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Department: Office of the Premier The department also continued to prioritise Education and Health turnaround, through the coordination of the support in identified high-risk areas such as the Revitalised Scholar Transport Project; Enhanced Learner Teacher Supply Material; Education and Health Infrastructure Delivery; Digitisation of Health Sector Records and Litigation Management. The department working jointly with the PT, CoGTA and established task teams is supporting the local government sphere in an integrated and co-ordinated manner in critical areas of audit improvement, delivery of basic service, debt management, disaster management, and expenditure on conditional grants. While this work only started taking shape in the second half of the 2023/24 financial year there is already evidence that it is having an impact. For instance, the expenditure on conditional grants is gradually improving, the same trend is also recorded on audit outcomes. There has been an improvement in the 2023/24 audit outcomes for most of the provincial departments compared to the previous financial year. In terms of human resource management, it should be reported that 6 departments submitted Annual Recruitment Plan (ARP) in the 3rd quarter to PCMT for filling of vacant posts. Due to the time taken to fill posts beyond the required Department of Public Service Administration (DPSA) timeframe of 6 months, OTP moved to digitize the ARP on the e-recruitment system to put controls in place. The rollout of the broadband project continued during the period under review. To date 1 975 sites have been connected with fibre. The department was however, challenged in terms of resourcing the project. OTP has thus engaged with SA Connect and Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) to collaborate areas of mutual interest in respect of the roll out in the province. Additionally, a business case for BFI funding of the broadband beyond 2025 MTEF has been submitted through Infrastructure South Africa (ISA). 2.2 Key Challenges Broadband utilisation remains a challenge where some sites are not utilised due to various factors ranging from lack of Local Area Network (LAN) infrastructure, vandalism, and power issues. This affects mainly departments such as Education, Health and Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture. The project is also experienced cash-flow challenges as such the connected sites as at end July 2024 are 1 975 on fibre against the target of 2 700, and the remaining 659 have been connected through wireless due to funding constraints. The department has since been engaging various stakeholders to leverage funding including the national sphere. 3 OUTLOOK FOR THE COMING FINANCIAL YEAR (2025/26) The department's mandate is to support the Premier in leading the government to serve the public. The 7th Administration's plan focuses on three priorities: inclusive growth and job creation, reducing poverty and the high cost of living, and building a capable, ethical, and developmental state. These align with the Provincial Development Plan. These priorities are aligned with the Provincial Development Plan, and the department has structured its five outcomes and corresponding indicators to align with the PDP%u2019s objectives. A growing, inclusive and equitable economy remains critical in the province, such that key measures of success include General Data Protection Regulation (GDP-R), unemployment rates (both official and expanded), and job creation. To contribute to this goal, the OTP will focus on the following areas: %uf0b7 Co-ordination of skills development and training programmes for the economy such as skills and the Expanded Public Works Programme; %uf0b7 Implementation of programmes for youth development, skills development and training for the economy, which include internships, internships, learnerships, bursaries, Work Integrated Learning, short skills programmes, and apprenticeships; 110