Only one recommendation made by the National Audit Office (NAO) to the Ministry for Gozo and Planning in a 2021 report has been fully implemented, with 50% of recommendations having been either fully or partly implemented by the ministry or having seen significant progress, the NAO stated in a follow-up report published on Wednesday.

Auditor General Charles Deguara presented the report which contains ten follow-up-audit reports to Speaker of the House Anglu Farrugia. This year's follow-up evaluation indicates that practically 80% of the recommendations analysed in the ten reports by this Office were either implemented in full or in part, or were in the process of being implemented by the entities concerned.

Of the 10 follow-up-audit reports which the Auditor General analysed, the Gozo and Planning Ministry had the joint lowest percentage of recommendations which were fully or partly implemented, with a percentage of 50%, along with the Court Services Agency.

Outlining the issues and shortcomings identified in the initial report on the ministry, the NAO stated that the audit had revealed that overtime work was being carried out on a regular basis, "often with vague justifications given for its requirement". It stated that the main objectives of the audit were to assess the extent and adequacy of internal controls over payments for overtime and allowances, as well as to ascertain compliance with standing regulations and policies.

The only recommendation which was fully implemented by the ministry was in regard to insufficient information on overtime rate and payments. The NAO had stated that in 2021, some of the sampled officers had carried out overtime work considered as being outside their normal responsibilities and not in consonance with their job titles. It continued that the officers were paid overtime based on their daily hour rate, but added that it could not establish if this was correct or whether a lower rate should have been applied, "as information requested on the applicable salary scale for the assigned overtime jobs was not provided for audit purposes".

The NAO stated that as part of its recommendations, management within the ministry was to ensure that officers were paid at the correct rate and that each payment was supported by computations for audit trail purposes. Within this follow-up report, the NAO said that the overtime performed by the sampled officers was deemed in line with their respective job titles, and thus no issues were noted in the rates paid. It added that the rates at which overtime payments were computed were also clearly defined for all the officers included in the audit sample.

Another key issue outlined by the NAO in its original report about the ministry was about unreliable attendance records. It said that although attendance sheets were expected to be the primary source of information to support the number of extra hours claimed by employees, testing had revealed that these sheets were not reliable. It commented that there were discrepancies such as instances where employees had been paid for overtime hours despite no additional work having been carried out, and several attendance sheets for two officers not bearing a reviewing official's signature.

As a result of these discrepancies, the NAO said that it had reservations on the reliability of the sheets. With that in mind, as part of its recommendations, it said that ministry management was to ensure that all officers accurately recorded their attendance on a daily basis. This recommendation registered significant progress, the NAO said. It stated that an overall improvement has been noted in this area. However, it said that no progress was noted regarding the attendance sheets of an officer who recorded illegible clockings, and which continued to be certified as correct by the responsible officer.

Another key issue outlined by the NAO in its initial report was related to vague justifications for habitual overtime work.

The NAO had stated that testing carried out on overtime performed by the nine sampled officers revealed a lack of control over overtime, which it commented was being performed habitually. It said that the reasons given for the need of additional work were generic, which it remarked raised doubts on whether all overtime was justifiable, "and suggesting that extra work at the ministry was possibly being considered as an extension to the respective officer's basic salary".

Some of the shortcomings noted included that all requests for overtime work reviewed were undated, meaning that it could not be established whether they were timely raised and approved. Another shortcoming, it said, was that the justifications given for additional work were not in line with the Public Service Management Code. It also noted that two sampled employees in particular had overtime hours which were "rather significant", including an Assistant Principal who was paid €6,084 for a total of 395 overtime hours worked between mid-July and the first week of October 2021.

Management was to exercise full control on overtime work, which is to be resorted to only in exceptional circumstances and, as far as possible, linked to ad hoc assignments with specific targets to be reached. If the work carried out outside office hours was deemed routine, the Ministry was to consider revisiting current work practices and seek alternatives which would still be efficient, but at the same time more economically beneficial, among other things.

Ultimately, the NAO stated in its follow-up report that progress with regard to this key issue and the subsequent recommendation was insignificant.

A key issue outlined by the NAO, which in its follow-up was designated as the recommendation not having been implemented, was in regard to overtime on Sundays and public holidays.

In its original report, it said that the overtime returns reviewed for two sampled officers showed that each time these employees reported to work on Sundays or public holidays, this would only be for two hours, with the reason provided for the overtime work being 'pressure of work' and 'duties as a carcass loader'. It continued that during the audit, various other instances of officers performing few hours of overtime on Sundays and public holidays were noted, and it said that this was very often done in order to exhaust the targeted overtime hours that were approved.

The NAO said that unless specifically required for urgent tasks, the ministry was to avoid having officers reporting to work for just one or two hours on Sundays and public holidays, "as this would be inefficient, both economically and in terms of productivity".

In its conclusion to the follow-up report on the Ministry for Gozo and Planning, the NAO stated that although efforts were made by management to mitigate some of the weaknesses identified during the original audit, and although a number of recommendations put forward in the 2021 report were implemented, "more needs to be done to address the initial shortcomings identified". It added that particular attention is to be given to the habitual overtime work performed and the justifications provided for the work.