Committee Planning and Budgeting Tool: Outlining the Roles and Responsibilities of Selected Committee Support Personnel A Presentation to Committee 8 July2014

INTRODUCTION  In 2013, a Planning and Budgeting Tool was introduced in the section  House Chairpersons (NA&NCOP) endorsed it  Subsequently shared with various unit/section managers who supported it  Committee section staff was consulted and the tool explained to everyone

INTRO Cont…  Use as an official planning tool for committees of Parliament  Provide planning structure for committees  Promotes uniformity wrt support provided to committees of Parliament

PURPOSE OF THE TOOL As stated in the document, to:  Co-ordinate support services  Ensure collaboration between sections/units of Parliament  Ensure that committees of Parliament carry out their mandates Also, to  Build efficient & effective teams supporting committees  Improve committee planning & budgeting

PURPOSE OF THE TOOL Cont…  Increase the level understanding of each other’s roles – embrace these for the benefit of the committee  Increase level of reporting by the team  Increase effectiveness of committees in the conduct of their work

ROLES OF VARIOUS STAKEHOLDERS  Roles to be seen within the context of: the effective implementation of the ideals and/or vision of the planning and budgeting tool Expected job outputs as stated in each category’s job description and SOPs  “These roles must be constantly refined by the team”

VARIOUS ROLES COMMITTEE SECRETARY  Provide procedural advice to the committee  Overall co-ordination of committee activities e.g. call team meetings  Ensure the development of term/quarterly programme – in line with the annual plan  Ensure committees of Parliament budget for their activities (will soon use zero based budgeting approach)  Monitor the budget of committees

ROLES Cont… COMMITTEE ASSISTANT  Provide administrative & logistical arrangements: committee meetings; oversight visits & international study tours  Prepare applications to effect the above  Ensure safekeeping and/or archiving of committee information – NB! for audit purposes

ROLES Cont… CONTENT ADVISOR  Co-ordinate support for the development of committee’s 5year strategic and annual plans Ensure alignment of committee’s term programme to them Monitor and evaluate the achievement of the set objectives  Provide subject specific content support  Ensure quality assurance of all committee outputs (minutes, reports, etc)

ROLES Cont… CONTENT ADVISOR cont…  Assists the committee with oversight: Utilize subject knowledge & expertise to guide oversight activities Review relevant documents and propose strategies for oversight Monitor the achievement of pre-established departmental goals Evaluate and/or establish the impacts of departmental plans/programmes

ROLES Cont… CONTENT ADVISOR cont…  Ensure that service delivery issues are addressed by relevant committees E.g. issues arising from Local Govt Week

ROLES Cont… EXECUTIVE SECRETARY  Act as a conduit between the Office of the Chairperson & the team Call management meetings Prepare for management meetings Take and disseminate minutes of management meetings to the team Follow-up on decisions taken in the management meetings

ROLES Cont… RESEARCHER  Legislation provide summary & analysis of Bills Produce research papers on issues emanating from deliberations  Oversight Summary & analysis of various documents e.g. SONA, APPs, etc Produce papers on sector specific topics  Study Tours Produce papers on countries/sites to be visited

ROLES Cont… COMMUNICATION OFFICERS  Help Chairpersons with Organizing and holding media briefings Writing opinion pieces Providing media alerts & statements re: committee activities Disseminating information about committees’ work to the media Assisting committees with media liaison (during oversight and public hearings)

ROLES Cont… COMMUNICATION OFFICERS cont…  Help Chairpersons with: Writing stories or articles for parliamentary website – focus on committees Generating information for twitter & facebook accounts  Target: print, television, radio and community media in general

THANK YOU