Finance Miniser Pravin Gordhan on Wednesday expressed his concern that the outputs and outcomes in terms of service delivery by provinces lagged the "massive investments" the country was making.

The Minister, who had tabled the Provincial Budget and Expenditure Review in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), said that provincial budgets had increased by R100-billion between 2005/6 and 2008/9. This would increase to R339-billion by 2011/12.

"The growth in the budget should allow us space to strengthen our education system, ensure effective delivery on health services and expand social services to our people," he commented.

However, while much progress has been made in terms of housing, education and health, Gordhan questioned whether the quality of services were at a level that would make a lasting impact on the lives of citizens.

He noted that there was, without a doubt, still a long way to go before government could reach its goal of providing a better life for all.

The Minister said that the review would provide an important opportunity for South Africans to "reflect on our provincial system".

"[The review] should be a tool that you can use effectively to exercise your oversight responsibility, to challenge us to work smarter, to be efficient and effective in the period ahead so that we achieve the developmental goals we set for ourselves," he stated.

Gordhan noted the NCOP members had made a number of suggestions to deal with the challenges the country was facing.

These included the need to change the culture of the public service from self-serving to serving its communities, a need to develop norms and standards to guide its delivery and the strengthening of contract management and supply chain management.

Further, it was suggested that provincial treasuries should present their spending numbers to the relevant committees on a quarterly basis, while national and provincial governments should take the lead in realigning budgets from noncore to core areas of service delivery.

There also had to be consequences for failure and reward for excellence, Gordhan highlighted.