Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs failed to define regulations for implemented programmes
Press Release – November 24, 2009
From January to August 2009, auditors from the Supreme Audit Office (SAO) audited state budget funds allotted for the programmes implemented by Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs within the period from 2006 to 2008.
The auditors aimed at six selected programmes, which were administered by Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, and scrutinized eight sub-programmes of the audited programmes, which utilized allotments for development and reconstruction of the building owned by the Czech Social Security Administration, employment offices, and social service agencies. The auditing operation focused on 19 selected projects, which utilized over CZK 1.3 milliard from the state budget.
In 2007 and 2008, the average acquisition cost of a single bed amounted to CZK 1.7 million in the developed retirements’ homes. Within the same period, the average acquisition cost of a single workplace increased to CZK 1.2 million with projects of administrative building developed by employment offices and the Czech Social Security Administration.
“The final assessment of the implemented programmes submitted by the Ministry only included a list of the implemented programmes’ costs. The Ministry failed to specify whether the state budget funds had been utilized to achieve the programmes’ objectives and the programmes could not be objectively evaluated because of the insufficient programming documents. We may expect the same insufficiencies with the ongoing programmes as well”, said president of the SAO František Dohnal.
The Ministry failed to specify their long-term needs, which affected the economy of building projects that were developed by the Czech Social Security Administration and employment offices. After the projects implementation phases had already started, obligatory terms and funding requirements were adjusted and new projects were included into the programme because of momentary needs. Conceptual variations occurred during the preparation phases and the development stages fell behind the schedules, sometimes even in years. All the provided capacity has not been utilized sufficiently.
“Auditors concluded that the Ministry failed to set terms, factual descriptions, and financial parameters of the programmes. Such definitions would be used for an assessment of the met objectives, efficiency, economy, and expediency of utilized funds“, said Dohnal.
The auditing operation was included into the SAO 2009 Audit Plan under No. 09/02. Jiří Adámek, Member of the SAO Board, controlled the operation and prepared the audit conclusion as well.
Bc. Radka Burketová
Press Speaker
Supreme Audit Office