{"id":529,"date":"2020-12-02T19:59:50","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T19:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/audit.gov.ms\/?p=529"},"modified":"2020-12-02T19:59:50","modified_gmt":"2020-12-02T19:59:50","slug":"performance-audit-of-the-office-of-the-deputy-governor-and-related-departments-2016-to-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/audit.gov.ms\/?p=529","title":{"rendered":"Performance Audit of the Office of the Deputy Governor and Related Departments (2016 to 2020)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Office of the Auditor General is pleased to\nannounce that its report entitled <strong>Performance Audit of the Office of the\nDeputy Governor and Related Departments<\/strong> was presented to the Legislative\nAssembly on December 1st, 2020.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Background: <\/strong>The ODG\u2019s headquarters offers consular services,\nmanages Government pensions, and assists the Deputy Governor, who oversees all\nemployees across the public service; it also manages the Government\u2019s offices\nand other buildings.&nbsp; The other 4 Departments\nwithin the ODG\u2019s remit are: the Human Resources Management Unit, the\nDisaster Management Coordination Agency, Her Majesty\u2019s Prison, and the Royal\nMontserrat Defence Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key\nFindings:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>The ODG has good oversight of its available\nbudget and keeps annual spending within budget<\/strong>.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>The ODG\u2019s performance has improved slowly,\nbut has much scope to improve further both performance and reporting. &nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;For financial years 2017\/2018 and 2018\/2019,\nthe ODG met 14% and 29% of its performance targets respectively. In other\nareas, performance was not clearly defined and\/or was not reported. <\/li><li><strong>The ODG has recognised that it has\ncapacity-gaps, but has struggled to fill them. &nbsp;<\/strong>The ODG has\nconsistently operated below its capacity: 65 posts filled of 75 available posts\nin fiscal year 2016\/2017; 62 posts filled of 69 available posts in fiscal year\n2017\/2018; 59 posts filled of 70 available posts in fiscal year 2018\/2019.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>The ODG uses the Technical Co-operation\n(TC) Programme to fill critical and hard-to-fill posts, but needs to improve\nthe process for appointment and management of TC-employee posts<\/strong>. &nbsp;&nbsp;This programme is used to acquire the skills\nneeded to address local skills-gaps and to recruit internationally for posts\nthat are difficult to fill.&nbsp; The ODG\nmanages the TC programme on behalf of the entire GOM.&nbsp; The audit found that only 2 of 12 TC employee posts sampled had\na business case.&nbsp; Additionally, there was\na lack of clear skills transfer and some TC posts had no understudy assigned to\nthem.&nbsp; The ODG advised that such posts\nlead to important development of capabilities in other ways, including new\npolicies, processes, knowledge and the sharing of experiences.<\/li><li><strong>The ODG has identified that improved\nworkplaces are urgently needed to support the GOM\u2019s employees in delivering\nbetter service to the public, but, without funding support, little progress has\nbeen made.&nbsp; <\/strong>At least 80% of public buildings require significant\nupgrades to meet standards and users\u2019 needs.&nbsp;\nFunding has been repeatedly requested from the DFID for this purpose,\nbut has not been approved. &nbsp;Since early March, 2020, the COVID-19\npandemic has made the need for these repairs and upgrades much more urgent,\nboth for employees\u2019 safety and for the new mandates of public health in serving\nthe public. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key\nRecommendations:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Strengthen\nDepartments\u2019 strategic planning, measurement, and reporting of performance.<\/strong> <\/li><li><strong>Strengthen\nDepartments\u2019 record-keeping and reporting for decision-making.<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Reduce\nthe number of vacancies<\/strong><strong>.\n<\/strong>Shorten\nrecruitment time, improve the terms and conditions of offers\/contracts, and\nreduce turnover of employees.&nbsp;&nbsp; Also\nreassess personnel needs and close posts that are no longer needed. <strong><\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Strengthen\nthe oversight of the TC programme to maximise the intended benefits<\/strong><strong>.<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Prioritise\nthe funding of the GOM\u2019s required building maintenance and upgrades<\/strong><strong>.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The full audit report highlights several other\nfindings and recommendations. &nbsp;&nbsp;Their implementation will bring significant\nimprovements in the management of the public service (including faster\nrecruitment; more accountability; enhanced productivity; better planning;\nimproved administration of the Technical Co-operation Programme; and the\nsustained building of local capacity), timely maintenance of public buildings\nand workplaces, and better service to the public. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> <strong>The report in its entirety can be found at the Montserrat Public Library<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>visiting\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/audit.gov.ms\/publications\/\">Publications<\/a>\u00a0or by requesting an electronic copy from the Office of the Auditor General, located upstairs Angelo\u2019s Complex, Brades. E-mail:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"mailto:audit@gov.ms\"><strong>audit@gov.ms<\/strong><\/a><strong>; Telephone: (664) 491 \u2013 3460 or 491 \u2013 4569.<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Office of the Auditor General is pleased to announce that its report entitled Performance Audit of the Office of the Deputy Governor and Related Departments was presented to the Legislative Assembly on December 1st, 2020.&nbsp; Background: The ODG\u2019s headquarters offers consular services, manages Government pensions, and assists the Deputy Governor, who oversees all employees [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001003,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/audit.gov.ms\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/audit.gov.ms\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/audit.gov.ms\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audit.gov.ms\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001003"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audit.gov.ms\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/audit.gov.ms\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/audit.gov.ms\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audit.gov.ms\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audit.gov.ms\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}