TALLINN, 1 September 2004 - The State Audit Office audited the use of 4% of gambling tax, allocated to the Red Cross by the state and decided that the relations with public interests could be more intensive.
When utilising the funds received, the Red Cross pursues its statutory Red Cross objectives which have been set at national level; so far, the state has done nothing to give any specifying recommendations. According to the opinion of the State Audit Office, the Ministry of Social Affairs should protect national interest by the conclusion of a more specific contract and active participation in the preparation of development plans and budgets.
Conclusion of a more specific contract would contribute to two issues. Firstly, the conclusion of a contract would contribute to better coordination of overlapping activities of the state and the society. This would assure maximum use of both the funds allocated by the state and collected by the society in public interests. For example, a relatively new trend in the activities of Estonian Red Cross is the preparation of volunteers helping professional rescue workers in emergency situations. The Ministry of Social Affairs had not analysed whether the preparation of volunteers is required in all the regions or would it be sufficient for the well-supplied groups to be acting only in larger towns.
Secondly, this would contribute to better transparency as one could understand what the society is doing on account on public funds and which activities are funded from other sources. For example, large share of the society’s funds is obtained from the organisation of first aid courses but it is not known whether and to what extent state funds are used for the organisation of training. In such a way the state may contribute to a situation where the Red Cross has notable competitive advantage in comparison to the other trainers.
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Red Cross agreed with the position of the State Audit Office.
Sven Soiver
Press Representative of State Audit Office
Telephone: (372) 640 0787
GSM: (372) 53 414464
E-mail: [email protected]
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Posted:
9/1/2004 12:00 AM
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Last Update:
10/1/2015 10:09 AM
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