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The Court of Auditors does not praise too much the accounts of the Higher Institute of Health

The Court of Auditors does not praise too much the accounts of the Higher Institute of Health

"Approximation and lack of clarity on the staff" is one of the judgments that the Court of Auditors gives to the Higher Institute of Health on 2021 management. Here is why and all the other details of the report of the accounting magistrates

What is the report card of the Court of Auditors on the accounts of the Higher Institute of Health?

Here are all the details.

THE COURT'S REPORT ON THE ACCOUNTS OF THE SUPERIOR HEALTH INSTITUTE

The Entities Control Section of the Court of Auditors approved , with resolution no. 111/2022, the 2021 management report of the Higher Institute of Health (Iss), a body subject to the supervision of the Ministry of Health which, during the health emergency, assumed a leading position in the surveillance of epidemiological data of Regions and Autonomous Provinces and in the mapping of the epidemic on the national territory during the Covid-19 pandemic.

RECRUITMENT OF EXTRA STAFF IN THE HIGHER HEALTH INSTITUTE

To cope with the needs that emerged from the pandemic, an extraordinary current portion of € 4 million has been provided for each year 2020, 2021 and 2022, to be used also for hiring temporary staff. In this context, the ISS was also authorized to hire, in the same period of time, 50 units of temporary staff, underline the accounting magistrates.

The ISS reported that during the 2021 financial year the financial resources were committed as follows: € 2,320,000 for "purchases of goods and services" and € 1,680,000 for the hiring of 30 staff with contracts fixed-term contract dedicated to activities related to the management of the Covid-19 emergency.

HOW MUCH WAS SPENT ON THE STAFF

The total cost of personnel in 2021 (1,710 permanent and 157 fixed-term units, of which 938 in technical and administrative roles and 772 researchers) – the document reads – is equal to 120,035,844 euros, an increase of 0.4 % compared to 119,593,040 in 2020.

THE CRITICISM OF THE COURT OF AUDITORS

On this aspect, the Court rejects the ISS as “it has found aspects of approximation and lack of clarity in the definition of the staff, highlighting the need for a complete and transparent survey of the staff consistency”.

Furthermore, "the Court […] considers that the adoption of a specific legislative act cannot be postponed, which defines in a precise and unequivocal manner also the duties attributable to each of the various professional profiles of the Body" and "reserves the right to investigate the procedures for recruitment carried out with planning […] for the purpose of respecting the spending limit set for research institutions […] and safeguarding the prospective balance of the budget ".

PERMANENT CONTRACTS DECREASE

From the data it emerges that the permanent staff units in service, both research and administrative, undergo a decrease (-5.2%) equal to 93 units as a result of the “effect of the significant number of retired personnel”.

In particular, observes the Court, there is a decrease in the number of personnel in all profiles: -3.6% of research and technology personnel consisting of 772 units in 2021; -30% of management staff consisting of 7 units in 2021; -6.6% of the administrative and technical staff, consisting of 945 units in 2021.

The fixed-term staff, on the other hand, increased as at 31 December 2021, rising to 157 units compared to 132 units in 2020.

REVENUES DECREASE

The financial surplus of 4,214,326 euros undergoes a decrease of 1.1% compared to 2020, due to lower ascertained revenues and higher committed expenses.

Current revenues, which mainly depend on public transfers for 91.5%, decreased by 14.3% (from 220.125.782 to 188.727.860 euros), those on capital account by 1.3%. In this regard, the Court "recommends that the ISS constantly monitor the trends in current and capital account income and expenditure".

The general total of current and capital account expenses (325,482,296 euros) increased by 8%, while the administration surplus (119,519,043 euros) grew by 1.1% on 118,231,032 in 2020.

2021 closed with a positive economic result of € 1,533,234 (+ 43.52%). The value of production (193,266,801 euros) increased by 12.3%, while the shareholders' equity, equal to 74,620,247 euros, grew by 2.1% on the previous year.

THE REMUNERATION OF THE PRESIDENT AND OTHER MEMBERS

The indemnity of the Chairman, the emoluments and reimbursement of expenses of the members of the Board of Directors and of the Board of Auditors have been restated, as provided for by paragraph 9 of art. 4 of Legislative Decree no. 106 of 20122, in amounts lower than those of 2015 which remain unchanged in the year in question.

The following amounts are to be considered gross per annum: to the President 130,000 euros; to the Directors € 20,000; to the members of the Scientific Committee € 5,000; to the President of the Board of Auditors € 16,000; to the regular members of the Board of Auditors € 13,350 each.

The total remuneration and reimbursement of expenses of the institutional bodies of the Institute, including the remuneration to the independent assessment body (Oiv) and including social security contributions and the cost to be paid annually to a specific chapter of the State budget income, are an overall increase (+ 14%), going from € 408,183 in 2020 to € 465,330 in 2021.

On this too, the Court "recommends the ISS the need to constantly monitor the trend of such expenses".


This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/la-corte-dei-conti-non-elogia-troppo-i-conti-dellistituto-superiore-di-sanita/ on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 14:42:45 +0000.