impact analysis to identify significant risks/threats and prioritize critical functions based on financial and non-financial impact to MEHA.
 All functions must identify critical process dependencies which includes Government ITC, systems, applications, people, facility, vendor/supplier, and any other necessary resources to recover the critical function.

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Strategy and Plan Development  All critical functions within MEHA supported by the IT Unit must develop appropriate and actionable contingency plans that will enable management to focus on resuming MEHA’s most critical functions, in the event of a business disruption.
The plan shall have documented recovery strategies that include workarounds for processes in which dependencies are unavailable to resume servicing MEHA, students, staff, schools, public and stakeholders.

 Key stakeholders supporting critical functions must ensure that effective contingency arrangements are in place.

5.

Plan Activation Procedures Warning Conditions With warning: It is expected that in some cases, the MEHA IT Unit will receive a warning at least a few hours prior to an event.
This will normally enable the plan to be enacted with an orderly notification and evacuation of staff.

Without warning: The ability to execute this plan following an event with little or no warning will depend on the severity of the emergency and the number of staff in MEHA IT Unit who have been affected by the event.

 Non-Duty Hours: Although the MEHA IT Unit office may be rendered inoperative, it is likely that the majority of MEHA IT Unit staff could be alerted and deployed to the alternate site.
 Duty Hours: If possible, this plan will be activated and the pre-designated available staff will be deployed.

6.

MEHA IT Unit Program Management Business Resiliency testing for all critical functions, must take place annually for all critical processes.

The MEHA IT Unit must review the BCP plans annually and when there has been a significant change in the business or infrastructure.

Head Corporate Service’s sign-off is required for all final response plans, testing and remediation plans.

7.
7.

Training and Awareness Business resiliency training applies to all MEHA IT Unit staff, HCS and process owners involved in the execution of business continuity plans.

8.

Communications Plan During a crisis situation, the MEHA IT Unit will communicate the situation to Head Corporate Services (HCS) in a reasonable time frame.

HCS will then inform the Permanent Secretary (PS) of MEHA.

The information provided must be accurate and timely.
In particular, any estimate of the timing to return to normal working operations should be announced with care.

It is also very important that only authorized personnel deal with media inquiries.

Page 3 of 4 Staff Communications If a MEHA IT Unit staff member learns of a potential crisis situation, the staff should immediately contact the Manager ICT and HCS.

If the building structure is in question, staff should not enter the building.
Once a crisis has occurred, the following chart and plan section will be used to communicate with all parties: Groups of persons or organizations affected by disruption ITC Schools Management and Staff Media Other Third Parties Persons authorized to coordinate communication to affected persons and organizations Position Manager ICT Head National Education and Service Delivery (HNESD) Head Corporate Services Head ESU Head ESU Contact Details 9907377 8909614 9985978 9986490 9986490 9.
Dependencies The most critical dependency in the success of this BCP is the response time of ITC, if the required as part of the recovery.

10.

Compliance Compliance with MEHA IT Unit’s BCP is required.

Compliance to this plan is verified through various methods, including but not limited to, reports from available business tools, internal and external audits, self-assessments, and/or feedback.

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