From the Office of the Auditor General

Government Needs to be More Responsive to the Recommendations Made By the Public Accounts Committee

The Cayman Islands Government has been slow to implement the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) recommendations, Auditor General of the Cayman Islands Sue Winspear says in her report issued Monday July 31 2017.

The report “Follow-up on past PAC recommendations,” assesses how effectively the government has implemented recommendations made by the PAC in June 2016 in response to its hearings into eight reports from the Auditor General’s office.

“Government’s progress with implementing the recommendations in the eight PAC reports is mixed,” Ms. Winspear notes. “Encouragingly, almost all recommendations have been implemented for four reports, but the picture for the other four reports is less positive with only some progress made for two reports and limited progress for the other two reports.”

The Auditor General adds, “This means that some important matters remain outstanding up to two years after my office made the original recommendation to government. For example, Government has twelve difference social assistance programmes but without a social assistance strategy or even clear criteria for some of these programmes, Government cannot be certain that the budget for welfare is being spent effectively. I understand that this Government is now prioritising social welfare improvements and I look forward to hearing about plans for future actions at the PAC session on 16th August.”

The report assesses government’s formal responses to the eight reports, provided in its Minute of October 2016, and whether it has implemented the PAC’s recommendations. It provides both a high-level and detailed assessment for each report.

“We found that the quality of government’s responses to PAC could be improved,” Ms. Winspear explains. “Some of the comments provided clear updates on progress against the recommendation, but many repeated much of what was said in response to the original OAG recommendation. This made it difficult to determine what, if any, action had been taken.”

More information about these reports can be obtained by contacting the Auditor General at (345) 244-3201 or Angela Cullen, Director of Performance Audit and report author, at (345) 244-3220.

The reports are available at www.auditorgeneral.gov.ky.

Related PR from Hon Ezzard Miller Chair of PAC

PAC set to review Auditor General’s report following up on past PAC recommendations

The members of the Cayman Islands Public Accounts Committee are planning to meet on 16 August 2017 to review the most recent audit report issued by the Office of the Auditor General. The Committee will be asking questions of government officials about the slow progress being made in implementing the Committee’s recommendations as highlighted by the Auditor General in her report entitled “Follow-up on past PAC recommendations”. The report assesses how well Government has implemented the recommendations made in the eight reports published by PAC in June 2016.

“My committee members and I welcome the Auditor General’s findings,” said Mr. Ezzard Miller, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee. “Following up on the implementation of recommendations is a fundamental part of the accountability process. The Committee is keen to ensure that Government takes seriously the recommendations made by the Auditor General and the Public Accounts Committee. To support the Committee with this, the Auditor General will be bringing similar reports to us on a regular basis.”

Mr. Miller noted that the report assesses Government’s progress with implementing the recommendations, as reported in the Government Minute of October 2016. The Auditor General has concluded that Government has made mixed progress with the implementing the recommendations in the eight reports. It has taken significant action on four reports, some progress for two reports and limited progress has been made with two reports.

“As a Committee we are pleased that Government has taken action to implement the recommendations in four reports,” said Mr. Miller. “However, we are disappointed that only some or limited progress has made with the other four reports. Some of the original Auditor General’s recommendations date as far back as May 2015 and limited progress had been made 18 months later. This is unacceptable. During the hearing, we will be asking Government about three reports in particular, covering important areas for the Cayman economy and people, such as Government programmes supporting those in need, collecting Government revenues and national land development. We will ask Government officials for further updates on progress and to provide clear explanations for any lack of progress. The Committee will be expecting clear commitments to timescales for full implementation of the recommendations. We will use the information from the hearings to support our own report to the Legislative Assembly.”

In accordance with the Legislative Assembly rules, the Public Accounts Committee’s own report will require the Government to respond within three months about how they will address the Auditor General’s findings and the recommendations made by the Committee.

The audit report noted above are available at www.auditorgeneral.gov.ky.