Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work for the financial year 2010
(C7-0279/2011 – 2011/2218(DEC))

This report, by Monica Luisa MACOVEI (EPP, RO), was written for and adopted by the Committee on Budgetary Control.

Below is a summary of the report.

Budget and Financial Management

The report takes note of the initial Union contribution to the budget of the European Agency for 2010, which amounted to EUR 13,743,434. However, EUR 506,566 arising from the recovery of surplus was added to this which resulted in a total Union contribution of EUR 14,250,000 for 2010.

The report further acknowledges that according to the Agency's Annual Activity Report (AAR), of the budget available in 2010, 96.1 % was committed by the end of the year.

Carryover appropriations

The report notes that there was an improvement in the Agency's carryover appropriations over the years. In particular, the Agency reduced its cancellation rate from 19% in 2009 to 11% in 2010. Nonetheless, the European Parliament (EP) calls on the Agency further to improve the situation by avoiding delays in the implementation of its activities.

Human Resources

As regards the Agency’s 66 staff members, the EP calls for it to inform the discharge authority about the measures the Agency took to fulfil the objectives set out below in its Annual Work Programme. These measures included:

- Organising and monitoring selection procedures for temporary agents and contract agents;

- Managing and administering the human resources function in an effective and timely manner;

- Getting the necessary qualified staff for the Agency to meet the Agency's strategy and objectives to implement its annual management plans.

Performance

The EP welcomes the Agency's initiative of launching "foresight" on the health and safety impact of technological innovations in "green jobs" by 2020, and asks for feedback on these given that the results are being disseminated at the World Congress and in a seminar series.

Internal audit

The EP expresses approval of the way the Agency initiated the automatic provision of the Annual Internal Audit Report of the Internal Audit Service (IAS) to the discharge authority. The EP considers this to be an “indication of transparency and an example of best practice to be followed by all other Agencies”.

In addition, the report notes that in November 2010 the IAS performed an audit on the website and external communications and that in this audit the IAS raised seven recommendations; none of which were rated as "critical", however, two were considered as "very important". These were related to the service level agreement documentation, and the adoption and implementation of a security policy.

The European Parliament voted to approve the report on the 10th May 2012 with 537 for, 71 against and 8 abstentions.

To read the report click here

Alternatively visit the website at www.europarl.europa.eu

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