Chairperson, the Minister is aware of some allegations regarding the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, NLDTF, and the difficulties expressed by organisations in accessing the funds and receiving timely payments where grants have been approved.
Based on this allegation, the Minister initiated a round table meeting involving the National Lotteries Board, the distribution agencies and the Ministries responsible for sport, arts and culture and social development. At this round table meeting, challenges were identified, most of which were administrative in nature.
A subcommittee was established to propose measures to address these administrative challenges. The subcommittee agreed on a number of measures, including revising the grant management process to fast-track applications and facilitate speedy processing, as well as streamlining processes for approval of payments.
These measures are currently being implemented and are expected to bring about a significant improvement in the turnaround time. The other important measures relate to the speed with which inspections should be conducted, as payments are sometimes conditional. For a positive inspection report, the subcommittee recommended that the template for inspection be revised to be more focused on matters that pose a risk to the release of the grants and not be broad and general, as it currently is.
The subcommittee also recommended the strengthening of the administrative capacity within the National Lotteries Board to deal effectively with publications. These measures are currently being implemented by the National Lotteries Board as a measure to increase access to funds by needy organisations.
The Minister is in the process of issuing regulations to remove the requirement for applicants to provide audited financial statements for the preceding two years. This requirement has proved to be a hindrance to many needy organisations which may not have audited financial statements due to various factors, including the size of the organisation. Therefore the requirement will be relaxed, particularly for first-time applicants. The regulations are in the process of being consulted upon with various stakeholders and will be published for general public comment in due course.
Lastly, the department has enquired about a number of allegations made by organisations and these have been addressed. These enquiries are addressed on an ongoing basis, but with the process mentioned above, it is expected that these challenges will be addressed effectively.
The subcommittee has also recommended to the National Lotteries Board that it conduct an audit of all applications received to date in order to identify those that may be pending so that they can be attended to and finalised. The results will be made available to the subcommittee in December 2009. This will assist the department to address the cases that may be outstanding. I thank you.
Number of flights procured by Department and Ministry of Trade and Industry in September 2009
68. Mr T Harris (DA) asked the Minister of Trade and Industry:
(a) How many flights were procured by his Ministry and/or his department for use by departmental officials in September 2009, (b) what were the reasons for procuring each of these flights and (c) what was the total cost of all these flights? CO238E