SearchArchives for December 2008
16 December, 2008FIJI
Public Servants urged to speed up
Senior Public Servants in Fiji have been called on to show more urgency in getting things done.
The call was made by Fiji’s interim Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who quoted figures showing a 26 per cent drop in the implementation of Government projects in the past five years.
Commodore Bainimarama said poor performances were due to a lack of advanced planning and preparation by Government Ministries and Departments.
Speaking at a workshop for Preparedness for Implementation of 2009 Major Capital Projects, Commodore Bainimarama said there seemed to be a lack of urgency to get things done.
“The annual project implementation rate has fallen from 96 per cent in 2003 to around 70 per cent in 2007,” he said.
“I have been reliably informed that this is a reflection of poor project planning by Ministries and Departments.
Commodore Bainimarama said it was critical that Ministries and Departments involved in major capital projects undertook preparatory works as early as possible.
“One of the reasons for this slackness in the project implementation rate is the lack of preparedness by the Ministries and Departments to undertake the necessary preparatory works such as project design and project appraisal,” he said.
“I hope that this Workshop will be addressing these problems.”
Commodore Bainimarama said he expected the Permanent Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries, Directors, Divisional Commissioners and senior Civil Servants present at the workshop to discuss the problems and prepare themselves for 2009.
He said a common trend over the past five years had seen project implementation at a generally low level in the first quarter before picking up and peaking in the fourth quarter.
16 December, 2008
INTERNATIONAL
Consensus emerges at CAPAM meet
Organisers of the Biennial Conference of the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (CAPAM) have released their final report on this year’s conference in Barbados.
According to the President of CAPAM, Australian Public Service Commissioner Lynelle Briggs, the conference examined what it means to achieve excellence in the context of improving service delivery, fostering good governance and building institutional capacity.
Commissioner Briggs said the timing of the conference in October was both difficult and opportune due to the economic crisis engulfing the world and the fact that it had brought issues of good governance and sound public administration to the fore.
“The importance of finding the balance between unfettered markets and the role of democratic institutions to protect the public good and the well being of citizens had again emerged in the public discourse,” the report said.
It said the conference had focussed on three sub-themes: promoting actions and behaviours to achieve public service excellence; new governance for new times; and enhancing management and institutional capacity building.
Organisers reported that a consensus emerged on a number of fronts including:
- The growing interdependence and interconnectedness of the world’s economies;
- The important role the public sector plays in the growth and development of a nation;
- The extent of innovation and PS reform taking place across the Commonwealth to dea with emerging challenges;
- The notion that public sector reform is a continuous process.
- The view that successful reform requires both political will and the support of the PS; and
- Acknowledgement that training and development were critical components of successful reform.
16 December, 2008
SOUTH AFRICA
PS urged to adopt gift policy
The South African Public Service Commission has called on Departments and Agencies to introduce gift registers after a survey revealed two thirds of them did not have one.
The survey also revealed it was common practice for Public Servants to accept gifts from service providers and tenderers.
“During the interviews it came to light that it is an open secret in some Departments that service providers offer gifts before and after tenders are being awarded,” the PSC said.
The Commission recommended Departments implement an electronic system for declaring gifts and appoint an Ethics Officer to administer and oversee a gift policy.
“A Public Servant seeking approval to accept and retain a gift or other benefit or gratification, completes a prescribed form electronically and submits it to the Ethics Officer, who after consideration, submits it directly into a database administered by the PSC,” it said.
The PSC said 44 per cent of Public Servants believed in principle they should be allowed to receive gifts and 35 percent believed they should not.
It said over two thirds of Public Servants believed they should be legally obliged to report gifts and just under half wanted all gifts to be reported to an independent body.
A third believed gifts compromised objectivity, integrity and independence.
“Public Servants are the instruments through which the various mandates of government are executed...their actions must never be suspect,” the Commission said.
“The unfortunate reality is that Public Servants are human beings with weaknesses that may be exploited.”
The PSC said there were contradictions and ambiguities in current legislation pertaining to gifts.
“The current legal framework is therefore clearly in need of amendment,” it said.
“Legislation around gift-giving in the Public Service should create a criminal sanction against this practice.”
Gifts such as overseas and weekend trips and sponsorships and bursaries for family members were considered to pose the greatest risk of corruption in the Service, while television sets and liquor were also named as potentially corruptive.
Less ‘tempting’ gifts were pens, stationery, calendars, diaries and ties.
Fifty-eight per cent of Public Servants surveyed suggested a monetary limit be put on gifts, but the proposed amounts varied from R10 (A$1.50) to R5000 (A$750).
The PSC said Public Servants also wanted gift policies to incorporate Afro-centric and other cultural practices as 60 per cent said they would accept a gift if it was cultural.
It said creating cultural exceptions to gift giving would be difficult to define, police, and monitor.
“Such exceptions may create further confusion, lead to unequal treatment before the law and may even create opportunities for unscrupulous Public Servants and others to offer and accept gifts with impunity.
“However, it is acknowledged that most traditional or cultural gifts are not translatable into monetary value as they are regarded as symbolic.”
16 December, 2008
UNITED KINGDOM
Finance crisis prompts recruiting upturn
Applications to join the UK Public Service’s ‘fast stream’ recruitment program for future executives have increased to the highest in 10 years as the global economic crisis drives the nation’s brightest and best away from private sector careers.
The ‘fast stream’ program recruits the most talented and able people in the nation and then grooms them to become senior executives and permanent secretaries, running Government Departments.
Figures in the UK’s Daily Telegraph showed 22,445 people applied to join the program while its recruitment drive ran between 15 September and 30 November, an increase of 33 per cent on 2007.
Despite the huge number of applicants, only 500 will eventually be taken on at salaries starting at between £25,000 (A$56,000) and £27,000 (A$60,000) a year.
The successful applicants would work in a number of Departments, including the Treasury, Cabinet Office and Department for Business.
A spokesman for the Cabinet Office said the fast stream had always been a popular career choice for graduates and the Office was pleased to see the increased interest.
“It is too early to say whether the overall calibre of applicants has increased proportionately, we do hope that it has attracted as diverse a field as possible,” he said.
“In any case we shall apply our usual high standards in the selection process.”
The increase in applicants for the service has been dubbed the ‘Lehman effect’, where students turned their backs on the City in the wake of the collapse of the US investment bank, Lehman Brothers.
One senior Public Servants told the Telegraph that the banking crisis had shown recruits that, unlike businesses, “the Government can simply not go bust.”
Officials reported fewer banks had been seeking recruitment from universities.
Recruits have said there were also attracted to the PS due to the variety of work available and the financial benefits of a good pension.
16 December, 2008
ZAMBIA
PS receives new Code of Ethics
A new Code of Ethics for the Zambian Public Service was expected to lead to better service delivery and greater integrity.
Secretary to Cabinet in the Zambian Government, Joshua Kanganja, said the PS should be the pride of the nation, made up of committed, dedicated people who valued service before themselves.
Dr Kanganja cited the Indian Civil Service as being the best example of how strong the Public Service could be in terms of honouring its work.
He said the new code reflected the Government’s efforts to make services more accountable and efficient.
Dr Kanganja said a good PS should be able to meet the challenges facing it and deliver services according to public expectations.
He said those ideals were incorporated into the ethics code, which outlined integrity and what was desired in a Public Servant.
“I have appeared before Parliamentary Committees where complaints have been raised on slow service delivery,” Dr Kanganja said.
“There is need for orientation in order to bring out the desired results in the Public Service.”
“Now that the ethics code is in place, Civil Servants will be held accountable for their actions.”
He said officers who breached the code would be disciplined through dismissal, reprimanded or charged.
Dr Kanganja said the code and its penalties were aimed at inculcating a positive work culture and upholding excellence.
“We are employed to work for the masses, so Civil Servants are expected to work in a manner that is appropriate, associated with loyalty and integrity,” he said.
“Public service workers are not masters, they are servants of the people.”
Dr Kanganja advised Public Servants to monitor their work environment standards to ensure everyone adhered to the Code.
He said complaints about breaches to the Code could be made to supervisors in various Departments.
“If corruption is involved, the report should be tabled before the Anti-Corruption Commission,” Dr Kanganja said.
President of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions, Leonard Hikaumba, said the ethics code was a good idea as it would address some of the Service’s shortcomings.
Mr Hikaumba said the Code would make employees accountable for their actions and ensure efficiency.
However, he highlighted the need for Public Servants to be motivated and suggested improved conditions of service be put on top of the Government’s agenda and that it arrange funding for projects that needed it.
“For instance, if there was an animal disease outbreak, it is important that money is released quickly in order to combat the scourge,” Mr Hikaumba said.
Copies of the Code of Ethics were circulated across the country, with workshops to be conducted to educate Public Servants.
16 December, 2008
UNITED STATES
Low pay a feature of PS contractors
A new report on outsourcing in the US Government has found companies securing contracts for Government work were among the worst in the nation for under-paying their staff and producing shoddy work.
The report, conducted by the Center for American Progress Action fund, found low-wage federal contracting jobs were a widespread problem.
Authors of the study, David Madland and Michael Paarlberg, said the problem involved around 80 per cent of contracted service workers.
“Instead of helping to create quality jobs, all too often the Federal Government contracts with companies that pay very low wages and treat their workers poorly,” Messrs Madland and Paarlberg said.
“Without decent wages, benefits, and working conditions, work quality can sometimes suffer due to high turnover, inadequate training and experience, and low morale.”
The authors said when contract workers were “poorly compensated” taxpayers often bore additional costs related to food stamps and other aid services.
“As a result, the taxpayer gets what the bosses pay for – not much,” they said.
Mr Madland and Mr Paarlberg said the workers most affected worked in occupations such as cooks, waiters, bus drivers and janitors.
President of the Professional Services Council, which represents contractors, Stan Soloway, said the report made “valuable recommendations that could help improve federal contracting.”
Mr Soloway said the report showed contractors could place greater emphasis on ‘best value’ as opposed to ‘low bid’ contracting.
However, he expressed concerns over the reports ‘tone’ and some of its data.
He said he doubted 80 per cent of workers were treated poorly, as the majority of contracting involved professional services and information technology, positions not populated by the “poorly paid.”
Mr Soloway said the Service Contract Act required employers to pay wages and benefits that were no less than those in the local market.
The report’s release has been labelled as ‘timely’, following President-elect, Senator Obama’s promise to save money by cutting private contractors and improving private contract management.
Politicians reported that there was no shortage of complaints about contractors, particularly from Public Servants and their union leaders, who often cited a lack of Agency supervision as a problem.
This problem was mirrored in the report by Mr Madland and Mr Paarlberg.
“The Government's lack of knowledge about the contracted workforce is shocking and unacceptable,” they said.
“Information about contractors - and especially their subcontractors - is veiled behind layers of lax oversight, inadequate record keeping, and unnecessary secrecy.”
16 December, 2008
GERMANY
Bid to reflect community make-up in PS
An innovative program to attract ethnic minorities to the municipal management of Berlin has been launched in Germany in a bid to shape the Public Service so it reflected the demographic make-up of the population.
The campaign, Berlin braucht dich! – Berlin needs you! has been encouraging young minorities to join the Service.
Spokesperson for the campaign, Agnese Papadia, said the Public Sector needed to adapt.
“The demographics in Civil Service should reflect those of the overall population,” Ms Papadia said.
She said the city would benefit from recruiting young people from immigrant backgrounds through the program, which was established by the Berlin Senate-supported organisation Career Qualification Network for Immigrants (BQN) in 2006.
“They can often speak many languages, not only German but also Turkish and Arabic, for example,” Ms Papadia said.
“When immigrants come into public offices it is easier for them to communicate.
“They also possess other intercultural competencies. They know what it means to be an immigrant.”
She said according to the BQN, around 40 per cent of Berliners under 18 came from families who had recently migrated to Germany, while only 10 to 13 per cent of young people receiving career training in the Public Service had such a background.
“Many young people with immigration backgrounds never receive any career training, and the civil service can offer them a big opportunity,” Ms Papadia said.
She said the campaign involved school visits and internet advertising offering advice on how to join the Sector.
Ms Papapdia said the campaign also included a travelling exhibition Berliner Verwaltung zeigt Gesicht - Berlin administration shows its face – which featured the portraits of 12 minority trainees as models for others.
She said the trainees came from countries as diverse as Turkey, Poland, Serbia, Lebanon, Ukraine, the Philippines and Bosnia.
She said some had migrated to Germany, while others were born and raised in the country, but had parents who were not.
Twenty-one-year-old Meriban Aktas, who was born in Berlin to Kurdish parents had been training in the Senate Administration of the Interior and Sport.
“My family and other immigrants I meet are proud,” Ms Aktas said.
“They say it is time for people with migration backgrounds to take on this career.”
She said through her career, her future and salary would be “more secure.”
16 December, 2008
NIGERIA
Plan to make PS attractive
The Head of the Nigerian Public Service, Amal Pepple, has promised to make the Service more attractive to young graduates.
Ms Pepple said the Service was “cardinal” to the development of the nation and she vowed to return it “to its past glory.”
She said the Service could be revived by eliminating poor discipline, corruption and service failure.
Ms Pepple said she wanted to see a Public Service that was the driving force behind the formulation and implementation of Government policies.
She made the comments at an end of year dinner hosted by Servicom, the office established to manage and effect Government commitments and service delivery in Nigeria.
Servicom Coordinator, Ada Obe Obe, said Servicom was the “engine” of the Federal Government’s service delivery initiative.
Mr Obe Obe said Servicom aimed to eliminate the trauma associated with service failure and faced the challenge of changing the mindset of Nigerians who were used to service failure and believed the situation could not change.
He said it was possible to improve Nigerians’ responsibilities in the service delivery area.
Also speaking at the occasion, the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service, Chukwura Udeh, said Nigerians should be determined to deliver quality service.
Several awards were handed out at the dinner, with Ms Pepple, the Secretary to the Public Service and the Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria, Oluremi Oyo, each receiving one.
16 December, 2008
JAMAICA
Electricity thieves beat security
Homeowners in Jamaica are continuing to steal electricity from the local grid despite security measures being introduced to stop them.
The publicly-owned company that supplies the electricity, Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), is believed to be losing over 12 per cent of its output to the thieves.
Concentric neutral cables made of metal casing had been installed in some areas to made electricity theft more difficult by obscuring the wires transmitting the power.
However the Head of the JPS Department of Engineering and Technology, Steve Dixon, said thieves had been melting the metal casings to gain access to the electrical conductors.
Vice-president for Customer Operations at the company, Sangeet Dutta, said the practice was “highly dangerous” as it increased the risk of electric shocks.
Mr Dutta said the JPS had been working with police to curb electricity theft, but weaknesses in the law were hindering their efforts.
He said the JPS could only recover charges for electricity stolen over a two-year period at the rate it had cost to produce.
Mr Dutta said the law should be changed to allow penalty charges to be applied to people who stole electricity.
He said the JPS would make the proposal when its tariff came up for review at the Office of Utilities Regulation next year.
He said electricity theft was acute in countries such as Jamaica, where there were poor socio-economic conditions.
He said the JPS was considering several measures to make it more difficult for people to interfere, including relocating electrical meters from houses to utility poles and installing electricity monitors on houses.
Mr Dutta said a pilot program allowing the JPS to disconnect thieving customers from a remote location could commence in areas prone to theft.
He said the JPS had already installed 2,000 advanced metering information systems to monitor the electricity consumption of large customers and was considering installing similar meters for residential customers.
“With this system, once there is a change in consumption pattern, we get a red flag at our offices,” Mr Dutta said.
He said the system had also helped detect commercial customers who were stealing electricity.
16 December, 2008
GHANA
PS ordered to help military
Ghanaian President, John Agyekum Kufuor has ordered his Public Service leaders to come up with ways the Public Service can assist the military better.
Mr Kufuor challenged the country's universities and management development institutions to develop courses in security and allied fields to help build the capacity of military and civilian personnel to respond to challenges.
He commended the military for maintaining a professional manner while contributing to the peace, security and development of the nation.
Mr Kufuor thanked the military for working well with the Government to “protect the sovereignty” of the country and allowing governance to proceed in accordance with the Constitution.
"The nation is happy that the forces have rediscovered their raison d'être and stuck to their mandate, as enshrined in the national constitution,” he said.
Mr Kufuor urged the military not to disappoint him when they were called up alongside other security agencies to keep law and order as the country went to the polls last week.
He recently commissioned a new multi-million dollar Chinese-funded Ministry of Defence complex.
The new building, which cost $6.75 million, of which the Ghana government provided $1.75 million, is to accommodate the Ministry of Defence, the Office of the Chief of the Defence Staff, Service Chiefs and senior officials of the Ministry.
The complex, built by the Chinese Qingdao Construction Group, together with their Ghanaian counterparts, also contained an office for the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).
Mr Kufuor extended the appreciation of the Government and people of Ghana to the Chinese government for the facility and expressed the hope that the friendship between both countries would continue to grow.
China's Ambassador to Ghana, Yu Wenzhe, pledged his country's continued cooperation to deepen the bond of friendship with Ghana, saying he hoped the elections would be free fair and peaceful.
“I hope and I am confident that Ghana will show the world once again her maturity of democracy and maintenance of peace and stability,” he said.
9 December, 2008
BANGLADESH
Failed PS entrants revolt
Unsuccessful candidates for Public Service jobs in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka have gone on a rampage, storming and vandalising the Public Service Commission offices. More than a dozen were arrested by police.The protesters held PSC staff captive for almost four hours before police forced their way into the offices.
The protests came after the results of the 27th Bangladesh Civil Service admittance exams held three years ago were annulled and over 11,000 people who had originally qualified for the government job list were dropped.
The dropped protestors have demanded their original test results be reinstated and for the Chairman of the Public Service Commission, Dr Saadat Hussain be sacked.
The PSC was responsible for organising and managing the admittance exams, and recommending people who should be recruited.
However, following the declaration of a state of emergency in January 2007 which saw a military backed caretaker government installed, the PSC was reconstituted with new members including Dr Hussain.
The new PSC cancelled the results of 27th BCS examination, saying it was flawed.
One protester, Mahfuzur Rahman, told the BBC the demonstration had been staged as the Government had promised to find a solution and had so far failed to do so.
The PSC has maintained its decision to cancel the earlier examinations was correct and everything was done legally, transparently and following necessary rules.
It alleged most of the candidates were linked to the four-party coalition government of former Prime Minister, Khaleda Zia, led by her Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
A committee to examine the demands of the dropped BCS candidates is still considering their case.
9 December, 2008
UNITED KINGDOM
Leak crisis prompts PS warning
Public Servants in the United Kingdom have been reminded that their primary duty is to serve the Government of the day after a middle-level officer was arrested for passing documents to the Opposition.Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell, said PS employees needed to remain politically impartial.
Sir Gus said Public Servants were bound by the Civil Service Code, which obliged them to set aside their own beliefs to ensure the Government ran effectively.
“All Civil Servants serve the Government of the day. We are politically impartial and our actions are governed by the Civil Service Code,” he said.
“Political impartiality means we must serve the Government, whatever its political persuasion, to the best of our ability, no matter what are our own political beliefs.”
Sir Gus said the Code stipulated that all Public Servants were to act “'in a way which deserves and retains the confidence of Ministers, while at the same time ensuring that you will be able to establish the same relationship with those whom you may be required to serve in some future government.”
“The Code provides ways for Civil Servants to raise matters of concern or things we think could conflict with the Code either with managers or by reporting the matter directly to the independent Civil Service Commissioners,” he said.
Sir Gus did not refer specifically to the arrest of the Home Office official who allegedly leaked documents to the Shadow Home Secretary, Damian Green, but reminded all Public Servants to hold the value of impartiality in high stead.
The accused official, Christopher Galley, said he had passed information to the Tories as he believed it would be used “in responsible manner in the public interest”.
Mr Galley’s lawyer, Neil O’May, spoke on his behalf.
“Mr Galley gave Mr Green information that was important for the public to know in an open and democratic system,” Mr O’May said.
He denied rumours that Mr Galley had been “knowingly used by police to entrap Mr Green”, and said “if there was ever a case of don't shoot the messenger then this is it”.
Mr Galley is on bail until January.
9 December, 2008
UNITED STATES
Review teams prepare for handover
Teams of reviewers representing President-elect Barack Obama have descended on Public Service Agencies collecting information on policies, practices and Budgets in an effort to smooth the transition to the new administration.The review teams have been systematically dissecting Agency initiatives, poring over budgets and uncovering important documents before Senator Obama assumes power.
Former counsel to Vice President Al Gore, Lisa Brown, has been helping to manage the review process.
Ms Brown said the review teams jobs hoped to minimise the natural tension between incoming and outgoing administrations but could create anxiety among Bush administration officials as they examined programs and policies
She said the teams typically looked for Agencies and Divisions that had “run amok” or managed their finances poorly.
She said every presidential changeover included some kind of Public Service review, but Senator Obama’s 10 teams had started earlier than most.
Team members ranged from Democratic Party loyalists hoping for senior administration jobs to experts in areas such as military systems and Medicare policy.
Team members said the Bush Administration had cooperated fully with their needs.
Co-chairman of the Obama transition, John Podesta, said the teams had been despatched with “clear roles and missions” and that many members had come with first-hand knowledge of certain Agencies.
Mr Podesta and his co-chairs agreed with the White House that teams would not ask Agencies for information regarding three non-public areas: individual personnel matters, legal deliberations and internal debate on pending regulatory matters.
According to the Washington Post, an official with the Labor Department Union, Alex Bastani, said people were cautiously optimistic about the teams and the review.
“We are happy they are asking for a lot more detail, so perhaps, unlike the Clinton administration, they will lay the groundwork before they arrive and not just show up on Day One expecting everything will go smoothly,” Mr Bastani told the Post.
Professor of Political Science at the University of Vermont, John Burke, said the President-elect’s review seemed to be working well as it had clearly defined goals, but warned the teams against becoming “too proactive”.
Government experts have warned Public Servants to ‘manage their expectations’ as Senator Obama arrived, saying he would face challenges in implementing new initiatives, such as his pledge to reform budget processes.
Senator Obama said the Government could not afford to sustain a system that “bleeds billions of taxpayer dollars on programs that have outlived their usefulness”.
“This isn't about big government or small government,” he said.
“It's about building a smarter government that focuses on what works.”
9 December, 2008
MOZAMBIQUE
PS hit by AIDS pandemic
High levels of HIV/AIDS infections among Mozambique’s Public Servants are hampering the efficient operations of the Service and causing it to miss important planned targets.Permanent Secretary of the Public Service Ministry, Eduardo Nhampossa, said the pandemic was causing high levels of death and absenteeism in the PS with the impacts being felt on a number of fronts.
Mr Nhampossa made the comments at a meeting of Public Servants that marked World AIDS Day
“The effects of HIV/AIDS on the Public Service are devastating and they can be seen,” Mr Nhampossa said.
He said the pandemic increased indirect costs, reduced service coverage, and meant workers had to be replaced.
He said that out of 165,000 Public Servants in Mozambique, over 31,000 were living with HIV/AIDSwith more then 9,000 of needing anti-retroviral treatment.
The Public Service Ministry estimated 1,626 Public Servants died of AIDS in 2008.
Mr Nhampossa said the State currently spent A$40.6 million a year to cater for the victims of the pandemic, saying depending on the stage of the disease, AIDS patients were absent from work for 15 to 65 days a year.
“The combined effects of absenteeism and days off for sickness in the Public Service have a very strong impact, that averages 2.8 per cent of the total working hours among our public servants,” he said.
The latest estimate from the 2007 epidemiological surveillance round was that 16 per cent of Mozambicans aged between 15 and 49 were infected with HIV.
9 December, 2008
MALAYSIA
PS warned not to threaten complainants
Malaysian Public Servants who threaten members of the public who lodge complaints against them have been warned to stop the practice by the country’s Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.Mr Badawi said the few Public Servants who were engaging in the threats were tarnishing the image of the entire Service.
“There are contractors who complain about the delays involved in the review of the costs of the projects awarded to them following the increase in the price of building materials, or of late payment,” he said.
“And when the complaints are channelled to the right people, the Civil Servants involved make threats against the complainants.”
Mr Badawi said the officers would then drop names and tell the complainants they should be taught a lesson.
“This is an arrogant attitude and goes against our ethics of delivering service to the public,” he said.
“These contractors need fast assistance as they have commitments to fulfill under their contacts.”
Mr Badawi made the comments at a monthly gathering at the Prime Minister’s Office, saying Public Servants needed to get their act together.
“How would the civil servants feel if they were treated this way?” he asked.
He said government officers also needed to check their work attitudes and offer to take messages and pass on letters to absent colleagues.
“If said officer is not around, what’s wrong in taking and passing on letters and messages from members of the public?”
“We should not just understand our work procedures in order to be efficient, but to take care of our attitude and characters as well.”
Mr Badawi urged staff to keep improving public services and ensuring every project listed in the economic stimulus package kicked off on time.
“We want to increase domestic consumption and further spur our economy so that our businesses can compete both globally and domestically,” he said.
“We have managed to achieve an average of 4.7 per cent growth for the first three-quarters of the year.
“For the last quarter, we should at least achieve 3.5 per cent, which will give us an overall growth of 5 per cent or even 5.5 per cent for this entire year.”
9 December, 2008
NIGERIA
Truancy a problem for PS
Nigerian Public Servants who don’t turn up for work have been warned they could lose their jobs.Head of the Public Service, Ama Pepple, issued the warning during a visit to the Centre for Management Development (CMD) in Lagos.
Ms Pepple said staff playing hooky had no place to hide and that “we will get you and you will lose your job”.
She also said Public Servants needed to improve their poor work attitudes and that top civil servants should lead by example.
“You have to start a change of attitude from the top and then it will come down. If the top does not have a commitment to work, you will see that other staff below you will not have any need to come early to work,” Ms Pepple said.
“I am living by example and also talking to the staff, because I go to work early and I hardly leave the office unless I have a meeting outside.”
Ms Pepple defended the PS against a number of allegations, including that Public Servants sold food and other wares in the office and that the Service was for inefficient and lazy people who couldn’t find a job anywhere else.
“It is not true because most of us work very hard and I have worked very hard to get to where I am,” she said.
Director-General of the CMD, Dr Joseph Maiyaki, said the organisation covered six geo-political zones and that three additional area offices had been opened in Uyo, Maiduguri and Markurdi.
Dr Maiyaki said the motivation of the workforce, transformation of collapsed facilities and improved learning environment had been implemented following his review of the Centre.
He commended Ms Pepple for her “historic” visit as she was the first Head of Service to visit the Centre.
9 December, 2008
NEW ZEALAND
Ombudsman slams FoI delays
The New Zealand Ombudsman has taken some Government Departments to task for deliberately holding up requests for information under NZ’s freedom of information laws.Chief Ombudsman, Beverley Wakem, said the practice was unacceptable and undermined the purpose of the legislation.
Ms Wakem said her office had noticed “an increasing tendency” by some Departments to ignore the time provisions of NZ’s FOI legislation, the Official Information Act.
“While in some cases this was clearly a misunderstanding of their obligations, there is also a regrettable tendency to game the system and delay responses until the complainant’s interest in the matter had passed,” she said.
Ms Wakem said the number of complaints received under the OIA had increased by 10 per cent over the past year to 897.
She said more OIA requests would lead to more requests for an Ombudsman's investigation and review in the event of refusal, administrative delay or charge.
Her office also noted an increasing complexity in investigations because of information not being documented in an orderly manner and a failure to record information in writing.
Ms Wakem said the situation presented an urgent need for Agencies to pay closer attention to their statutory obligation under the Public Records Act to keep good records.
She criticised an apparent lack of training for Public Servants in terms of dealing efficiently and effectively with requests.
“In the absence of any other Agency assuming responsibility for improving this situation, the Office of Ombudsmen has developed a training program and is providing workshops on request to help Agencies meet their responsibilities under the OIA and other information legislation,” Ms Wakem said.
She said compliance should not be as burdensome as some Agencies had made it due to their lack of knowledge about the legislation.
She also noted that large turnovers of staff had led some Agencies to suffer a loss of institutional knowledge of their obligations in responding to Ombudsmen's inquiries.
9 December, 2008
CHINA
Money crisis no threat to PS pay
The Chinese Government has assured its Public Servants that reforms to their pay scales, which included pay rises, would go ahead despite the global economic crisis.The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said the reforms would regulate the allowances and subsidies of China’s 8 million Public Servants by reducing payments in affluent areas and increasing them in poorer regions.
“At present, we do not have any plans to amend or postpone the scheduled reform,” an official from the Ministry said.
The official said the move was part of the national reform to regulate Public Servant pay and had nothing to do with the international financial crisis.
The Department said it had increased salaries for employees in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Henan and other provinces last month.
Henan provincial authorities received the green light from the State Council to increase monthly salaries by 300 yuan (A$68) in mid-November.
An employee of the Finance Department of the Henan Provincial Government, Mr Wu, said the pay adjustment had been made as Public Servants had been complaining about low incomes for “a long time”.
“The changes have nothing to do with the financial crisis. We submitted the requisite applications last year,” Mr Wu said.
Critics such as the Head of the Institute for Labor and Wage Studies, Su Hainan, have attacked the move, saying it was not the right time to continue with the salary reform.
“The timing is not good, as the global economy is in a recession and China is facing mounting economic pressure," Mr Su said.
A Researcher from the Institute of Industrial Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Cao Jianhai, said the Government should concentrate of fighting corruption and decreasing taxes for companies rather than increasing Public Service pay rates.
“Increasing investment on rural education as well as rural infrastructure and agriculture are also among the Government's imminent tasks,” Mr Cao said.
The pay reforms were begun in July 2006 and were expected to be completed by 2009.
9 December, 2008
UNITED STATES
Changes expected at Defense
The US Defense Department could be in for a shake-up despite the decision of incoming president Barack Obama to leave Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, in charge of the Pentagon.Washington insiders believe that while Mr Gates is to stay to control military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan, his deputies would be moving on, leaving the door open for reforms and a change of focus at the Department’s administrative level.
According to officials, Deputy Defense Secretary, Gordon England, was expected to leave his post, with potential candidates to fill his vacancy including Senator Obama’s campaign adviser, Richard Danzig; Pentagon review team co-leader, Michéle Flournoy; and former Pentagon comptroller, William Lynn.
Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, Michael O’Hanlon, said the anticipated turnover of so many key positions suggested that while Mr Gates would help provide continuity, the status quo might not endure at the Pentagon.
Mr O’Hanlon said a new deputy and team of undersecretaries would manage the Pentagon and focus on longer-range issues such as “the budget, the Quadrennial Defense Review, missile defense, relations with allies and preparation for the next crisis”.
He said the Defense Undersecretary for Policy announced he would leave by 20 January and the Undersecretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics was almost certain to leave as well.
Officials said the position of Undersecretary for Intelligence, created by Donald Rumsfeld, was likely to see a leadership change, to promote more effective cooperation with the rest of the intelligence community.
The Undersecretary for Personnel and Readiness, was also expected to be replaced ‘eventually’.
Mr Gates is expected to retain Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, Army Secretary Pete Geren and Assistant Secretary for Special Operations, Low-intensity Conflict and Interdependent Capabilities, Michael Vickers.
Senator Obama’s transition team has been working to identify the next rung of Pentagon appointments, with announcements expected before Christmas.
9 December, 2008
IRELAND
PM backpedals over PS pay threat
The Irish Prime Minister has acted to allay fears a 3.5 per cent pay rise for Public Servants could be deferred.Prime Minister Brian Cowen reassured trade union leaders he had not discussed the national pay deal during recent meetings with them after they voiced their concern about comments he made to that effect in the Irish House of Representatives, the Dáil.
Mr Cowen said he had met with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) and employers’ body, Ibec, to discuss the economic situation.
“The discussions took place against the background of the emerging exchequer and unemployment figures,” he said.
“The purpose of the meeting was to establish a basis for co-operation around the development of a strategy focused on economic recovery, and so the question of review of the national pay agreement did not arise.”
Mr Cowen said his comments in the Dáil had clearly outlined the focus was on economic recovery and was the sole purpose of his discussions.
In the Dáil, he responded to Opposition leaders by saying the Government would continue to examine the operation of the pay arrangements in partnership with stakeholders and that Government would not throw away the partnership process.
“I recently engaged in discussions with Ibec and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions,” Mr Cowen said.
“Collectively, we will bring forward an approach that will best guarantee our way through this problem.”
Ictu later denied it held discussions with the Government or Mr Cowen that involved “amending, deferring, altering, suspending or changing the pay and workplace rights deal recently concluded between unions, Government and employers”.
Leader of Siptu, the country’s largest union, Jack O'Connor, said it would be foolish of the Government to defer the pay rise.
Mr O’Connor said his union would engage if the Government made an approach to which all could contribute, but that there was no need to cause panic about the pay deal.
Union sources maintained the Ictu meeting with the PM centred on moves to bring the Construction Industry Federation - which last week rejected the pay deal - back into the process.
Green Party Chairman, Senator Dan Boyle, called for an extended Public Sector pay freeze to protect jobs.
“I think things have changed dramatically since the pay agreement in September,” Mr Boyle said.
“During the last pay agreement when inflation ran ahead of expectations, the deal was renegotiated to deliver higher pay increases.
“This time the position is reversed and inflation will be close to zero next year.”
Ibec Director General, Turlough O'Sullivan, said at an informal bilateral meeting on the economy Mr Cowen had said the public finances were in difficulties and the Government had to look at all options.
2 December, 2008
SINGAPORE
PS cuts its own pay
The Singaporean Public Service has decided to reduce its own pay to set an example to other community sectors on how to deal with the economic downturn.
Singaporeans welcomed the move with many saying it didn’t come as a surprise and sent a positive signal to the private sector about the cost cutting options available to them.
The Public Service division (PSD), which oversees civil service matters, said Cabinet Ministers and top Public Servants, including the President and Prime Minister, would see their pay packages shrink by up to 19 per cent next year.
The PSD said senior Permanent Secretaries and entry-grade Ministers would have their pay cut by 18 per cent, Administrative Service officers would see a drop of around 12 per cent and MPs would lose around 16 per cent.
It said all Public Servants would also receive around one month less in various bonuses compared to 2007 as the year came to a close.
Employees were still set to receive their 13th month supplement in December, but unlike last year, would not receive a Growth Bonus of half a month's pay.
Assistant Vice President of Group Research at Singapore’s largest bank, DBS, Irvin Seah, said stimulating growth and adjusting the economy to allow it to recover to a strong position was extremely important.
“The wage cut, as part of cost reduction measures, is just part and parcel of the overall package of policy response,” Mr Seah said.
He said many companies had already implemented cost cutting measures, such as freezing head counts and salaries.
Vice President of the Singapore National Employers Federation, Bob Tan, said the pay reduction sent a “very positive signal” to the private sector, “reminding them that when times are bad, the senior people should be prepared to take a total wage cut”.
General Secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Public Daily Rated Workers (AUPDRW), Mr G Muthukumarasamy, said he was glad employees would still receive half a month's bonus in December.
“The amount will provide additional relief for AUPDRW's union members, who are mostly daily rated workers, to help them and their families cope with their daily household expenses,” Mr Muthukumarasamy said.
Members of the community have shown their support for the pay cuts, with many saying they believed cutting overall wages was a better solution than firing people to alleviate pressure due to the crisis.
“I think the (Civil Service has) gained the public confidence because as a leader, you show by example,” one member of the public said.
“As a matter of fact, I think it's a better move compared to retrenching people.”
Experts have predicted more measures to lessen the damage inflicted by the economic turmoil would be announced in January's Budget.
2 December, 2008
BEIRUT
Treasury short on PS payrise
The Government of Lebanon has admitted it doesn’t have the money to pay its Public Servants an increase in the minimum wage.
Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora, said the recently adopted increase in the minimum wage and other salaries had placed a burden on the Treasury.
“Every single one of us would like to see people's financial status improve, but we must bear in mind that we do not have the sufficient funds to undergo some reforms,” Mr Siniora said.
He said the Government only had sufficient funds to pay 30 per cent of the wage increase, which was estimated to cost a total of A$761 million, and would have to borrow the remaining 70 per cent.
“We have to abide by some limits to stay in the safe zone,” Mr Siniora said.
Opposition members have demanded the Government implement the Wages and Ranks Law which was designed to rationalise and increase Public Service salaries and approved when Mr Siniora was the Finance Minister in 1996.
However, Mr Siniora reminded them that Cabinet still needed to pay A$761 million million to the Ministry of the Displaced and A$685 million as compensation for people who suffered losses during the Israel-Lebanon conflict in 2006.
He said he was not willing to impose more taxes to raise funds for the Wages and Ranks Law as the draft budget for 2009 had already projected an A$3.05 billion deficit.
2 December, 2008
CANADA
Outgoing retirees not to be replaced
The Canadian Province of New Brunswick plans to meet the challenges of the global economic slowdown by not replacing ageing Public Servants who retire.
The Provincial Government expected up to 25 per cent of the PS to leave in the next five years and Premier Shawn Graham said their exit offered the Province a “unique opportunity.”
He said the Government would take the opportunity to find a more coordinated approach to delivering services with less staff.
Mr Graham made the announcement at a media conference before delivering the Government’s major speech of the year.
He said the plan aimed to keep in line with the expectations of New Brunswickers, who thought their Government should be prudent and fiscally responsible.
“That is why today we are reviewing every single program that is being delivered by Government to find ways that we can have a better coordinated approach, finding greater efficiencies and still delivering the services,” he said.
Mr Graham said two committees had been set up to identify and implement new approaches.
“With the massive amount of retirements that are going to be occurring over the next five years, it is the best opportunity our Province has ever had in delivering services more efficiently," he said.
Mr Graham did not say how many retiring staff would not be replaced or the size he wanted the Public Service to become.
Executive Director of the New Brunswick Union of Public and Private Employees, Tom Mann, said big cuts to the Service would be devastating for the Federal electoral district and city, Fredericton.
“The Government represents the largest single industry in the capital city,” Mr Mann said. “The Public Sector is a vital part of the economy.”
He said reducing the Service in Fredericton would be the equivalent of closing a paper mill in a one-industry town.
“What (service) is it that we are going to lose as taxpayers and businesses as the civil service gets smaller?” Mr Mann asked.
“It is completely the wrong thing to be thinking of at this point in time when the private sector has bottomed out and is in crisis.”
2 December, 2008
IRELAND
Major overhaul announced for PS
A major overhaul, including wide-ranging staff cutbacks, has been announced for the Irish Public Service.
The Government hopes the move will save €4.7 billion (A$9.3 billion) by 2011.
Prime Minister of Ireland, Brian Cowen, said the reform was not a criticism of Public Servants, but was needed to ensure maximum performance amid the worsening economic situation.
Mr Cowen said the review followed a Government task force report recommending quick and decisive action to transform the PS.
“The objective of the Government is to secure greater efficiency in delivering public services in an affordable way – while at the same time improving the work environment for Public Service workers,” he said.
“We are fortunate in this country to have a fine tradition of dedicated Public Servants who apply their skills diligently and impartially across the range of public services.”
Mr Cowen said the plan would include redeployment, redundancies and an audit to consider staffing and financial needs.
He said the Government would establish a Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programs to identify inefficiencies.
He said the reforms would lead to a highly efficient and cost effective service that placed the public as its top priority.
Trade unions and the Opposition have criticised the proposal however, with the largest union in the sector, IMPACT, claiming the plan would only result in job cuts rather than reform.
IMPACT said the Special Group has been created purely to cut costs due to the international economic crisis rather than a desire to improve services.
Deputy Opposition leader Richard Bruton said the Government was acting inconsistently by committing to pay increases for Public Servants earlier this year before getting guarantees on reform.
“It is incomprehensible that these commitments were made before any decisions or agreements on the reforms needed to improve services and efficiency,” Mr Bruton said.
Under the plan, all Agencies would have to adopt a “shared services approach” to key support functions, such as payroll, finance, human resources and IT.
A new Cabinet Committee chaired by Mr Cowen is to oversee the reform process.
Major changes, such as redeployment and voluntary redundancy initiatives were not expected to come into force until June 2009, when the Special Group was due to report back to Cabinet.
2 December, 2008
UNITED KINGDOM
Sackings and asset sales on cards
Cutbacks to the Public Service and the sale of public assets are planned by the United Kingdom Government in an attempt to cut £35 billion (A$82 billion) from its annual expenditure Budget.
The projected savings were £5 billion (A$11.7 billion) more than Ministers had originally hoped and are expected to pay for a series of major building projects.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, said Ministers were looking to cut procurement costs through bulk-buying by Departments and hoped to trim bills for new computer systems.
Mr Darling said the Government would not cut anything that would hit the quality of front-line services.
“The efficiencies will come through lowering the cost of back-office operations, better procurement, examining property holdings and asset sales,” he said.
He said job losses among Public Servants could also be on the cards, along with the sale of a number of assets to the private sector.
Ministers have considered selling the Ordnance Survey, the Met Office, the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre in Westminster, buildings owned by British Waterways and the Forestry Commission and British Nuclear Fuels' stake in Urenco, a uranium enrichment company.
Mr Darling said around £300 million (A$700 million) would be saved on consultants, lawyers and computer experts, while extra economies have been identified on the costs of heat, lighting and computer support.
2 December, 2008
MALAYSIA
Call for PS to change its attitude
Public Servants in the Malaysian State of Sarawak have been urged to change their attitudes to big business in readiness for implementing a giant renewable energy scheme.
Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, advised the State’s Public Servants that their current mindset and mental outlook would not do when they were called on to deal with the private sector on its own terms.
In an address to Sarawak’s state Civil Service Assembly, Mr Taib said the new Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score) project would compel 125,000 Public Servants to deal with the private sector.
“For the private sector, time is money and those in the Government have to adopt this thinking as well,” he said.
“The private sector will not have the patience to wait for some Government Departments to do slow business.”
Mr Taib said Score was undertaken to help develop the central region and to transform Sarawak into a developed state by 2020.
He said the Government wanted its Public Servants to keep themselves aware of global events to help them understand why foreign investors were keen to help fund the project, which was expected to bring in around RM330 billion (A$139 billion) by 2030.
Mr Taib said Public Servants would have to clarify issues related to Government land acquisition to ensure any development was appropriate.
“In order to survive and succeed in the future the civil service in Sarawak needs to acquire knowledge in various fields as it is very relevant to be a catalyst for sustainable development,” he said.
Mr Taib said a panel would be set up to provide input from the Offices of the State Secretary and Federal Secretary on how to improve the PS to allow people access to information on the project.
2 December, 2008
KENYA
Performance contracts meet resistance
Performance contracts being introduced into the Kenyan Public Service were being resisted by ‘corruption cartels’ according to the Minister for the Public Service, Dalmas Otieno.
Mr Otieno said the cartels feared being exposed if the reforms were made.
“In Kenya, things have not been easy and performance contracts are viewed by some corrupt elements as a means of sealing their survival loop-holes,” he said.
Mr Otieno made his remarks in an address to over 200 senior Public Servants from Southern Sudan and Rwanda who were attending a refresher course at the Kenya Institute of Administration.
He urged them to be cautious while establishing new Governments and to confront any attempts to introduce corrupt practices in the Public Service.
Mr Otieno said the Government of Kenya had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Sudan in technical assistance and capacity building and that public finance management, public administration and management, education, public safety and security were top training priorities.
He said foreign policy training would help remove the perception that diplomats were “priestly administrators who shunned challenging aspects of wealth creation and inter-governmental productivity”.
“Do not just make friends without results in the areas of wealth creation and innovative thinking but create productive links that are beneficial to your countries,” he said.
Mr Otieno said his ministry planned to improve service delivery, in line with its Vision 2030 goals.
He said the Ministry would put systems for improved services in place and would transform the PS into a results-driven organisation.
2 December, 2008
NORTHERN IRELAND
Call for enquiry into PS bonuses
Public Service bonus payments in the Northern Ireland Public Service could come under scrutiny after a study revealed just 149 staff shared £1 million (A$2.3 million) in incentives and the whole scheme cost over £7 million (A$16.1 million) a year to run.
Chairman of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Finance Committee, Mitchel McLaughlin, has called for an investigation into how the bonus schemes were run and into additional pay for high-level staff.
Northern Ireland’s media reported Mr McLaughlin as saying any inquiry might need to go deeper down the Public Service ranks, after he was informed bonus payments across all Departments cost around £35 million (A$82 million) over the last five years.
Mr McLaughlin, said an inquiry into the matter would be up to the whole Finance Committee and that as Chairman he could only offer his personal opinion.
“I will be recommending to the committee that serious questions need to be asked and answered about how these schemes are run and by what measure people are getting paid a bonus,” he said.
“I think a bonus payment system, measured against very stringent performance parameters, is a positive thing and to be encouraged.”
However, Mr McLaughlin said he was concerned about the culture of bonuses, which matched a “culture of under-performance” within the Service.
“When 149 out of around 200 senior Civil Servants are receiving bonus payments – some of them £10,000 a time – it almost looks like this incentive pay is something you can almost bank on,” he said.
Mr McLaughlin said hand-in-hand with the issue of bonus payments were the “failures within the system in terms of efficiency and mismanagement”.
He said the system was rife with project management problems, Department under-spending, high levels of sick leave and “slippage against the targets and objectives of the Program for Government”. “Against that backdrop and that culture it is very hard to understand how senior civil servants are walking away with such huge bonus additions to already significant salaries,” Mr McLaughlin said.
Media reports said in 2006/07, 49 senior staff received bonus payouts of £10,000 (A$23,000), 50 received £6,500 (A$15,000) and 50 £4,000 (A$9,400).
2 December, 2008
UNITED STATES
Congress misled on outsourcing facts
The United States Department of Labor has been accused of misleading Congress by covering up the true cost of outsourcing Government projects to private companies.
A study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found the extensive outsourcing program that resulted had demoralised PS workers and failed to produce the savings promised.
The GAO found most of the 60 employees it interviewed said competitive sourcing, allowing contractors to compete for bureaucrats’ work, was demoralising.
The report found the Department of Labor's (DOL’s) savings reports were not reliable as a sample of three reports contained inaccuracies and others used projections when actual numbers were available.
“Because of these and other weaknesses, DOL is hindered in its ability to determine if services are being provided more efficiently as a result of competitive sourcing,” it said.
The GAO found that under Labor Secretary, Elaine Chao, some agency workers had to compete for their jobs in 2004, but since then few had lost their jobs or had their pay cut as a result of the privatising effort.
Of the 314 Federal workers who had a job change as a result of competition with private firms, 263 were either reassigned to equal positions or were promoted.
Sixteen workers were demoted, with 14 keeping the same professional grade or pay and 22 were demoted or laid off. An additional 29 employees left voluntarily.
Senator Tom Harkin and Representative David Obey, chairmen of their chambers' appropriations subcommittees with jurisdiction over the Labor Department, requested the report and urged Congress not to fund the competition program until the GAO had provided answers.
Senator Harkin and Mr Obey said the review documented “the negative impact the Bush Administration's failed policies have had” on the Agency.
“Under the direction of this White House, the Department of Labor has increasingly attempted to move work performed by Federal employees to private contractors and, in so doing, hurt workers' morale and ‘grossly overstated savings’,” they said.
They said they looked forward to strengthening the DOL as it undertook “the critical missions of making sure our workplaces are safe; protecting employee pensions, health benefits and rights; and providing workers with the skills they need to compete successfully in the 21st century economy”.
An assistant Secretary who oversaw the competitive sourcing, Patrick Pizzella, told the GAO the Department agreed to track costs and performance more systematically to give the agency a more accurate picture of the usefulness of competitive sourcing.
"As the GAO report indicates, DOL has made progress developing a system to assess the performance of winning service providers in our competitive sourcing program, and DOL's competitions rarely resulted in lost jobs or salary reductions for DOL employees,” Mr Pizzella said.
2 December, 2008
BAHAMAS
Continuous improvement continues
A program of continuous improvement in the Public Service of the Bahamas was continuing with two workshops held in the past two weeks.
Implemented by Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, the Service Improvement Program’s goals included improving customer satisfaction, adopting a continuous implementation approach to service delivery and establishing baseline measures of customer satisfaction for key public services.
The two workshops were components of the Program, which includes a review of the service delivery of the Road Traffic Department, Passport Office, Building Control Division, Registrar General’s Department, Department of Physical Planning, and the Department of Public Service.
The first workshop, which was held at the Department of Public Service, aimed to achieve service improvement.
The second workshop was aimed at senior human resource officers and focused on the performance of key Government Services and achieving significant improvements in customer satisfaction.
It also aimed to empower human resource officers through information sharing and identifying training needs and plans for professional development.
The Program involved a two-pronged approach to service delivery by focusing on a survey conducted by the College of The Bahamas on the administration and facilitation component of customer satisfaction and on the Service Improvement Component facilitated by the Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (CARICAD).
The first phase of the project had been completed and the outcomes of the customer surveys collated and referred to the Agencies concerned.
Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Department of Public Service, Antoinette Thompson, said CARICAD’s first intervention involved a discussion with Agencies about the outcomes of the customer satisfaction surveys and their implication for service delivery.
Ms Thompson said an exercise that encouraged Agencies to form a ‘vision’ statement and to identify areas they would like to see improved, was also carried out.
“The second intervention involves meeting with focus groups of the pilot agencies to validate and verify the satisfaction derived and the challenges encountered in obtaining the related service,” she said.