Page 63 - Parliament Budget Office Annual Report 2022-2023

4.1 Governance framework
4.1.1 Director of the Parliamentary Budget Office
The Director is appointed by the two Houses of Parliament on a 5-year employment contract, a standard practice for Accounting Officers/Heads of Departments or Entities across the public sector.
The position of the Director as an Accounting Officer is established by section 15(1) of the Money Bills and Related Matters Act 2009, as amended. The Director is accountable to the two Houses of Parliament through the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces acting conjointly as the Executive Authority of Parliament.
The Money Bills Act requires that the Director must be a suitably qualified, fit, and proper person whose recruitment must be carried out through an open & transparent recruitment process. The Finance and Appropriations Committees of Parliament must recruit and recommend to the two Houses of Parliament, a person with the requisite experience, qualifications, and leadership skills to manage the Parliamentary Budget Office. The conditions of service including the salary and allowance of the Director must take into account the knowledge and experience of the person and substantially be the same as those of the top rank of the public service
Once appointed, the Director must fulfil the legislated functions (mandate) and the governance and accountability requirements as codified respectively in sub-sections 15(1),15(2) of the Money Bills Act 2009 as amended in 2018. As an Accounting Officer, the Director discharges leadership, managerial, broader corporate services, stakeholder relations, and legislated functions of office. In terms of section 15(12) of the Money Bills Act, the Director is required to appoint Deputy Directors (Senior Analysts) and personnel (Analysts and other staff members)
with the requisite experience and qualifications to carry out the duties and functions of the Office. The staff members provide a range of corporate services and content support (advise and analysis) to give effect to organisational efficiency and effectiveness and to ensure that the PBO discharges its legislative mandate.
In terms of section 15(12) and 15(13) of the Money Bills Act, the Director is empowered to appoint personnel and to determine the conditions of service of such personnel. The Director, assisted by a Personal Secretary, Office Manager, and Office Coordinator is responsible for the management and administration of the Parliamentary Budget Office.
The Director also has the core responsibility to provide leadership to the three (3) analysis and research units of the Office headed by Deputy Directors. The three units, headed by Deputy Directors and comprising of two analysts per cluster, are Economics, Policy, and Finance. The Director has overall leadership and management accountability over the administration and core mandate of the Office. The Director must discharge the core legislative mandate including the governance and accountability requirements imposed by section 15 of the amended Money Bills Act with fidelity.
4.1.2 Work structure: accountability lines
To optimise its service delivery throughput, a cross-cluster matrix work-method was adopted by the Office over the years to amplify the service delivery capacity of the Office’s small staff complement. In this regard, the Office analysts and Deputy Directors work symbiotically across the three units to provide reinforced research, analysis, and advice to client Parliamentary Committees. All these organisational design measures enable the Director to fulfil the legislative mandate of the office and comply with the core legislated mandate of the Office. A broad overview of the legislative framework within which the Director operates is highlighted in Figure 12.
PARLIAMENTARY BUDEGT OFFICE ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE 2022/2023 FINANCIAL YEAR
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