PRESENTATION TO THE PRESENTATION TO THE

JOINT RULES COMMITTEE JOINT RULES COMMITTEE

15 MARCH 201215 MARCH 2012

ONON

THE PROGRESS ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THETHE PROGRESS ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE

INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT PANELINDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT PANEL

ADOPTED RECOMMENDATIONSADOPTED RECOMMENDATIONS

RECAP THE PROCESS OF IMPLEMENTATION

The JRC accepted that the following recommendations be implemented by way of projects as incorporated in the institution’s approved strategic plan, others were referred to political parties for further processing and reporting:• Establishment of a scrutiny mechanism to oversee delegated legislation;• Review impact of legislation;• Reinvigorating and finalising development of an attendance policy for Members of

Parliament;• Establishing extensive monitoring schedule to ensure implementation of Oversight

Model;• Improving process through which Parliament monitors Executive compliance with

recommendations of Parliament; • Assessing and revising mechanism through which the Speaker of the National

Assembly follows up on Executive compliance regarding questions;• Reviewing and assessing structures and processes around constituency work;• Reviewing processes related to “Taking Parliament to the People” and sectoral

parliaments to increase impact and reach, ensure feedback to the public and referral of issues to relevant committees;

• Enhancing public participation processes;• Assessing information management processes and challenges in committee section;• Assessing relationship between research unit and committee section to ensure

coordinated support to committees; and• Prioritising expansion of legal services office.

This presentation gives progress on the projects to implement the above recommendations

PROJECT TO IMPLEMENT DELEGATED LEGISLATION PROCESSES

PANEL RECOMMENDATION

Establishment of a scrutiny mechanism to oversee delegated legislation:

• Both Houses adopted the interim mechanism for the scrutiny of delegated legislation (the NA on 22 June 2011 and the NCOP on 20 September 2011). The Interim Joint Committee was then established.

•The committee has not yet met, still awaiting the nomination of the member from the smaller political parties. A request is being made to the JRC to allow the committee to sit without the outstanding representative to enable the committee to start functioning while the smaller political parties are still considering the matter .

PROJECT TO ASSESS IMPACT OF LEGISLATION AND PASS OUTSTANDING LEGISLATION

PANEL RECOMMENDATION

Review impact of legislation, including: Address outstanding legislation (required by the Constitution):

• At the last count (31 December 2011), there were 1225 pieces of legislation which had been passed since 1994.

• A business case is being put together to undertake the huge task of assessing the impact of all these pieces of legislation. Prioritisation may also have to take place under the guidance of the Executive Authority to assess the impact of these in a phased-in approach, internal capacity to manage all the projects taken into account.

PROJECT TO ASSESS IMPACT OF LEGISLATION AND PASS OUTSTANDING LEGISLATION

PANEL RECOMMENDATION

Review impact of legislation, including: Address outstanding legislation (required by the Constitution):

Addressing outstanding legislation:Of the required legislation in terms of the constitutional provisions,

the following developments have been noted:•section 6(4) - SA Languages Bill [B 23-11] is before the NA committee; •section 65(2) - Mandating Procedures of Provinces Act No. 52 of 2008 passed; and •section 77(3) - Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act No. 9 of 2009 passed.

Legislation is still outstanding on the following sections:•sections 47(2), 106(2) and 125(3) is still outstanding.

PROJECT TO DEVELOP MEMBERS' LEAVE AND ATTENDANCE SYSTEM

PANEL RECOMMENDATIONReinvigorate and finalise development of an attendance policy for Members of Parliament:

• Project to develop Members' leave and attendance system has initiated the investigation on an electronic system. However the full implementation of the solution is dependent on the leave policy being finalised. The leave policy is not yet finalised.

• The electronic system is going to be installed in all venues. It has already been installed in the NCOP chamber as it was being refurbished already. However, the procedures to utilise the system for various parliamentary activities such as plenary and committee meetings will be developed once the leave policy has been passed.

PROJECT TO DEVELOP JOINT PLANNING, MONITORING, CO-ORDINATION AND EVALUATION MECHANISM

PANEL RECOMMENDATIONEstablish extensive monitoring schedule to ensure implementation of Oversight Model

This project is part of the projects determined to implement the oversight model. The implementation plan of the oversight model has been completed. It is now under consideration at the political level. Once the implementation plan has been adopted, business case development will begin which will determine resource implications of all the projects to implement the oversight model.

PROJECT TO DEVELOP OVERSIGHT MONITORING AND EVALUATION SYSTEM

PANEL RECOMMENDATIONImprove process through which Parliament monitors Executive compliance with recommendations of Parliament:

• An electronic system has been identified by IT which will capture House resolutions and track Executive responses to feedback to the House/s and subsequently back to committees. It is currently being piloted to test its effectiveness for the purposes of tracking and monitoring executive compliance on resolutions of the House, questions and other requirements.

• Parallel to the system development referred to above, the

structure to implement the system is currently being developed. It is envisaged the structure will be completed by June 2012 and functional by April 2013.

PROJECT TO DEVELOP CONSTITUENCY MECHANISM

PANEL RECOMMENDATION

Comprehensive review and assessment of structures and processes around constituency work:

• A structure is being developed which will develop processes and create systems which Members will utilize to channel their constituency issues to committees as their possible oversight agenda items. Consultations are currently taking place on proposed structure. It is anticipated that the project will be completed by June 2012 and the new structure functional by April 2013

PROJECT TO DEVELOP MECHANISM TO PROCESS ISSUES RAISED AT SECTORAL PARLIAMENTS

PANEL RECOMMENDATION

Review of processes related to “Taking Parliament to the People” and sectoral parliaments to increase impact and reach, ensure feedback to the public and referral of issues to relevant committees:

• Project to develop mechanism to process issues raised at sectoral parliaments

• The same structure which will process constituency issues referred to in the previous slide will process the issues raised at sectoral assemblies with a view to channel these to relevant committees so they are not lost from the oversight mechanism of Parliament and create a feedback loop. This structure will be completed by June 2012 and functional by April 2013

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION MODEL PROJECT

• A comprehensive progress report has already been given during the discussion of the earlier agenda item on the crafting of the model for public participation for Parliament.

• Progress will depend on the availability of members of the focus groups to give guidance to the focus areas of:

• Constitutional review;• Best practice analysis;• Stakeholder and public input process

•PROJECT TO DEVELOP KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

A system called the Parliamentary Communication Management System (PCMS) has been implemented in which all parliamentary documents are deposited.

Current committees’ reports and minutes are deposited on the system. However, a lot of documents from previous Parliaments still have to be scanned and digitized for deposit on the system. It is envisaged that the this exercise will be completed by the end of this parliament and ensure that all committees’ documents from the previous parliaments are digitised and deposited on the system for easy retrieval.

PROJECT TO RE-ENGINEER BUSINESS PROCESSES AND REVIEW THE ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

The project started in 2011 to review organisational structures with a view to address the structural deficiencies and re-engineer the business processes which will streamline the support services to committees. It is envisaged that the project will be completed in June 2012.

PANEL RECOMMENDATIONAssess relationship between research unit and committee section to ensure coordinated support to committees:

PROJECT TO DEVELOP LEGISLATION DRAFTING CAPACITY AND SYSTEM

PANEL RECOMMENDATION

Prioritise expansion of legal services office:

• A concept document has been prepared for the Presiding Officers;

• Consultation with the STP is already scheduled to take place during the month of March 2012