News item | 5/17/2023 | 11:47
Despite the efforts made in 2022, VWS again reports irregularities in its annual report. After review, €1.4 billion of commitments and €0.9 billion of expenditures are classified as incorrect or uncertain. These figures show progress compared to 2021, but further improvement is needed. Despite great efforts in the settlement in 2022 of the advances that VWS took out during the corona pandemic in 2020 and 2021, it turned out that it cannot be fully determined whether the applicable rules have been complied with for € 5.1 billion. Of this, € 4.7 billion is specifically related to corona files. This was announced by the Ministry on Accountability Day.
The irregularities (errors and uncertainties) found by the ministry do not mean that the funds provided did not end up properly or that fraud has been committed. Unlawfulness is failure to comply with the applicable laws and regulations applied by the central government. The national government sets high standards with regard to the lawful spending and accountability of financial resources. Examples of this are informing parliament too late or insufficient substantiation of performance when making a payment.
Fast and complex decisions during pandemic
The extent of the irregularities can largely be traced back to the measures that the ministry had to take during the corona pandemic. Measures to provide financial support to the GGDs and Security Regions or to purchase aids had to be taken quickly and under great pressure in order to manage the crisis. The speed and complexity of the expenditure involved meant that the desired degree of certainty with regard to regularity was not always established afterwards. VWS has chosen to complete many of the corona files from 2020 and 2021 (so-called advance payments) in 2022. As a result, the ministry reports € 5.1 billion in errors and uncertainties in the settled advances in its annual report for 2022, € 4.7 billion of which are related to corona files. Despite great efforts by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, it was not possible to fully determine whether these expenditures were spent in accordance with the applicable rules.
Care bonus
An example of a large file where, despite the speed of implementation, it went well is the Bonus healthcare professionals COVID-19 for an amount of € 2.1 billion. It was the wish of the House to keep the administrative burden at the care institutions as low as possible when accounting for the so-called Care Bonus. At the same time, it had to be demonstrated with the highest possible degree of certainty that the resources were well spent. This was achieved by means of an extensive sample.
Improvement has started
The ministry acknowledges that structural improvement is needed. VWS worked on this in 2022 with an improvement program to further improve processes, including purchasing, material management and subsidy management. This has led to other instruction forms and renewal of the handbooks that are used, both for employees in policy departments and those in the finance department. The financial function has also been strengthened with additional staff, an example of which is the Financial and Economic Affairs Department (FEZ), where 20 additional employees have been hired. In addition, a thorough design of the financial function within VWS is now also being considered and attention is being paid to the cultural aspects that are part of this change process.