The Parliamentary Committee for the Monitoring of Public Expenditure Development Plans and Controls met in session today, Thursday, March 31, 2022, in the presence of the Auditor General, the Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment and representatives of the relevant government agencies/departments of the Ministry, for the ex officio examination of the Annual Report of the Auditor General for the year 2020 [AUDIT OF THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENT - SPECIAL REPORT 8.3.2022 (YGAAP/01/2022)] (No. File No. 23.04.039.002-2022, 05.14.007.001), in the context of which the views of all stakeholders were submitted.
The Auditor General informed the Committee of the purpose and findings of the financial audit conducted by his office on the financial statements of the Republic of Cyprus, in the context of which a sample of receipts and payments transactions of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment was audited in respect of the Administration/Departments/Services under the responsibility of the Ministry for the years 2019 and 2020. He also referred to the findings of the compliance audit for the years under review, mainly in relation to the follow-up of findings and recommendations arising from previous audits of his department and the investigation of issues arising from complaints submitted to the Audit Office on various issues.
In addition, the Auditor General referred, inter alia, to weaknesses and omissions in the process of approval, imposition and monitoring of administrative fines by the Veterinary Services and failure to ensure the ability to Furthermore, he noted the need for the Environment Department to take all necessary steps to protect against illegal developments in protected areas within the Natura 2000 network, as well as to approve planning applications and planning zones within the framework of compliance with the legislation concerning the environmental assessment of projects.
The Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment assured that all the above mentioned issues recorded in the report under consideration are being managed by the relevant departments/agencies of the Ministry, in order to avoid their recurrence and to ensure in any case that action is taken to prevent them. The Directors of other departments/divisions of the Ministry commented on the individual findings of the report and responded to relevant queries raised by the members of the Committee.
Further, the Committee was briefed, inter alia, on the management of cereal stocks to meet the needs of the Republic of Cyprus as a result of the emergency situation created by the war in Ukraine, which is causing difficulties in finding cereals for human consumption and animal feed, on the adoption of a decree setting the rate for maintaining strategic stocks of cereals and on the implementation of the standard for the production of halal flour as a product with a protected designation of origin (PDO).
Secretariat of the Parliamentary Committee
Monitoring of Public Expenditure Development Plans and Control
Email: parliamentary-committees@parliament.cy
(NΓ)
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