Responses of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development to the observations of NAO Oversight

28-10-2020

Manama, Oct. 28 (BNA): The Ministry of Labour and Social Development applauds the National Audit Office for its constructive cooperation with all government entities and for the role it plays in developing administrative processes and strengthening institutional performance. With reference to the observations contained in the latest National Audit Office report, the Ministry wishes to provide the following clarifications. Concerning the observation that the Employment Directorate has, in certain instances, nominated job seekers for one or more vacancies while also accepting registration requests from retired individuals, the Ministry reiterates that the fundamental eligibility criteria for any job seeker require that the individual be uninsured, that is not currently employed, and not retired. The electronic registration and nomination platform, which is fully integrated with the Information and eGovernment Authority and the Social Insurance Organisation, automatically blocks the registration or nomination of persons whose records indicate active employment or retirement status. The very limited cases highlighted by the National Audit Office arose because those individuals had not yet been excluded from insurance by their employers, even though they had already filed labour complaints with the Ministry and were awaiting unemployment benefits while actively seeking alternative employment. A small number of additional cases occurred where employers insured individuals retroactively following their nomination, creating an overlap between the nomination date and the subsequent insurance entry. A very limited number of retirees appeared in the records because their registration with the Ministry preceded the completion of their retirement formalities. Since the launch of the upgraded electronic platform—integrated with the Information and eGovernment Authority and the Social Insurance Organisation (SIO)—the recurrence of such cases has been eliminated, as the system now automatically blocks the nomination of insured persons and retirees and continuously exchanges data to identify anyone who has retired or filed for retirement. With regard to the observation on strengthening measures that encourage social‑assistance beneficiaries to complete general and higher education, the Ministry affirms its ongoing efforts to help these groups finish their studies so that they can integrate more readily into the labour market. The Ministry includes students in its social‑assistance calculations and allows divorced women who are pursuing education to continue receiving support until they obtain their qualifications, thereby enhancing their employment prospects. All beneficiaries identified as students—males aged 18 to 24—were contacted to verify their enrolment status; those who had completed their studies were referred to the Higher Committee for Empowerment and Family Development for the next stage of support and integration. The Ministry reiterates that coordination with all competent bodies to develop projects for low‑income families is continuous and effective: families enrolled in social‑security programmes are systematically channelled into capacity‑building schemes, and many households have already benefited. To institutionalise this effort, the Supreme Committee for Empowering and Developing Families was formed, through which representative samples of beneficiaries are referred to employment opportunities, vocational training and productive‑family services. With respect to the NAO’s comment on the disbursement of financial‑support assistance to individuals exempted under Cabinet Resolution No. 01‑2025, the Ministry confirms that every payment is executed automatically—without human interference—via an electronic linkage that updates beneficiary data monthly in concert with other government entities. This system verifies marital status, income and residency before each disbursement; the isolated cases cited arose because updates were delayed by the relevant authorities following the electoral process. Once corrected, payments ceased immediately through the Ministry’s platform. Legal measures are underway to recover any amounts issued in error, and the Ministry continues to refine its data‑sharing mechanisms with partner agencies to ensure that personal‑data updates reach its systems promptly. Concerning the NAO’s remark that roughly 22,000 social‑assistance beneficiaries are listed as married, divorced or widowed with no corresponding records at the Authority that registers marital events, the Ministry clarifies that marital‑status data for every beneficiary are supplied electronically by the population‑registry Authority and fed automatically into the Ministry’s systems; this linkage is a standing control that validates initial eligibility and monitors continued entitlement to assistance. With respect to the observation that social‑assistance payments were issued to deceased individuals because death information had not been updated in the Information and eGovernment Authority database, the Ministry confirms that, as a rule, its monthly data synchronisation with partner agencies blocks any disbursement once a death record is received. In the specific instances cited, the Ministry had not yet been notified of the deaths prior to the scheduled payment run. Cases in which death data were missing are extremely limited; the Information and eGovernment Authority has been engaged to determine why those updates failed to transmit, and documentary evidence of this coordination has been provided to the NAO review team. The Authority has since implemented a direct‑update mechanism that posts death notifications to the population registry in real time. Disbursements to the deceased beneficiaries identified have been halted, and the Ministry is compiling a comprehensive electronic death ledger in cooperation with the relevant bodies so that such cases are intercepted automatically before any future cash‑support transactions are processed.