Question On Notice No. 393 asked in the Legislative Council on 10 October 2017 by Hon Tjorn Sibma
Question Directed to the: Leader of the House representing the Premier
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
Question
I refer to the Local Projects, Local Jobs funding program, and ask:
(a) which Minister is responsible for administering the $39 million program and what do those responsibilities include;
(b) is this the same Minister who accepts responsibility for ensuring that the use of public funds to support the Local Projects, Local Jobs complies with the Financial Management Act 2006 and other relevant legislation safeguarding the proper use of public funds;
(c) noting the financial value of the program, when were community groups advised of their ability to apply for funding through the Local Projects, Local Jobs program;
(d) how many groups applied for funding and how did they apply;
(e) what uniform objective criteria has been applied to assess the merits of individual projects seeking funding through the Local Projects, Local Jobs program;
(f) can Ministers provide information concerning how each of the 750 projects funded, or promised funding, through the Local Projects, Local Jobs program was evaluated or will be evaluated against the criteria referred to at (e) above;
(g) in relation to (e) and (f) above, which organisations have already received funding and for what purpose;
(h) if there is no uniform objective criteria governing the administration of the Local Projects, Local Jobs program, how and by who are decisions made to allocate funding and funding amounts; and
(i) how is the success of projects funded through this program proposed to be evaluated?
Answered on 28 November 2017
(a) The Premier appointed Mr John Carey MLA, Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier to oversee the Local Projects, Local Jobs program. Mr Carey has liaised closely with all relevant local members to clarify the detail of each commitment.
(b) All agencies responsible for delivering Local Projects, Local Jobs grants are doing so in accordance with agency specific processes and requirements, including acquittal reporting.
(c)-(f) These were election commitments promised to community organisations in the lead up to the March 2017 State election.
(g) As at 30 September 2017, of the 855 individual grants (some commitments involve a number of recipient organisations) 646 had received funding.
(h) Please see (c)-(f). All commitments were approved through the Expenditure Review Committee and Cabinet processes.
(i) The Department of the Premier and Cabinet is monitoring the delivery of grants, including when projects are complete and appropriate acquittal information received.