Hon Speaker, in order to monitor the implementation of the President's pronouncement in the state of the nation address, the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation used an average unit cost calculation to derive the number of funded vacancies, based on unspent personnel budgets at the end of the financial year. The calculations done by the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation showed that there were approximately 9 000 funded vacant posts in the national departments at the end of March this year. Thus, the average rate of vacant funded posts was 2,6% by the end of the first quarter of 2011. This is encouraging, considering that for the same period last year the rate was close to 4%.
Furthermore, based on average unit cost calculations, the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation estimated that there were less than 1% of the total number of funded posts at the provincial level at the end of March 2011.
However, the hon member should note that behind these averages lie some worrying variations which need to be addressed. There are also economy-wide challenges that affect the government's ability to fill the funded vacant posts. Among the key challenges experienced, the departments have cited the difficulty of convening selection committees, particularly for posts at top management level, which often leads to lengthy selection processes. They have also indicated that some of the posts involving critical skills such as financial management and engineering often have to be readvertised, which points to difficulties in attracting qualified candidates.
Going forward, the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation and the Department of Public Service and Administration have assured Cabinet that they will continue to monitor the situation closely and, where possible, recommend measures that the departments can employ to speed up the processes. In addition, Government continues to prioritise developing critical skills through targeted training programmes. I thank you for your attention.