Programme-budget for the operational expenditure of the Assembly in 1982
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 13 May 1981 (3rd Sitting) (see Doc. 4702, report of the Committee on the Budget and the Intergovernmental Work Programme). Text adopted by the Assembly on 13 May 1981 (3rd Sitting).
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Having regard to the texts relating to the powers of the Assembly in budgetary matters (1953-76) ;
2. Having taken note of the reply by the Committee of Ministers to its Opinion Nos. 100 (1980) and 102 (1980), on its operational expenditure and on the Council of Europe budget,
3. Expresses its satisfaction at the favourable action taken by the Committee of Ministers with regard to
Opinion No. 103 (1980), giving a supplementary opinion on the programme-budget for the operation of the Assembly in 1980, to cover shortfalls with respect to remuneration and accessory charges for temporary staff (mainly interpreters), as well as publishing and printing ;
4. Reiterates its views expressed earlier that the staff in the Office of the Clerk needs reinforcement as well as certain upgradings to face its duties and responsibilities, which have increased considerably over the last years, and regrets that the Committee of Ministers was unable to approve any request for a strengthening of the permanent secretarial staff in 1981 ;
5. Deplores that the Committee of Ministers could not agree to make any increase in real terms in the allocation to political groups in 1981, although it has expressed its awareness of the relevance of the arguments in favour of increasing the appropriation ;
6. Draws particular attention to the fact that it has refrained from asking for any increases in real terms in the budgetary package for 1982, but emphasises the need for some staffing changes necessary for the continued smooth running of the Office of the Clerk ;
7. Welcomes the improvement in welfare arrangements for temporary staff, as decided on by the Secretary General, through the affiliation of such staff to the French general social security scheme, as well as to a French public supplementary retirement pension fund, which will provide them with increased social protection, but emphasises that the increase in budget appropriations necessitated by these measures should in no event be regarded as an increase in the Assembly's budgetary resources, as such a step is purely social in character and in no way affects the operation of the Assembly ;
8. Adopts, accordingly, the following opinion concerning its operational expenditure for 1982 (Vote III of the Council of Europe budget) :
A. Summary table of requested increases in real terms for 1982, compared with initial appropriations for 1981
Voir Tableau (Appendix)
B. Detailed explanations of the increase in real terms requested
Introduction
9. As already explained in earlier opinions, the changes requested for 1982 are to be regarded as increases in real terms over the appropriations made to the Assembly for 1981.
10. As in previous years, the Assembly leaves it to the Secretariat administration to assess in due course, in the same way as for other sectors of the draft budget submitted by the Secretariat General, the adjustments to appropriations still required in 1981 as a result of pay scale changes and their consequences for 1982, and also the provisions to be made for pay adjustments in 1982.
11. For these reasons, as in the past, the final estimates for the head concerning staff expenditure are not shown here.
12. Similarly, it will be for the Secretariat to evaluate the effects of inflation on the other 1982 estimates and adjust them accordingly.
13. The estimates entered here under Head XXII (supplies and services and other operational expenditure), which constitute the budgetary package, will therefore have to be adjusted before the budget is adopted.
14. The Assembly's estimates for 1982 will thus be determined by the total 1981 Assembly appropriations (including the supplementary appropriations voted in the course of the year), to which will be added :
the increases in real terms requested in this opinion ;
the technical adjustments to be made by the Secretariat as indicated in the foregoing paragraphs.
15. Lastly, it is pointed out that the appropriations under Vote III referred to in this opinion relate directly to the operation of the Assembly and do not cover installations, supplies or equipment.
Analysis of estimates according to budget classification
HEAD XX — Staff
Sub-head 87 - Salary, allowances and social charges of the Clerk of the Assembly
This covers salary, allowances and other charges in respect of the Clerk of the Assembly as provided in Resolution (71) 8 of 26 March 1971, last amended by Resolution (81) 2 of 23 January 1981.
Sub-head 88 - Remuneration of permanent staff
This relates to the staff of the Office of the Clerk of the Assembly (basic salaries, non-recurring and regular allowances, social insurance and pension fund contributions).
The present numerical breakdown of staff, if subdivided according to Divisions, is as follows :
Voir Tableau (Appendix)
The numeral breakdown of A grade staff according to committees is as follows :
Voir Tableau (Appendix)
Sub-head 88 bis - Staffing changes requested for the Office of the Clerk of the Assembly
Voir Tableau (Appendix)
16. The Assembly recalls its arguments set forth in
Opinion No. 100 (1980) concerning the need to create a supplementary post B3 of bilingual assistant to cover at least one of the languages of the newly-accepted countries to the Council of Europe in the Office of the Clerk. This request was first made in
Opinion No. 82 (1977) and the Assembly stresses the importance of creating this post without further delay.
17. The Assembly furthermore recalls its request made in
Opinion No. 100 (1980) to upgrade the post of the Head of the Table Office from A5 to A6. As outlined in that document, the tasks assigned to the Table Office have developed and increased considerably over the last ten years. This is due mainly to the arrival of parliamentary delegations from four new member states and the 20% increase in the Assembly's membership resulting therefrom, the "time-tabling of debates" as decided by the Assembly, the supervision of the work of the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations, the co-direction of the European Centre for Parliamentary Documentation and Research, as well as the responsibility of the Head of the Table Office, during sessions, for the work of fifty or so temporary officials, some of whom have grades equivalent to A5.
18. It becomes apparent from the attached table that although the organigramme of the Assembly shows thirteen operative committees, the Office of the Clerk has only seven posts of Grade A4 equivalent to a Principal Administrative Officer. The Assembly is of the opinion that like national parliaments and other European assemblies, such as the European Parliament and WEU, where equivalent officials rank A5, every committee should have at least one senior secretary of grade A4, a grade which should also be assigned to the Head of the Private Office of the President. To correct this imbalance, the upgrading of at least four A2/3 posts to A4 would normally be required. However, bearing in mind that certain committee secretaries at present help out with the work of other committees, and having regard to the extremely difficult budgetary situation of the organisation and of member states in general, the Assembly has decided to limit its requests for 1982 to only two upgradings from A2/3 to A4.
19. Given the requests under 1 to 3, the Assembly is prepared to suspend for the time being requests made since 1973 concerning the upgrading of two B2 posts to B3 and to mention them pro memoria only.
Sub-head 89 - Expenses on arrival or departure—home leave
This sub-head covers :
travelling and removal expenses of the staff of the Office of the Clerk of the Assembly and their families on taking up their duties or on their departure ;
settling-in allowance ;
refund of travelling expenses of non-French staff and their families taking home leave.
Comments
The Assembly requests that the 1982 appropriation be maintained at the same level in real terms as for 1981.
Sub-head 90 - Overtime—allowances to permanent staff for exceptional duties
This estimate is to cover :
a overtime worked during sessions of the Assem-sembly by permanent staff in the general departments ;
b language allowance, until they have been upgraded to B3, for B2 staff in the Office of the Clerk giving proof of an adequate knowledge of the two official languages (Resolution (72) 32) ;
c allowances payable under Article 12 of the Staff Regulations to officials assuming special responsibilities ;
d deputising allowances ;
e expenses of candidates called for recruitment tests.
Comments
The Assembly requests that the 1982 appropriations be maintained at the same level in real terms as for 1981.
Sub-head 91 - Staff recruited to fill vacant permanent posts on a temporary basis
This covers remuneration to staff recruited temporarily to the Office of the Clerk to fill permanent posts which are vacant or not remunerated (long-term illness).
Comments
Since the expenditure will be covered by the transfer of the appropriations available under Sub-head 88, this appropriation appears only as a token entry.
Sub-head 92 - Remuneration and accessory charges In respect of temporary staff
This covers remuneration and social charges for temporary staff (session staff, workshop staff, messengers, technicians, translators, and above all interpreters) assigned to the Office of the Clerk during the sessions and meetings of the Assembly and its committees scheduled in the programme for 1982 at the time of drafting this opinion.
Comments
20. The affiliation to temporary staff to the French general social security scheme as well as to a French public supplementary retirement pension fund, providing improved social cover for this category of staff, automatically entails an increase in appropriations under this sub-head. However, this increase, at present estimated at 162 000 F by the Secretariat's administrative department, does not strictly speaking represent an increase in the Assembly's operational resources.
21. Moreover, as usual, the Assembly reserves the right to submit supplementary estimates should it decide to alter its time-table for 1982 while remaining within the statutory limits.
Sub-head 93 - Provisions for cost-of-llving allowance and other adjustments to remuneration
The estimate under this sub-head is to cover adjustments to the remuneration of staff allocated to the Office of the Clerk made after the date of completion of the draft budget (see also introduction above).
Sub-head 94 - Special Secretariat expenses and other expenditure
Estimates:650 000 F
Appropriation in 1981:533 500 F
Increase:116 500 F
This is to cover "miscellaneous expenses incurred by members of the Assembly in the discharge of specific duties for the Council of Europe, such as those for Secretariat assistance, documentation and travel" (Resolution (58) 4 of the Committee of Ministers of 27 March 1958). The appropriation is allocated to the political groups of the Assembly according to a key of apportionment decided upon by the Bureau of the Assembly.
Comments
The Assembly deplores the Committee of Ministers' decision not to increase this appropriation as requested in Opinion No. 100 (1980), thus hampering political groups in the achievement of their aims and the carrying out of their programmmes. The Assembly noted that this is due to the present economic situation and therefore only reiterates its request made in 1980, i.e. to bring the overall appropriations to 650 000 F.
Budgetary package
HEAD XXII — Supplies and services and other operational expenditure
Sub-head 95- Publishing and printing
Appropriation in 1981 : 1 052 000 F
This covers publishing and printing costs relating to:
official Assembly documents, i.e. :
1 200 bilingual copies of the documents (working papers) (2 800-3 000 pages) ;
900 copies in each official language of the official report of debates (1 200-1 400 pages) ;
distribution of report and documents adopted by the Assembly and its committees, and circulation and translation by national parliaments of certain texts adopted.
Sub-head 96 - Representational, travelling and subsistence expenses of the President of the Assembly
Appropriation in 1981 : 176 000 F
These are representational, travelling and subsistence expenses incurred by the President of the Assembly in the performance of his duties :
a fixed representational allowance ;
b travel and subsistence.
Sub-head 97 - Expenditure pertaining to the Private Office of the President of the Assembly
Appropriation in 1981 : 101 000 F
Estimate to cover :
1 official travel by Private Office staff or staff travelling on the President's request or for his needs ;
2 remuneration of a shorthand-typist for the President and other secretarial expenses ;
3 special duties allowance ;
4 sundry secretarial expenses.
Sub-head 98 - Representational expenditure, other official expenditure and travelling expenses of members of the Assembly
Appropriation in 1981 : 209 000 F
This sub-head covers :
entertainment and similar expenses incurred by the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly, committee chairmen and rapporteurs ;
travelling expenses and subsistence allowances of members of the Assembly attending meetings of certain Council of Europe bodies (other than sessions of the Assembly and meetings of Assembly committees) on the Council's behalf or travelling on Assembly business ;
accident insurance premium for members of the Assembly travelling officially at the Council's expense.
Sub-head 99 - Official journeys
Appropriation in 1981 : 508 500 F
Official travel by the staff of the Office of the Clerk and other Secretariat staff required to attend meetings of Assembly bodies and other organisations.
Sub-head 100 - Consultation of experts
Appropriation in 1981 : 495 000 F
This is to cover fees, travelling expenses, subsistence allowances and administrative assistance for experts, including those from non-member states, asked to carry out technical work or called in for consultation by Assembly bodies, either individually or in working parties. It is also intended to finance the scientific co-operation programme launched by the Assembly at the instigation of the Committee on Science and Technology.
Sub-head 101 - Organisation of ad hoc conferences
Appropriation in 1981 : 279 000 F
This is to cover the organisation of conferences, colloquies, symposia or seminars including the travelling and subsistence expenses of those taking part, as well as publishing, translation and printing costs (in non-official languages also) and the entertainment and other expenses incidental to those meetings.
Sub-head 102 - Other expenditure not specifically provided for in this Vote
Appropriation in 1981 : 65 000 F
Refreshments for staff on night duty, hire of cars, gratuities for special work, medals, flags and poles, etc.
Sub-head 103 - Europe Prizes
Appropriation in 1981 : 55 000 F
a Europe Prize
b Council of Europe Museum Prize
c Expenses connected with the representation of the prizes including dinners, receptions, flowers, dip-plomas, insurances, etc.
Sub-head 104 - Fixed contribution towards the cost of using a computer
Token entry
As mentioned in earlier opinions, the Assembly is prepared to be associated in the form of a fixed contribution to the use of a computer, for which it has expressed its interest.
Comments
In view of the fact that the Committee of Ministers is requested to pay particular attention to the requests made under Head XX with regard to staff, the Assembly has decided to refrain from asking for any increases in the budgetary package, and merely requests that the overall allocation amounting for 1981 to 2 940 500 F, be maintained for 1982 at the same level in real terms.
Appendix
A. Summary table of requested increases in real terms for 1982, compared with initial appropriations for 1981
| VOTE III - Expenditure pertaining to the Assembly |
|
Initial appropriations for 1981 |
Increases in real terms proposed for 1982 |
| HEAD XX –Staff |
|
F |
F |
| Sub-heads |
|
|
|
| 87 |
Salary, allowances and social charges of the Clerk of the Assembly |
499 000 |
|
| 88 |
Remuneration of permanent staff |
9 588 000 |
|
| 88bis |
Assembly staffing changes |
|
163 500 |
| 89 |
Expenses on arrival and departure, home leave |
100 000 |
|
| 90 |
Overtime and allowances for exceptional duties |
45 000 |
|
| 91 |
Staff recruited to fill vacant permanent posts on a temporary basis |
t.e |
|
| 92 |
Remuneration and accessory charges for temporary conference staff |
6 030 000 |
162 000 |
| 93 |
Provision for cost of living allowance and other adjustments to remuneration |
1 850 000 |
|
| |
|
__________________________ |
__________________________ |
| TOTAL HEAD XX |
|
18 112 000 |
325 500 |
| HEAD XXI - Special Secretariat expenses and other expenses |
|
|
|
| 94 |
Special Secretariat expenses and other expenses |
533 500 |
116 500 |
| |
|
__________________________ |
__________________________ |
| TOTAL HEAD XXI |
|
533 500 |
116 500 |
| HEAD XXII - Supplies, services and other operational expenditure (budgetary package) |
|
|
|
| Sub-heads |
|
|
|
| 95 |
Publishing and printing |
1 052 000 |
|
| 96 |
Representational, travelling and subsistence expenses of the President of the Assembly |
176 000 |
|
| 97 |
Expenditure pertaining to the Private Office of the President of the Assembly |
101 000 |
|
| 98 |
Representational expenditure, other official expenditure and travelling expenses of the members of the Assembly |
209 000 |
|
| 99 |
Official journeys |
508 500 |
|
| 100 |
Consultation of experts |
495 000 |
|
| 101 |
Organisation of ad hoc conferences |
279 000 |
|
| 102 |
Other expenditure not specifically provided for in this Vote |
65 000 |
|
| 103 |
Europe Prizes |
55 000 |
|
| 104 ter |
Fixed contribution towards the use of a computer |
t.e |
|
| |
|
_____________________________________ |
_____________________________________ |
| TOTAL HEAD XXII |
|
2 940 500 |
|
| TOTAL VOTE III |
|
21 586 000 |
442 000 |
Sub-head 88 - Remuneration of permanent staff
| Posts |
Secretariat of the Clerk and Deputy Clerk, Private Office of the President |
Div. I |
Div. II |
Div. III |
Table Office |
Total |
| A7 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
1 |
| A6 |
|
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
| A5 |
|
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
| A4 |
|
2 |
3 |
2 |
|
7 |
| A2/A3 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
12 |
| B5 |
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
| B4 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
3 |
| B3 |
2 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
15 |
| B2 |
|
|
|
2 |
|
2 |
| Total |
6 |
12 |
11 |
12 |
5 |
46 |
| A grades in the Office of the Clerk as on 1 March 1981 |
|
A7 |
A6 |
A5 |
A4 |
A2/3 |
Total |
| Deputy Clerk |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
1 |
| Division I - (number of seats per committee) |
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
| Political Affairs Committee (38) |
|
|
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
| Committee on Relations with European Non-member Countries (25) |
|
|
|
|
|
[i] |
[i] |
| Committee on Science and Technology and Scientific Co-operation (38) |
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
| Committee on the Budget and the Intergovernemtal Work Programme (25) |
|
|
|
|
[ii] |
[ii] |
[ii] |
| Division II |
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
1 |
| Committee on Economic Affairs and Development (38) |
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
2 |
| Committee on Culture and Education (38) |
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
2 |
| Committee on Agriculture (29) |
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
2 |
| Division III |
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
1 |
| Committee on Regional Planning and Local Authorities (38) |
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
2 |
| Legal Affairs Committee (38) |
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
2 |
| Committee on Social and Health Questions (38) |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
| Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography (33) |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
| Table Office and Committee on Rules of Procedure (29) |
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
1 |
| Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations (25) |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
| Private Office of the President |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
| TOTAL : |
|
1 |
1 |
3 |
7 |
12 |
24 |
Sub-head 88 bis - Staffing changes requested for the Office of the Clerk of the Assembly
| |
Nature of change |
Assignment |
| New post |
1 B3 |
Secretariat of committees |
| Upgradings |
Requested : 1 A5 to A6 |
Table Office |
| |
Requested : 2 A2/3 to A4 |
Committee secretaries |
| |
Pro memoria : 2 B2 to B3 |
Bilingual assistants |
