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SearchArchives for March 2010
30 March, 2010UNITED KINGDOM Treasurer announces PS ‘recession’ A “Public Sector recession” has been imposed by the United Kingdom’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling. In his recent Budget statement, Mr Darling said huge efficiencies would be needed in order to meet the Government’s target of halving the deficit within four years. Warning the next spending round would be the “toughest for decades” Mr Darling said Public Service pay rises would be capped at one per cent until 2013/14, lower than the expected inflation rate of 2 per cent by 2011. Public Service pensions and pay for Senior Public Servants are to be cut by 20 per cent to save around £5 million (A$8.2m) by 2012/13. The Department of Health is facing the largest budget cuts, with the Secretary for Health, Andy Burnham offering up more than a third of the total £11 billion (A$18bn) of savings outlined in the budget. Mr Burnham said the Department would cut £4.35 billion (A$7.1bn) by driving down the cost of procurement, reducing energy consumption, reforming IT programs and reducing staff sickness and absence by £555 million (A$908m). Mr Darling said cost-saving measures would also include reducing the number of Public Servants working in London by a third. He said 15,000 Public Servants would be relocated outside London to sites such as Liverpool and Manchester, with the first relocations coming from the Ministry of Justice. Mr Darling said 1,000 justice staff would be moved out of central London over the next five years, saving £41 million for the public purse. General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, Mark Serwotka said the Government needed to recognise it couldn’t force Public Servants out of a job if they were unable to relocate. “Relocation needs to be done with the consent of the workforce, not forced through and with proper equality impact assessments carried out,” Mr Serwotka said. “Civil Servants should not be forced out of a job at the whim of politicians. There needs to be a sound business case." He and other union leaders said relocation could lead to job losses as many staff would be unwilling or unable to move. 30 March, 2010 IRELAND IR action delays passports Industrial action by members of the Civil and Public Services Union has created a backlog of over 40,000 passport applications in Ireland. Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin has called for the PS staff to cease their industrial action, saying his Department would investigate disciplinary procedures, such as docking pay, against those who did not perform their core duties. However Mr Martin’s threat has led the Public Servants to threaten further strike action if their pay is docked, causing further backlogs and a complete shutdown of some passport offices. General Secretary of the CPSU, Blair Horan apologised to members of the public facing delays at the Passport Offices but said the blame lay with the Department of Foreign Affairs for its poor handling of the situation. “All I can say is I am sorry it has come to this and I am sorry that we had to take a decision to have a dispute in the Civil Service that has had an impact on the passport office," Mr Horan said. “We didn't specifically target the passport office… in fairness the Social Welfare and Revenue management have managed those closures in a far better way than the management of Foreign Affairs.” Queues formed over-night outside Dublin’s passport office every day last week, with one frustrated man chaining himself to a door inside the office after being told his passport was not there. Another claimed he had queued up all night to be told his passport hadn’t yet gone through the system. Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs, David Cooney said the CPSU’s offer to process applications if people were travelling within a few days was “too little too late” as the backlog was so big most applications were now considered to be urgent. 30 March, 2010 CANADA – QUEBEC Islamic face-covering banned in PS The Canadian province of Quebec has introduced legislation to require Public Servants delivering Government services to the community in person to have their faces visible. The Bill was introduced to the Quebec national assembly in response to demands the province establish guidelines on the wearing of religious clothes such as Islamic niqabs in the PS. The Bill, presented by the Minister for Justice, Kathleen Weil, would also require members of the public receiving Government services to have their faces uncovered as well. If approved, the Bill will deny the accommodation of religious differences in cases where safety, communications or identification were required. According to Canadian media reports, the Bill would affirm guarantees in Quebec’s human rights charter of the equality of women and men and the religious neutrality of the state. The legislation followed a ruling by the Quebec Human Rights Commission that women wearing a niqab or face covering must uncover their faces to confirm their identities when applying for a Medicare card. The Commission said asking a woman to uncover her face long enough for a clerk to check her identity did not infringe on freedom-of-religion guarantees in the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms because the gesture should only take a few seconds. It said among 146,000 applications for health-care photo ID in 2008-09, there were just 10 from clients who asked for special accommodations because they wore a face-covering niqab or burka. The issue was highlighted after Quebec’s health-insurance board requested the Commission clarify the matter. 30 March, 2010 JAMAICA Guidelines adopted for change Change Management Guidelines have been introduced to help Human Resource Managers in the Jamaican Public Service cope with reforms. The Guidelines were established by the Public Sector Transformation Unit (PSTU), which has been tasked with improving the efficiency of the Public Service. Over 200 HR managers from various Ministries, Departments and Agencies met with members of the PSTU to be informed and updated on their role in the change process. Specialist at the PSTU, Ward Mills said the Change Management Guidelines presented to the HR managers were the first draft of the templates and procedures to guide how workers would be dealt with during the transformation process. "Whatever happens or does not happen in terms of people or organisations, change is in the air; people are concerned, people are wondering what will happen to them and so on,” Mr Mills said. “Once that is in the air, you have to manage it by communication, you have to manage it by engaging people and giving them accurate information.” He said the templates were developed by around 20 HR specialists and would be open to revision based on feedback from HR officers and unions. HR managers attended presentations regarding formulation of communication plans; general protocol to be followed during the reorganisation process; guidelines for redeployment of staff; counselling for staff; and assistance available for workers affected by the restructuring. Chief Executive of the PSTU, Patricia Sinclair-McCalla said if the guidelines were adhered to, the process of change should be generally smooth. Mrs Sinclair-McCalla urged HR Managers to ensure that they treated workers with dignity, empathy and honesty during the restructuring period. “If we can be governed by what has been presented here, then we ought to be doing it the correct way, and I am trusting by your presence, that you recognise the need to do it the right way,” she said. Mrs Sinclair-McCalla said a first draft of the master transformation plan had been presented to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. She said job cuts would be included in the transformations, but were not the main focus in reducing costs. 30 March, 2010 UNITED KINGDOM Upgrade for online presence A new website to improve citizen engagement with the British Government online is to be set up. In a speech on the digital future of the UK, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the new Mygov website would make interacting with the Government “as easy as internet banking or online shopping.” “This bold new approach will transform the way services are delivered but, more importantly, it will be the vehicle through which citizens will come to control the services that are so important to their lives and communities,” Mr Brown said. “With Mygov, citizens will be in control - choosing the content relevant to them and determining their level of engagement. And their feedback will in turn help us to improve services.” He said Public Servants would not be the sole authors and editors of the site as the data would be “unleashed” to the community for it to be turned into applications. “Online, Mygov will give people a simple ‘dashboard’ to manage their pensions, tax credits or child benefits; pay their Council tax; fix their doctors or hospital appointment and control their own treatment; apply for the schools of their choice and communicate with their children’s teachers; or get a new passport or driving licence - all available when and where they need it,” he said. Mr Brown said businesses would also benefit from the site as all Public Service contracts over £20,000 (A$33,000) would be accessible on a single, free, easy-to-use online portal by the end of 2010. He said Mygov would open up policy making and allow citizens to shape information to their own needs. Mygov is expected to replace DirectGov, the current online Government portal. In his speech, Mr Brown also announced the Government would publish all non-personal datasets held by departments and qangos, creating an electronic “doomsday book.” He said the book would allow the public to access in one place, information on each set of data, including its size, source, format, content, timeliness, cost and quality. Mr Brown also recommitted the Government to making broadband internet available to 90 per cent of British households by 2012. 30 March, 2010 BRUNEI New weather service unveiled The Civil Aviation Department in Brunei has been called upon to improve the quality of its weather service delivery. Minister for Communications, Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia Haji Awang Abu Bakar bin Hj Apong, said the Department should explore information-sharing with other Agencies to help it come up with a proactive plan to improve service delivery. Dr Haji made the comments while launching a new colour-coded system to warn the public of severe weather and rough seas. He said the new system was coded in three different colours – yellow, orange and red – to show the gravity of the warnings and possible impacts. Members of the public could assess the Colour-Coded Severe Weather and Rough Sea Warning System on the Department’s website. An SMS warning system is to be trialled to alert Government Agencies of weather warnings and could be expanded to include the public if successful. Dr Haji said a yellow warning represented the possibility of a monsoon with moderate rain and flash floods over low-lying areas occurring within the next 24 to 48 hours. If weather worsens, an orange warning will apply which signifies moderate to heavy monsoon rain, intense storms, flooding, landslides, and the toppling of signboards, trees and poorly constructed buildings could occur within 24 hours. Red will be used to indicate the most severe weather warning where heavy and widespread monsoon rain or severe storms are currently occurring or strongly expected to occur in the next few hours. Red will also be used to warn of a tropical storm with a sustained wind speed exceeding 62 kilometres per hour and accompanied by torrential rain. Possible impacts of weather under a red warning include severe and widespread flooding over low-lying areas and areas by riverbanks, severe landslides/slips and damage of catastrophic proportions. The warnings will also be used to classify rough seas. 30 March, 2010 MALAYSIA Causes of corruption revealed The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has denied claims from unions that corruption among Public Servants is due mainly to low salaries and a high cost of living. According to a survey conducted by the Commission, corruption is caused by the weakness and greed of individual workers who want to live beyond their means. The MACC reported that internal shortcomings in organisations such as weak leadership, a lack of transparency, bureaucratic red tape and wide discretionary powers opened up opportunities for corruption. Corporate Communications Director with MACC, Ahmad Khusairi Yahaya said there was a decline in corruption among Public Servant workers within the Service’s support group during 2007, 2008 and 2009. Mr Khusairi said the decline in corruption showed the level of integrity and awareness among Public Servants had increased and they were increasing their battle against corruption. He said 591 people were arrested for corruption in 2007, 51 per cent (303) of whom were Public Servants. The number decreased to 282 (47 per cent) of the total number of arrests (605) in 2008 and just 39 per cent of the 500 people arrested for corruption last year were PS staff. He attributed this favourable outcome to anti-corruption programs introduced by the Government and an awareness campaign run the MACC’s community education division. Mr Khusairi said this year 14 Public Servants had come forward to report bribery attempts. "This is an encouraging trend,” he said. “Integrity, which the Government is trying to imbibe among the Civil Servants, is becoming a reality.” Mr Khusairi said the MACC would carry out an anti-corruption campaign to catch those who tried to bribe civil servants. “The law will come down hard on them, including a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount of bribe or RM10,000 whichever is higher,” he said. As reported in PS News last week, the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) called for the Government to undertake a study on corruption in the Public Service. Cuepacs said its own observations indicated low salaries and a high cost of living were two main factors for corruption being so prevalent. 30 March, 2010 GHANA PS restructure to reach goals The Public Service in Ghana is to be restructured in a bid to improve national development and reach the country’s Millennium Development Goals. Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Antwi Boasiako-Sekyere said women must play a key role in reforming the PS to enable it serve as real catalyst for national growth. Mr Boasiako-Sekyere said until the sector was refocused, re-positioned and transformed, the nation's quest for speedy progress would be a “mirage.” He said a strong and effective Public Service was needed but could not be achieved without active participation from women. Mr Boasiako-Sekyere made the comments at the Fifth Public Services Workers' Union (PSWU), women's national delegates' conference. He said it was heart-warming to see women of high calibre occupying key positions and playing their roles effectively in the PS. The Deputy Minister said there would be no discrimination when the Government implemented its ‘investing in people’ initiative and that there would be equal opportunities for women and men to develop their full potential in skills, knowledge and attitudes for efficient performance. He appealed to women in the Public Service to stick to attitudes of hard work, discipline, selflessness, diligence, punctuality, commitment and capacity development. At the conference, the Secretary General of Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), Kofi Asamoah raised concerns over the failure of various reforms to increase efficiency in the public sector, saying it had cost the nation hundreds of millions of dollars. 30 March, 2010 NIGERIA PS called on to be loyal Public Servants in the Nigerian State of Oyo have been urged to work hard and remain loyal to the Government. The Governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao-Akala, said Public Servants who exhibited dedication, loyalty and good working habits would be rewarded, while indolence would be “frowned at.” Mr Akala also called on officials to “shun” the leaking of official secrets and other information that could bring the State into disrepute. The Governor made the comments at an award ceremony for the most outstanding Permanent Secretary in the State. Mr Akala said the award recognised and promoted a culture of excellence and dedication in the Public Service. He said all Permanent Secretaries in Oyo State were brilliant, resourceful, loyal and committed and all deserved to win the award. The award was won by the Permanent Secretary for Cabinet and Special Services, Isasc Adekunle Adeduntan. The Governor said Mr Adeduntan was hardworking, time conscious, unassuming, loyal and dedicated to duty. He said Mr Adeduntan was “somebody that works very conveniently under pressure” and offered honest advice to Government. “It will even interest you to know that as the Head of State Tenders Board Secretariat, there has never been any allegation of financial malpractice or corruption levelled against him,” Mr Akala said. 30 March, 2010 And From the World in Brief... ETHOPIA New York-based group, Human Rights Watch, has accused the Ethiopian Government of pressuring members of the Public Service to join the ruling party in the lead up to elections this May. In a report, HRW said the Government had also used State resources to pressure individuals to join the political party to entitle them to access to services and jobs. Leader of one of Ethiopia’s main opposition parties, Bulcha Demeksa, said his candidates in the elections who worked in the Public Service were being transferred to remote areas and refused time off work to campaign. CANADA Up to a million Public Servants in the Canadian Province of Ontario are to have their wages frozen to help the Government dig itself out of debt. Minister for Finance, Dwight Duncan announced new spending on social programs in his provincial budget introduced last Thursday (25 March), but warned the Public Servants who delivered the programs not to expect a pay rise. “All of us who are paid with public tax dollars have a role to play here. We’re all in this together,” he said. MALAYSIA Further to the PS News story on allegations of racial inequality in the Malaysian Public Service, new figures released by the Malaysian State of Johor have shown just 128 of its 8,372 Public Servants are non-Malays. According to the statistics, 8,244 or 98.47 per cent of Public Servants are Malays, 10 (0.12 per cent) are Chinese, 116 (1.39 per cent) are Indian and 2 (0.02 per cent) are of other descent. This is despite 33 per cent of Johor’s population being Chinese, 6 per cent being Indian and 54 per cent being Malaysian. PORTUGAL Eighty per cent of all Public Servants in Portugal walked off the job earlier this month to protest against plans to decrease pensions, eliminate and outsource jobs and continue a freeze on wages. The walkout shut schools, hospitals and public offices, with Court hearings and waste collection also affected. Union leaders said Public Servants had suffered worsening conditions over the past few years as public pensions and other benefits have been cut. CANADA A 40-year-old disability plan covering Canadian Public Servants has been targeted for discriminating against victims of depression by denying benefits to bureaucrats who had ever attempted to commit suicide. Mental health expert, Bill Wilkerson has appealed to President of the Treasury Board, Stockwell Day, to drop the provision, saying it stigmatised mental illness. “This provision is obsolete for insurance purposes and is surely a hangover from a past era of discrimination against those living with mental illness — an era many of us are trying to deposit in the dust bin of history,” Mr Wilkerson said. 23 March, 2010 UNITED STATES Staff with tax debts to lose jobs A new Bill targeting Public Servants who do not pay their taxes has been proposed in the United States. The legislation would require Federal Public Servants to be fired if they didn’t pay their taxes. The bill, introduced by congressman Jason Chaffetz, would allow the Government to fire employees if the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) placed a tax lien on them. People applying for Public Service jobs while they had a tax debt would also have their chances of being hired quashed. Congressman Chaffetz said he was not out to punish those who were working with the IRS to resolve their tax problems. “If someone does the right thing, I will bend over backwards to help them,” he said. “It’s the people who are cheating the system who I want to fire.” Members of the Democratic Party have attacked the legislation saying it demonised Public Servants and the Public Service. According to Democrat congressman Stephen Lynch, the Bill would treat Federal employees more harshly than other citizens, even though federal ethics regulations already allowed employees to be disciplined if they flouted the law. Congressman Lynch said a lien amounted to an accusation, not a conviction and firing someone on that basis was effectively metering out a punishment based on an accusation. “Of course, it may be argued that the Federal employee may challenge the validity and amount of the lien from her place in the unemployment line after her termination, if she has sufficient resources to do so,” he said. National Secretary of the Federal Managers Association, Richard Oppedisano said Public Servants were being treated as “a punching bag.” “It is our belief that Federal employees should be held to the same standards as the rest of the American population, receiving no special treatment while also avoiding the bull’s-eye that so often falls on their backs,” Mr Oppedisano said. 23 March, 2010 CANADA PS requires Muslims to show faces Canada’s Minister for Citizenship and Immigration, Jason Kenney has called for women who wear the Muslim niqab (headscarf) to have to show their faces when dealing with the Federal Public Service. Mr Kenney said while he believed in personal liberty and not regulating clothing choice, it was necessary for people to show their face when obtaining public services. “In my own ministry, when individuals make an application for immigration or a visa and they’re interviewed by a Canadian Public Servant, they’re required to show their face,” Mr Kenney said. He said women were asked to remove their niqab, which covers the lower half of the face, so officials could see their responses and they could communicate their problem more effectively. He said when this occurred, his Department arranged for a female Public Servant to speak with them “as often as possible”. Mr Kenney’s comments were made shortly after the United Nations Human Rights Commission tabled a report saying that while Canada had an impressive record in dealing with minorities, significant and persistent problems still affected ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. His comments also followed controversy in Quebec over whether women who wear the niqab should have to remove their face veil in certain circumstances, such as during a French class for immigrants. The debate was further fuelled when Quebec’s Human Rights Commission ruled women wearing the Islamic face covering had to remove it for their health card photo and could not demand to be served by a woman. The Commission also ruled in favour of the hijab, which covers the head but not the face after a client complained about being served by a health board employee wearing one. The Commission ruled the headdress did not have any bearing on the service the client had received. 23 March, 2010 BOTSWANA Dress code angers unions A new dress code for Public Servants in Botswana includes a ban on tight, torn, dirty and revealing clothing. The new clothing regulations require men to wear long-sleeved shirts and trousers, despite daytime temperatures soaring to around 38°C in the arid, desert nation. According to the new dress code, clothes must not reveal “cleavage, bareback, chest, armpits, stomach and underwear” or include tight skirts, suggestive t-shirts, “casual and gym wear including jeans and shorts”, clothes with offensive language, cartoons or pictures or garments that were torn, dirty, wrinkled or frayed. The regulations also ban colourful hairstyles and hats and caps indoors. The Government said any employees who breached the code would face disciplinary action. PS unions have not welcomed the code. The Botswana Secondary School Teachers Union has described the code as being “draconian.” Executive Secretary for the Union, Justin Hunyepa said the code was out of touch with reality. “Dress is a condition of service and therefore should be negotiated with trade unions,” Mr Hunyepa said. “You cannot expect teachers to be wearing long sleeves all the time.” He said if authorities persisted with dress reforms, teachers demanded they receive allowances to buy new clothes. Head of the Botswana Media Association, Keabonya Ntsabane called for more consultation across the Public Service. “Some people may not have anything to wear because they receive limited wages and may as a result find themselves wearing torn, dirty or frayed clothing,” Mr Ntsabane said. Under the new dress code, religious and traditional head covers and headgear will be allowed at the discretion of Chief Executives in the service. 23 March, 2010 WALES Auditor warns money running out The Wales Audit Office has released a report warning the Government the Public Service could run out of money unless urgent reforms are adopted. The report, A picture of Public Services, financial challenges facing public services and lessons learnt from our work, looked at the challenges facing the public sector in Wales after extensive spending cuts. Interim Auditor General, Gillian Body said the report aimed to help Agencies respond to financial pressures. “My message is that while the public services will experience considerable, pain, they need to ensure that their response is strategic, systemic and based on sound analysis,” Ms Body said. “Our experience suggests that public services tend to change incrementally over time. But if they carry on with business as usual, they will simply run out of money.” She said changes would come “one way or another” and the challenge for Agencies would be to get the changes right. Ms Body said the scale of real-terms reductions in spending remained unclear but could be £1.5 billion (A$2.48 billion) over three years, with “significantly sharper reductions not unthinkable”. She said organisations should start looking at how services are provided to achieve the same outcomes for less cost. “We don’t know whether some streams of funding are going to be particularly targeted,” she said. “If the UK Government pours money into defence, you can see Wales facing harsher cuts. If funding goes into devolved areas, then Wales could be in a better position. “But I can’t underline enough how challenging public services are going to find this. Since devolution... public services haven’t seen anything like it.” She recommended Agencies increase collaboration to prevent frustration for members of the public and to reduce wasted resources. Ms Body said Wales’s small size could be an advantage and help it “to pull people together”. The Audit Office teamed up with Audit Scotland and the Northern Ireland Audit Office to develop an efficiency check list for Agencies to help them focus more on results. 23 March, 2010 BRUNEI PS warned of corruption consequences Public Servants in Brunei have been warned to steer clear of corruption as it could destroy their lives and hurt their families, their friends and the Government. Chief Special Investigator and Head of Community Relationship at the nation’s Anti-Corruption Bureau, Imran Matarsad gave the advice as part of the Bureau’s bid to educate Public Servants not to get involved in corrupt activities. Mr Matarsad said anyone involved in corruption would lose their job and their career. “If you are found to be under offence for corruption then you would be sent to prison,” he said. “Who will be able to care for your spouse and children?” Mr Matarsad said Public Servants engaged in corrupt activities were also a burden on the State. “The Government has spent so much to train you and this will be wasted if you are found to have taken part in corrupt activities,” he said. Mr Matarsad said the Bureau was taking a three-pronged approach to dealing with corruption – educate, prevent and investigate. “Our main job is to educate in terms of talks, provide them [Public Servants] with knowledge on what corruption is all about because there are some people who do not realise what they are doing falls under corruption,” he said. Other initiatives to be undertaken by the Bureau include public awareness programs and talks in schools. “Corruption here can still be controlled,” Mr Matarsad said. “Our vision and mission is to make Brunei one of the top 10 least corrupt countries in the world.” 23 March, 2010 SWAZILAND Crackdown on poor performers A Commonwealth consultant has been hired to help crack down on Public Servants in Swaziland who run private errands during work hours. Minister of Public Service, Mtiti Fakudze said the consultant would help the Public Service roll out a Performance Management System (PMS) to catch employees who were underperforming. Mr Fakudze said the PMS would then be used to investigate and fire Public Servants who did not turn up to work or were performing poorly. The Minister highlighted the issue by stopping the salary of one Public Servant who was caught working in the private sector during his Public Service working hours. “I established that a certain Civil Servant was not reporting for work, but doing private engagements during working hours,” Mr Fakudze said. “Disciplinary action should be taken against this officer and he should explain why he did not report for work.” He said it was common for Public Servants to be absent from work because they were undertaking private engagements. The PMS was set in motion after a Member of Parliament, Rogers Mamba, questioned the wages of Public Servants. Mr Mamba expressed concerns that Public Servants with lower qualifications were exerting themselves diligently compared to Degree holders, but getting paid less. 23 March, 2010 THE GAMBIA PS head shares vision for future The top Public Servant in The Gambia has laid out his vision for the Public Service, saying he wanted it to be modern, professional, dynamic and efficient. Secretary General and Head of the Civil Service, Dr Njogu Bah said the Public Service needed to be reformed to help it align with the country’s development goals. Dr Bah said a modern Public Service needed a culture of fairness, efficiency and accountability. He said without this mindset, resource management, social interventions, reforms, efficient service delivery and development could not be effectively executed. “The Gambia Civil Service must therefore undergo reforms that will transform it into an organisation that enables the Government to deliver,” Dr Bah said. He said he wanted the PS to be a “professional and dynamic, efficient and effective, proactive and productive Civil Service that is flexible and adaptive to change and innovation, capable not only of formulating sound policies but also of translating these policies into tangible results.” Dr Bah called on Agencies and managers to focus on meeting targeted results and accelerating economic and social development in The Gambia. He said without the Public Service, the nation’s goals would remain unattainable mirages. “All public Services and state institutions are, for that reason, called upon to conform to the current development requirements, in particular, rigour and thrift in the management of state resources, accountability and the obligation to achieve results and the adaptation of work and results to the needs and requirements of the population,” Dr Bah said. He said African countries needed to modernise and reform their development strategies and embrace new management techniques for Agencies and Departments. Dr Bah called for commitment to capacity building, staff training, efficient management and a culture of results and performance-based management. He said he hoped The Gambia would stand out as a major player and an example in the evolution and development of the African Civil Service. 23 March, 2010 AFRICA PS finds new way to be corrupt The World Bank has released a report highlighting a new form of corruption in African Public Services. According to the bank’s Development Indicators (ADI) 2010, ‘quiet corruption’ has become a problem, with Public Servants failing to deliver goods and services already paid for by the Government. The report found the practice was widespread across the continent, was distorting the public service delivery system and would have long term consequences for development. “Quiet corruption, although smaller in monetary terms, is particularly harmful to the poor, who are more vulnerable and more reliant on Government services and public systems to satisfy their most basic needs,” the report says. In devising its annual report, the World Bank shifted from its traditional focus on corruption based on the payment of bribes and kickbacks to focus on quiet corruption. The term ‘quiet corruption’ represents the malpractice of frontline service providers such as teachers, doctors and inspectors but does not involve monetary exchange. The most common examples cited were absent teachers, and doctors and drugs being stolen from public health facilities and sold in the private market. Chief Economist for the World Bank’s Africa Region, Dr Shanta Devarajan said that among the countries surveyed, teachers in Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia were absent at least two or more days in a week. “Quiet corruption does not make the headlines the way bribery scandals do, but it is just as corrosive to societies,” Dr Devarajan said. “Tackling ‘quiet corruption’ will require a combination of strong and committed leadership, policies and institutions at the sectoral level, and – most important – increased accountability and participation by citizens.” The report found the absence of diagnostic equipment at hospitals, drug thefts, provider absenteeism and very low level of diagnostic effort were some of the manifestations of “quiet corruption” that contributed to the deaths of children with malaria. “One of the most damaging aspects of ‘quiet corruption’ is that it can have long-term consequences,” the report says. “A child denied a proper education because of absentee teachers will suffer in adulthood with low cognitive skills and weak health. “The absence of drugs and doctors means unwanted deaths from malaria and other diseases.” 23 March, 2010 TAIWAN President supports evaluation reforms The President of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou has announced his support for reforms to Public Servant evaluation processes. Mr Ma said the evaluation system needed to be revamped, but emphasised the changes must be legal and constitutional Official Spokesman for the President, Lo Chih-chiang said the current assessment method was problematic and unfair to hard-working Public Servants. “It is the administration’s goal to push for reform of the Civil Servants Evaluation Act in a legal ... and logical fashion,” President Lo said. He said the reforms would establish a method for firing or forcing incompetent Public Servants to take early retirement. The Minister for Civil Service, Chang Che-chen announced the plan, saying it would add to current performance evaluation measures. Mr Chang said under the current Act, all Public Servants were rated on a scale of one to 100 every year. He said those who received less than 60 points were fired. Mr Chang said under the new reforms regardless of the quality of the Public Servants, at least three per cent of the staff in each Government Agency would receive a C grade. He said if a staff member received three C grades in a row, they would be dismissed or asked to take early retirement. 23 March, 2010 And From the World in Brief... NEW ZEALAND A research survey of New Zealand residents has found they want better public services and more say on what services are provided to the public. Sixty-one per cent of people polled said the PS needed to improve frontline service delivery while 45 per cent thought improvements could be made without increasing spending. Just 26 per cent thought frontline services were run efficiently and 22 per cent agreed the ‘experts’ who ran and managed the Public Service were in the best position to decide what services should be provided, and how. CYPRUS Public Servants have been urged to show discipline and restraint, overcome excessive public spending and to “courageously tackle the structural problems” of Cyprus’s economy. The country’s President, Demetris Christofias made the call at a Public Service union conference, saying Public Servants needed to increase productivity and improve service quality. “We want a Civil Servant who has a sense of mission,” the President said. CHINA Chinese Public Servants will no longer have to undergo Hepatitis B tests in pre-employment physical examinations after the Ministry of Health and Human Resources and Social Security revised employment standards. The Ministries and the Ministry of Education released a circular announcing the cancellation of the test after continued complaints of discrimination by job seekers in the private and Public Sector. ZAMBIA The President of Zambia has recorded his pleasure with the country’s Public Servants, saying they were effective, hard working and committed to their duties. President, Rupiah Banda delivered the compliments when swearing in the Chief of State Protocol, the State House Comptroller and Permanent Secretary for Public Management Development Division at the Cabinet Office. MALAYSIA The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) in Malaysia has called for the Government to undertake a study on corruption in the Public Service. Cuepacs said the Government needed to find out why some Public Servants were succumbing to corruption, saying its own observations indicated low salaries and a high cost of living were two deciding factors. Public Servants topped the list of professions suspected of corruption in 2009. 16 March, 2010 UNITED KINGDOM Call to overhaul PS system A former Permanent Secretary of five different Departments in the UK has called for an overhaul of the Whitehall system, saying the current one was a “variation on anarchy” and needed to be more “businesslike.” Sir Richard Mottram told Members of Parliament that the Prime Minister should set targets for Secretaries of State and Permanent Secretaries should be awarded bonuses based on their results. Sir Richard said there was resistance to reform within Government because it “suits some officials to run a system which is, frankly, a variation on anarchy.” “When you have a variation on anarchy funnily enough things do not get decided and implemented in a structured, process-driven way,” he said. Sir Richard made the comments while giving evidence to the Public Administration Select Committee, where he set out proposals to reform the management of Public Service Departments. He said Permanent Secretaries and Secretaries of State should be made to sign up to targets set by the Prime Minister to help reduce conflicting orders from the Minister of their Department and the Head of the Public Service. “When I was a Permanent Secretary I absolutely accepted that the Cabinet Secretary, the head of the home civil service, had authority over me,” Sir Richard said. “What I couldn’t accept was that he could order me to do something which my Secretary of State did not agree was the thing that had been decided by the Government. “What you have to have is aligned accountability between, on the one hand the Secretary of State and Prime Minister and on the other hand the Permanent Secretary and the Head of the Civil Service.” He said clear priorities and targets should be set for Departments at the beginning of each Parliament and that remuneration of permanent secretaries should be “influenced” by what they deliver. From 1992 to 2007, Sir Richard was Permanent Secretary for the Office of Public Service and Science in the Cabinet Office; Ministry of Defence; Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions; Department for Work and Pensions and Intelligence, Security and Resilience in the Cabinet Office. 16 March, 2010 ZIMBABWE Hunger strike supports wage case Public Servants in Zimbabwe are to go on a hunger strike and stage a sleep-in at the Public Service Commission offices in a bid to force the Government to listen to their wage demands. Leaders from a number of PS unions said although Public Servants would be returning to work after boycotting their jobs for a month, strike action would continue. President of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, Takavafira Zhou said employees were “only going back to sharpen their instruments of combat.” “We have agreed that the industrial action continues but it must now take on a new dimension involving the leadership,” Mr Zhou said. Emmanuel Nyawo from the Teacher’s Union said Public Servants would focus on the Public Service Commission offices in Harare, the country’s capital. “We are going to stage a sleep-in at the office of the Minister (Public Service) because we believe since he is the one representing us, he should listen to our plight,” Mr Nyawo said. “From the look of things, our demands have fallen on deaf ears but we will make sure the word reaches them.” Mr Zhou accused the Government of deliberately avoiding the unions and said a meeting with the Government was needed to try and finalise the matter and clear the way for arbitration. “‘We want to invite ourselves into their offices and tell them we will not disperse until and unless we have that meeting,” he said. Mr Zhou said some strike leaders had vowed not to eat any food until then. Public Servants are expected to take part in a countrywide demonstration this month to coincide with the opening of Parliament. Mr Zhou urged teachers in Harare to take part in a march on Parliament to get MPs to tackle their concerns. The unions and are seeking a basic monthly salary of between A$540 and A$650, a large increase on the current average monthly wage of between A$167 and A$194. The Government claims it cannot afford the increase. 16 March, 2010 GREECE Strikes continue as cuts roll out Public Service offices, airports, hospitals, schools, ferries and news services were closed in Greece as Public Servants held the third strike in a month to protest against the Government’s austerity measures. A 24-hour strike in Athens on 11 March saw tens of thousands of people, including around 200 uniformed police officers, firefighters and coast guard officials, march through the city’s streets Head of one of Greece’s Police Associations, Yiannis Fanariotis said police had been hit hard by the PS salary cuts and hiring freeze. “The police and other security forces have been particularly hard hit by the new measures because our salaries are very low,” Mr Fanariotis said. He said the average police officer made around A$1,500 a month. People participating in the march clashed with riot police who used tear gas and stun grenades to keep the crowd in order. According to Greek media reports, hundreds of masked and hooded youths punched and kicked motorcycle police and threw stones. Organisers of the protest claim 60,000 people participated in the march, while police said 20,000 people were involved. Sixteen suspected rioters were detained and two officers were injured. Minor clashes also broke out in the northern city of Thessaloniki, where about 14,000 people took to the streets. Unions have claimed the Government’s tough spending cuts have put pressure on ordinary Greeks. Leader of GSSE, Greece’s largest union, Yiannis Panagopoulos, said workers were being asked to pay the price. “These measures will not be effective and will throw the economy into deep freeze,” Mr Panagopoulos said. In late February the Greek Government announced austerity measures including cuts to PS salaries, a freeze on hiring and pensions and a hike in consumer taxes to generate $65.33 billion in savings. The cutbacks, added to a previous $15 billion austerity plan announced in early February, seek to reduce the budget deficit from 12.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) to 8.7 per cent this year. 16 March, 2010 CANADA PS wage freeze and cuts announced The Canadian Government has used the Governor-General’s throne speech to announce plans to freeze the salaries of Federal politicians and Public Servants, make changes to Departmental operations and initiate a major spending review. The speech, which was delivered by the Governor-General, Michaëlle Jean, signalled plans to “aggressively” examine Departmental spending to “ensure value for money and tangible results” and a review of administrative services to improve efficiency and eliminate duplication, Ms Jean said pensions, education and health care would be exempt from restraints on Government spending. She said the wages of the Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, Members of Parliament and Senators would be frozen to show the Government was leading by example She said jobs and growth remained the top priority for the Government. President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, John Gordon said the Public Service was “centred out for special attention.” “This isn’t just in Ottawa,” he said, “it’s across the country where most of the Public Service works. “When you cut operational budgets, Departments are going to have to look for savings by cutting staff.” Departmental operational costs have been increasing by around three per cent a year. In the throne speech, Ms Jean also earmarked changes to the Canadian national anthem, the creation of a Seniors Day and the introduction of a new biometric passport. 16 March, 2010 SCOTLAND Performance pay doubles Bonus payments to Public Servants in Scotland have doubled since 2006, according to Government figures released under freedom of information. The statistics show Public Servants are “on course” to receive £2.6 million (A$4.3 million) in payments this year. According to media reports, senior Scottish Civil servants were awarded £1.3 million (A$2.14 million) in bonuses over a nine-month period at the height of the recession last year. The figures showed the performance payout was shared between around 225 Senior Civil Servants in the Scottish Government between April and December 2009. The statistics show Public Service pension and wage bills increased by 25 per cent over the past four years and were expected to exceed A$365 million and A$52.6 million respectively. They showed the number of Public Servants employed by the Scottish Executive increased by just five per cent over the same period. Bonuses for the highest-paid Public Servants are expected to increase this year to nearly A$2.88m, more than A$1.6m higher than in 2006. The Government has faced criticism from Opposition MPs who say cutting bonuses would help make necessary savings in the Budget. Critics have labelled the payments “lavish” and claimed they were inappropriate due to the Global Financial Crisis. The figures released by the Government included the pay details for Public Servants working in Scottish Executive core Departments and 11 non-Governmental organisations that perform Government functions (qangos) such as Transport Scotland. In the 2005-06 financial year 7,360 full-time officials were paid a total of A$1.97m in bonuses, the majority of which, A$1.18m, was paid to the most senior employees. At the end of 2009, there were 7,755 staff who received a total of A$3.3m in bonuses between April and December last year. This total included A$2.14m for top-level managers. The Scottish Executive said two-thirds of the bonuses were paid under a framework decided by the Cabinet Office at Westminster. Around 14 per cent of staff were expected to receive a bonus this year as payments will be made to staff displaying “exceptional performance” and “contributing to a more effective and efficient organisation.” 16 March, 2010 UNITED KINGDOM PS told to answer back Public Servants in the United Kingdom have reported being told to act as answering machines to deal with high levels of phone calls during recent strike action. The Public Servants, who were not taking part in the industrial action, were based at the Department for Work and Pensions in Carlisle. They allege they were ordered to imitate answering machines between 12pm and 2pm on 8 March. Branch Organiser for the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), Jennifer Wright said members were not happy about the demand. “Seven members of our telephony section told us that they had been told to give the standard answer-phone message and then hang up,” Ms Wright said. “Pretending to be an answering machine is hardly good customer service.” A spokeswoman for the Department denied the claim however, saying no-one was instructed to say, “Due to the high volume of enquiries we are currently experiencing we are unable to take your call. Please call back later,” before hanging up. The spokeswoman said that due to a high volume of customer calls between midday and 2pm some customers were asked to call back after 2pm. “The majority of our customers had their calls and requests dealt with immediately and in the usual manner,” she said. Another Department official said he had spoken to managers who said the claim by the staff was “simply not true.” But the PCS’s Jennifer Wright said the staff were adamant. “They felt that customers could sense that it wasn’t an answer-phone,” Ms Wright said. “Some were ringing back and it would be a different voice giving the message. Some staff felt that there might be repercussions.” One Public Servant said it “just seemed wrong” to hang up on people. “To start with, we all found it hard to keep a straight face,” he said. “But we were told to do this. “Occasionally, I slipped up and gave my name to the person who was calling. “I believe the idea was that we would have difficulty coping because of the strike, but it just seems like a silly way to handle it.” The staff member said he couldn’t understand why a proper answering machine message wasn’t prepared saying calls could not be taken due to industrial action. Around 200,000 Public Servants took the two-day strike action to protest against plans to cut pension and redundancy rights. 16 March, 2010 UNITED STATES PS payrates defended One of the United States’ top Public Servants has defended Federal workers who receive higher salaries when compared to those in similar occupations in the private sector. Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Peter Orszag said comparisons between private and Public Service paychecks were “misleading.” “The Federal workforce is more highly educated than the private workforce,” Mr Orszag said. “Roughly a third of the private workforce has a college degree, for example, [while] well over 50 per cent of the Federal workforce [does].” He said Federal workers had also been in their job longer, and “as people gain more experience, pay tends to increase.” Mr Orszag made the comments at a Government Executive Leadership Briefing in response to a recent USA Today analysis that showed Public Servants earned higher average salaries than private sector workers in more than eight out of 10 occupations. He said the Government had considered freezing Federal Public Servant salaries in the 2011 Federal Budget but had decided against the idea. Public Service Unions and other outside experts have used similar arguments to oppose the findings of the analysis. As a result of the analysis, opposition lawmakers requested information on Federal Public Servants who earned more than $100,000 per year. 16 March, 2010 IRELAND High level meetings to solve dispute Irish Public Service unions have been invited to meet with the Prime Minister, Taoiseach Brian Cowen, and a number of Ministers to discuss a dispute over Government pay cuts. Officers from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions will meet with Mr Cowen and the Ministers for Finance and the Environment, Brian Lenihan and John Gormley. In a statement, the Government said the meeting aimed to explore “potential and appropriate conditions” for a renewed engagement between Public Service unions and management. The Government said that during the meeting a comprehensive agenda for the transformation of Public Services and a framework for public service pay determination would be developed. Despite the talks unions have not called off their planned industrial action, with the Health Sector Organiser at the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union, Paul Bell saying a scheduled two-day strike that would affect seven Dublin Hospitals would still go ahead. Mr Bell said around 4,500 support staff would strike from 7 to 9 April. The Government’s Chief Executive of Labour Relations, Kieran Mulvey and Director of Conciliation, Kevin Foley are to facilitate the negotiations. No firm timeframe for the talks has been indicated. Public Servants have been protesting against Government pay cuts for close to two months. 16 March, 2010 FIJI Solar power for energy problems The Department of Energy in Fiji is to conduct a survey on the feasibility of setting up a solar power system on one of Fiji’s islands to help improve staff working conditions. Prime Minister of Fiji, Commodore Frank Bainimarama ordered the survey be undertaken on Koro Island after Public Servants told him they did not have enough power to use their equipment. Commodore Bainimarama has been holding discussions with rural-based Public Servants to outline his goals for the future of the Service and to receive feedback from workers. The Public Servants told him Government employees in rural areas needed more support as they faced more challenging experiences than their urban counterparts. School Principal of Koro High, Arieta Ulivo said the school had received some newly donated computers but that they would not last long as the school did not have a permanent source of power. Public Servants told Commodore Bainimarama a lack of power meant they had to use the printer and fax machine belonging to the Koro Bridge Resort. Dr Sofia Ali said the island’s hospital ran on a generator that had to be shut down at night due to its limited running capacity. Dr Ali said she was new on the island and was worried about what she could do in an emergency, especially during the night. Commodore Bainimarama urged the Department of Energy to do what it could to get a solar system up and running. The Department is to work with the Office of the Commissioner Eastern to get the survey and solar system online. 16 March, 2010 NEW ZEALAND New Zealand’s Minister for Finance, Bill English has told Departments and Agencies they will need to deal with a budget increase of just NZD$1.1 billion (A$841 million) this year, less than half the amount allocated in previous years. Mr English said the new funding would go to education, health and infrastructure projects but other Departments needed to be prepared to deliver services with less. He said Agencies would need to drop activities that were not effective and work out how to move money from the back office to the front line. UNITED STATES The Postal Regulatory Commission has warned the United States Postal Service to consult better with the public when deciding which post offices to close. The Postal Service is considering closing 162 post offices after identifying the need to cut back on services due to financial constraints. The Postal Regulatory Commission did not contest the Postal Service’s need to close retail facilities but said it needed to review its consultation scheme as postal customers received short notice of post office closures and public comment often wasn’t sought until the decision to close the office had already been made. TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS All Public Servants in the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British Overseas Territory near the Bahamas, are to endure a 10 per cent wage cut. Chief Executive of the Islands’ interim Government, Mark Capes said the cuts would come into effect in April and that overtime would only be permitted in “life threatening” or other “strictly essential” circumstances. Mr Capes said the interim Government had no “immediate plans” for significant PS redundancies and hoped to restore salaries and wages as soon as the country’s finances improved. INDIA The Union Public Service Commission in India has announced an overhaul of the Public Service examination from next year. The Commission said the existing preliminary examination which shortlisted candidates for the main exam would be replaced with a Civil Services Aptitude Test to analyse candidates’ ethical and moral decision making and their suitability for the PS. The new test is expected to come into effect in 2011. MALAYSIA The parents of Public Servants in Malaysia will be entitled to free ward admissions at Public Hospitals for the first time in the country’s history. The Public Service Department announced that ward charges would also be waived for Government retirees, Public Servants and qualified immediate family members. The changes come into effect from April and are expected to benefit 450,000 Government retirees. 9 March, 2010 GREECE PS cutbacks to rein in debt The Prime Minister of Greece has called on Public Servants to help “make ends meet” and to encourage their Agencies to cut waste and improve transparency. The call came as the Prime Minister, George Papandreou announced that PS pay bonuses would be cut by 30 per cent amid a fresh wave of austerity measures. In a speech to members of his party, Mr Papandreou said the Government needed to make a new beginning. “Today the Government is forced to ask for the contribution of all citizens, to ask Civil Servants to make ends meet with less,” he said. “I am asking them to demand from their management to cut waste and introduce more transparency. “Today the Civil Service is on its knees and its restoration is a condition of survival.” Before the 30 per cent cuts were announced, Greek Public Servants received two payments each year as holiday bonuses. They will lose these payments under a package of savings and tax rises designed to save a further €4.8 billion (A$7.2bn), or 2 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), this year. The annual salaries of Public Servants are split into 14 monthly installments, the last two comprising a monthly bonus for Christmas and a half-bonus for each of the Easter and summer holiday periods. “Difficult decisions had been taken for difficult times,” Mr Papandreou said. “Decisions which were not a choice, but a necessity in order for the survival of our country and our economy. “Our sacrifices will pay off if we all take on the fight to turn things around.” Greece has pledged to cut its budget deficit from 12.7 per cent of GDP — more than four times the limit for eurozone members — to 8.7 per cent by the end of the year and below 3 per cent by 2012. Austerity measures already announced include freezing PS pay and recruitment, raising taxes and changing the pension system. The average retirement age is to rise by two years to 63 and a half, and Government crackdown on tax evasion is to be launched. 9 March, 2010 TAIWAN Performance upgrade to see jobs go A plan by Taiwan’s personnel examination agency to improve public service delivery and performance could see around 10,000 Public Servants lose their jobs. A plan by the Examination Department to tighten evaluation of Public Service employee performance is yet to be approved, but is part of the Government’s program to upgrade the PS. Hesd of the Department, John Kuan said under the proposal, Public Servants who achieved their positions by passing highly-contested Government exams would no longer be able to hold on to their jobs for life. These Public Servants are known as “iron rice bowls” in Taiwan. Mr Kuan said overhauling the Performance Evaluation Law would help strengthen the overall competitiveness between the 330,000 Government employees and get rid of the practice of overprotecting underqualified Public Servants who underperform. He said under the draft rules, the number of people receiving a performance evaluation of grade C should be no fewer than 3 per cent of all employees at each Government Agency. Mr Kuan said a person with two C ratings in an annual evaluation would be demoted and those who received three would be “struck out” by layoff or forced retirement. He said the maximum percentage of Government employees receiving A ratings would be lowered to 65 percent from the current 75 percent. A grade of ‘excellent’ is to be created for star performers with evaluation scores exceeding 90 to enable them to be rewarded for their work with an extra half-month salary as year-end bonus. The criteria for evaluation will include 70 per cent for work performance and 30 per cent for work attitude. The ability for Public Servants to stay in their job for life has been criticised by members of the public who say it leads to unsatisfactory service. The proposed revisions of the rules will first be examined by leaders of the Examination Department before being forwarded to Parliament to become law. 9 March, 2010 SOUTH KOREA Recruitment quota to attract males The South Korean Government has applied a recruitment quota for men to ensure at least 30 per cent of all new Public Servants are male. The move follows a surge in the number of women entering the Public Service in the past five years. In 1992, just three women passed the exam to enter the South Korean Foreign Ministry and the Ministry’s personal data form only had a section to list information about wives, not husbands. Head of the Ministry’s Personnel Management Team, Kim Sang-jin said that since 2005, 55 per cent of the 151 people who passed the exam were women. Mr Kim said the situation at the Foreign Ministry was being mirrored across the rest of the Public Service. “Managers come to us asking for men, complaining that they have too many women in their office,” he said. “There aren’t enough men to go round. They’re in short supply.” Forty-seven per cent of those who passed the State examination that selects midlevel officials to be groomed for senior posts in Agencies other than the Foreign Ministry were women. In 1992 it was just 3.2 percent. In 1996 the Government began mandating that at least 30 per cent of recruits in all Government Departments except the Police and Military be women. Now it is applying the minimum 30 per cent quota for men as well. The surge of women in the Public Sector has been attributed to Government efforts to expand democracy, combat economic stagnation and overcome the country’s declining birthrate. Despite the high percentage of women in the PS, South Korea ranked 115th out of 134 countries in the World Economic Forum’s 2009 index of gender equality due to poor representation in the private sector. 9 March, 2010 UNITED STATES Postal Service cuts to survive The United States Postal Service has reintroduced a proposal to cut costs, close some offices, raise rates and stop delivering mail on Saturdays. The Service said it had proposed the changes in a bid to keep itself afloat after independent consultants found it faced deficits of $238 billion (A$264bn) over the next 10 years. The Postal Service unveiled a 10-year strategy to cut costs and increase flexibility. The move to five-day delivery is one of the key changes in the strategy. Postmaster General, John Potter said while the agency expected to eliminate Saturday deliveries, it planned to keep post office locations open and processing operations on track on weekends. Mr Potter said consumers would rather have fewer delivery days than a rate increase. “We’ve built a plan we think is reasonable and accommodates as many concerns as possible but still saves $3 billion [A$3.3bn annually],” he said. Savings from eliminating Saturday delivery could total $40 billion (A$44.4bn) by 2020, according to post office estimates. Mr Potter said the Postal Service was also evaluating a 2006 provision requiring it to pre-fund retiree health benefits at $5 billion (A$5.5bn) annually. He said the Service was the only Federal Agency with that obligation and proposed adjusting its benefits policies and contributions so they mirrored more closely those of other agencies. Mr Potter said the Postal Service would work with unions and management associations on buyouts and future contract negotiations. “Most of what we described affects jobs,” he said. “On the other hand, what would truly affect jobs is the Postal Service going out of business.” Mr Potter outlined a number of other proposals including moderate price increases, a move toward online and mobile applications and partnerships with retail outlets as important pieces of the strategy. “At the end of the day, this is all about balance,” he said. Union leaders have criticised the five-day delivery proposal, saying the Post Office should address overpayment to its Civil Service retirement fund instead. President of the American Postal Workers Union, William Burrus said cutting the Saturday service would be the “beginning of the demise” of the Postal Service. The Service reported a loss of A$4.2 billion last year as mail volume fell by nearly 26 billion pieces, to 177 billion in 2009 from 203 billion the year before. 9 March, 2010 MALTA Call for accountability mechanism Malta’s Ombudsman has called for a review mechanism to be established to encourage accountability across the entire Public Sector and to ensure public entities don’t take their autonomy too far. Ombudsman, Joseph Said Pullicino said the mechanism was needed to review the relationship between the Government and public entities and to make sure friendly-workplace policies introduced for the PS were being extended to public entities without impinging on their autonomy. Mr Pullicino said the workplace policies included family-friendly measures, work conditions and employment methods. He said he had decided to look into the independence and autonomy enjoyed by public entities after receiving a complaint from a Central Bank employee that she had been refused the family-friendly measures offered to Public Service employees. The Ombudsman reminded public entities not to interpret their independence as “complete freedom” to adopt administrative practices that did not reflect the rules of good governance that the Public Service was bound to follow. Mr Pullicino said the entities should accept they were part of the public administration and should be guided by the administration’s principles. “They should not, therefore, interpret their acquired autonomy as giving them full freedom to ignore policies adopted by the national Government when these in no way impinge on the exercise of their proper functions and there are no cogent reasons which militate against their adoption,” he said. “On the contrary, they should willingly adopt them while adapting them to their particular needs.” Mr Pullicino said while public entities rightly maintained they were not subject to Public Service employment regulations, their procedures still needed to conform to the standards of transparency and good governance that bound the PS. 9 March, 2010 CANADA Skills retention program scrapped The Government of British Columbia in Canada has cancelled a $20 million program to retain and protect laid-off Public Servants. The Public Service Transformation Fund was designed to keep employees with hard-to-find skills in the PS and to keep it running smoothly in the face of expected job losses. The Fund was dismantled by the Government in its Provincial Budget last week and its funding reallocated to health care and education. The B.C government told its 20 ministries they would have to find money within their existing budgets to protect or retrain valuable staff. Minister for Citizens’ Services, Ben Stewart said the Government didn’t need the funding as it had fired fewer people than expected - around one per cent of total staff, compared to a predicted maximum of five per cent. However Public Service Unions said the true loss was not the money but the long-term plan for the Public Service to transform itself and continue functioning amid thousands of future departures. President of the B.C Government and Service Employee Union, Darryl Walker said he was frustrated with the lack of future vision. “It’s a huge concern for us ... there was a transformation plan, now all of a sudden has this plan suddenly gone out the door?” he asked. The Fund was established in the Government’s February 2009 Budget, when $50 million was dedicated to preserving employees whose skills would be in demand in the future. The end of the Transformation Fund comes as further staff cuts were announced. An estimated 3,500 full-time positions are expected to be cut over the next three years, totalling around 11 per cent of the PS. The Federal Canadian Government is also struggling to cope with the repercussions of the Global Financial Crisis and has announced reductions to the pension plan offered to new Public Service recruits. Unions said the move to cut pensions could put graduates off entering the Service and lead to a mass exodus of workers retiring before the changes come into effect. Departments now have a target of hiring 4,000 new graduates by the end of March. 9 March, 2010 UNITED KINGDOM BBC cuts services The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has released its March 2010 Strategy Review, which proposes cuts to website services and TV channels and sets targets of being more “distinctive and ambitious” in pursuing its Public Service mission. Director-General of the BBC, Mark Thompson said the proposal sought to achieve cost savings of £600 million (A$1 billion). The Strategy includes plans to shutdown BBC6 Music and the BBC Asian Network, halve the size of the BBC’s website, shed a quarter of website staff and slash the online budget by 25 per cent. “Our analysis is based on three years of work that have made clear to us the views the public hold about how the BBC could improve and the areas of BBC activity that most concern the market,” Mr Thompson said. “From that understanding, we have formed the view that the BBC can do more to sharpen its focus on its core Public Service mission; to stop doing some things that it doesn’t need to do, to improve the value for money it provides; and to reconsider how it can best meet the requirement that it offers something to all parts of the audience.” The BBC is also expected to close BBC Switch and BBC Blast which are online, radio and TV services aimed at teenagers. It cited the lead role played by Channel 4 and other broadcasters in serving the teenage audience as its reason for pulling the plug. General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists, Jeremy Dear said he would back a union campaign opposing the cuts as they would cost jobs and threaten “huge amounts” of “valuable” Public Service output. Mr Dear said the changes put the BBC’s management on a “collision course” with staff, unions and the public. “BBC management’s strategy of desperate, hopeful, self-sacrifice is fundamentally flawed,” he said. “Far from convincing an incoming Government or commercial rivals that the BBC should now be left well alone, their self-harming approach will only encourage commercial media operations to demand more cuts. “We cannot stand by and watch staff and outstanding public service content sacrificed,” Mr Dear said. 9 March, 2010 JORDAN Development program a first The Government of Jordan has conducted its first Civil Servant Development Program. The program aims to teach participants skills in management, leadership and economic policy and was organised by the King Abdullah II Fund for Development in partnership with the Inspirational Development Group (UK), and was co-sponsored by Jordan Dubai Capital (JD Capital). Thirty Public Servants participated in the program, which consisted of three training workshops conducted by IDG. Director General of the King Abdullah II Fund for Development, Tarik Awad said the training program was in line with directives from His Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein. Mr Awad said the program aimed to develop “the public sector, the skills of its employees and the services provided to citizens.” “The fund aims to execute several training programs on different levels in order to promote Jordan’s position as a training centre for leaders and reflecting our efforts towards creating public-private partnerships in a manner that positively impacts sustainable development,” Mr Awad said Acting Chief Executive of JD Capital, Ismail Tahboub said the company supported the program in a bid to enhance the skills of Jordanian PS employees and create effective partnerships between the public and private sectors. The King Abdullah II Fund for Development was established by a Royal Decree in 2001 as a non-governmental organisation, with the aim of achieving social and economic developmental goals in Jordan. 9 March, 2010 CANADA Plan for PS to go digital The latest report on how to renew the Canadian Government for the future has recommended the Public Service take advantage of collaborative technologies and increase exchanges with universities, think tanks and other external experts. According to Canadian technology expert and member of the International Reference Group assisting the Australian Government’s web 2.0 efforts, David Eaves, the proposed reforms have their limitations. “The vision of the Public Service remains broadly unchanged,” Mr Eaves said. “My sense is the reforms, while sometimes large, are ultimately tweaks designed to ensure the continuation of the current model - not prompting a rethink (or the laying of groundwork) for a 21st century Public Service which will ultimately have to look different to stay relevant.” Mr Eaves said while the calls for further consultation and use of technology were good, they were also “vague and tame” and wouldn’t renew the Canadian Public Service as they were already essential for it to function. “The main problem with the Public Service is that its members aren’t even allowed to use collaborative technologies to interact among themselves so how can they possibly be asked to collaborate externally?” he asked. “A digital citizenry isn’t interested in talking to an analogue Government.” Mr Eaves said the report made some encouraging points such as creating a workplace to attract and empower Public Servants to be innovative and respond to the public. The report says a Public Service operating in isolation ran the risk of becoming irrelevant. “We believe sound Government policy should be shaped by a full range of perspectives, and policy makers must consistently reach beyond the National Capital Region for input and advice,” the report says. “Furthermore, the Public Service now has an opportunity to engage Canadians, especially younger ones, through the use of Web 2.0 collaborative technologies such as wikis, blogs and social networking.” Mr Eaves said these points were valid, but needed to be explored in more depth in the report. He said the series of four reports released by the Prime Minister’s Advisory Committee on the Public Service were likely to be “as close as (Canada is) going to get” to Australia’s Government 2.0 Taskforce. 9 March, 2010 PHILIPPINES Ninety per cent of all Filipinos who took the Public Service entrance exam failed, according to the Civil Service Commission. The Commission said just 6,334 of the 62,389 individuals who took the examination passed, but gave no explanation for the large failure rate. The tests covered vocabulary, grammar, paragraph organisation, reading comprehension, analogy, logic, numerical reasoning, the Philippine Constitution and the Code of Conduct for Public Servants. Those who pass the test become eligible to work in the Public Service. UNITED KINGDOM A survey conducted by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has identified libraries as among the services “most vulnerable” to spending cuts. The BBC said services such as libraries and nurseries faced cuts as Councils battled falling revenues and higher demand. The survey found “arts and leisure services will be most vulnerable to cuts while homelessness, children’s social services and planning are likely to be more protected.” PORTUGAL The Portuguese Government has refused to back down from austerity measures that include a freeze on PS wages despite a nationwide strike by Public Servants. The strike led to some school classes being cancelled, medical offices being closed and rubbish uncollected. Secretary of State for the Civil Service, Goncalo Castilho dos Santos said the Government was not going to budge and urged workers to accept the need for cuts in spending. UNITED STATES The General Services Administration (GSA) in the United States is leading the way in creating more environmentally friendly buildings for Federal workplaces. The GSA’s Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings has been tasked with ensuring all Federal buildings meet the sustainable design and energy reduction requirements established in 2007. The Office also aims to inspire other businesses to convert their buildings, making them greener, cleaner and better for the environment. MALAYSIA The Public Service Commission of Malaysia has admitted it hired some staff on the basis of gender when Departments and Agencies specifically requested it to. Secretary of the Commission, Datuk Lamien Sawiyo said it was rare to get requests, but some Departments did have gender specific posts. “For instance the Prisons Department have requested for women to be employed as wardens for its women’s section. “If not for specific cases like these, we do not practise gender quota when hiring people to work for the Civil Service. Everyone is eligible and all applications will be treated equally.” 2 March, 2010 MALAYSIA PS women defended The Prime Minister of Malaysia has defended the increasing number of women in the Public Service, saying gender was not as important as the capability of the service to do its job. The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the Public Service existed to implement Government policies and that doing so effectively was the most important thing. “The question of gender is not important,” Mr Najib said. “Of utmost importance is the output and achievement of the Civil Service.” He said he would not be surprised if more women than men started work at the administrative and diplomatic service (PTD) in the near future if the trend towards more women attending university continued. Mr Najib made the comments in response to a statement by the Secretary-General of the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs), Ahmad Shah Mohd Zin, that the current trend of more women being appointed into senior posts had long-term implications for development and national growth. Mr Najib said it made sense for more women to apply because around 65 per cent of those entering university were women and people who wanted to join the PTD needed to have a degree. Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the domination of women in the PS should not be cause for dispute as it was based on capability and merit. “Whatever occurs in the establishment, the decision is based on merit,” Mr Muhyiddin said. “If a particular woman is capable and based on merit, then she is eligible to be there. We cannot dispute it.” He said the Government’s policy of allocating only 30 per cent of policy maker posts to women was just a guideline. Minister for Women, Family and Community Development, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said Cuepacs should not worry about the increasing number of women in the Public Service as it would have a positive impact to the national economy and quality of the PS. 2 March, 2010 UNITED KINGDOM Claims of high-level bullying The United Kingdom’s top Public Servant has denied claims he gave the Prime Minister a “dressing-down” over his treatment of Public Servants. Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell said he had not reprimanded the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown over his alleged bullying of employees in his office at 10 Downing Street.. Sir Gus said he had spoken with Mr Brown on how to “get the best” out of his Whitehall staff, but maintained he had also had similar conversations with former PM, Tony Blair. “I never talked to the Prime Minister about his behaviour in relation to bullying No 10 staff, but of course I talk to the Prime Minister about how to get the best out of his Civil Servants,” he said. “I haven’t called for investigations. I haven’t given verbal warnings. “I make a point when I discuss with him of saying that it is really important that you show your support to the Civil Service, and he has done. He has been a very strong supporter of the Civil Service.” Sir Gus made the comments in his defence of claims in a recently released book that he had pulled Mr Brown up for bullying staff. “This is getting into semantics: angels on the head of a pin,” he said. “I don’t talk to him [PM] about behaviours; I talk to him about how to get the best out of his staff. “When I said to the Prime Minister, ‘You really get the best out of your staff when you congratulate them for really good pieces of work,’ he said, ‘Yes.’“ When asked about allegations of individual bullying complaints, Sir Gus said he would not discuss any such complaints. “I am not prepared to get into conversations about individuals,” he said, “it is ridiculous.” “If individuals come to me with issues it is important that I, as head of the Civil Service, maintain confidentiality.” Allegations of bullying by the Prime Minister have dominated news headlines in the United Kingdom for the past week and were exacerbated after the National Bullying Helpline claimed to have received calls from Downing Street staff complaining about bullying. Four of the Helpline’s five patrons resigned after the allegations, saying reporting any details about calls received by the Helpline was a breach of confidentiality. 2 March, 2010 JAMAICA Job cuts to improve efficiency The Unit tasked with transforming the Jamaican Public Service has released its first draft report on proposed changes. The Public Sector Transformation Unit’s report pinpoints job cuts as one way of improving the Service’s efficiency. Head of the Unit, Patricia Sinclair McCalla said it was too early to know how many jobs would go when the transformation was completed over the next 12 to 18 months. “I would be less than honest if I didn’t say to you, based on this initial draft, it is obvious that there will be a reduction in some areas in terms of the numbers in the Public Sector,” Ms Sinclair McCalla said. “What we have done is to look at the number of ministries and entities and the services provided and we have made recommendations. “This matter is being reviewed for further action and therefore I am not in a position to state precisely where the areas of contraction will take place. She said the recommendations included shared corporate services which would lead to contractions in the number of staff at some state entities. Ms Sinclair McCalla, who has been dubbed ‘cutter-in-chief’, said her Unit had been set a deadline of 31 March to complete their proposal. Leader of the Consultative Monitoring Group, Peter Moses said his group was overseeing the transformation. Mr Moses said the transformation process would not focus on cutting staff to reduce the Government’s wage bill. “This is not a cutting group,” he said, “if this exercise was about cutting staff, we could do that in a fairly short period of time.” “I don’t see my chairmanship and the members of my team being engaged to cut staff. We are here to find ways to improve the efficiency related to the Public Sector.” Head the Jamaica Civil Service Association, Wayne Jones said Public Servants were in agreement with the Government about the need to transform the Public Sector. “As the voice of the workers in the Public Sector, we have always believed in the need for constant review and renewal aimed at improving the service that we deliver,” Mr Jones said. 2 March, 2010 NIGERIA Corruption blamed for poor service A lack of work ethics in the Nigerian Public Service has been blamed for poor service delivery and PS corruption. Member of Opposition party DTA, Johan De Waal said the Public Service was riddled with people who adopted a care-free attitude and were unwilling or too lazy to work. “One rotten apple is enough to infect all apples,” Mr De Waal said. He said poor service delivery and negative employee attitudes frustrated members of the public and stakeholders. Mr De Waal said it had become common practice for the public to expect poor service unless they offered a bribe. Speaking during the Namibia Institute Public Administration and Management Bill (NIPAM) debate in the house, Mr De Waal accused some Public Servants of delaying services in the hopes of frustrating clients to the point where they will offer payment. He praised the Anti Corruption Commission for its role in investigating Public Service employees who were extorting money from the PS. Mr De Waal’s comments were seconded by a member of the Congress of Democrats, Kaveri Kaveri, who said the Public Service lacked ethics, creativity and innovation. The two main pointed to examples of corrupt behaviour, citing a senior Navy officer who extorted money from an accommodation facility in return for ensuring guests from the Navy would stay at the establishment. Mr De Waal said a National Youth Service scheme official was arrested by the Anti Corruption Commission for allegedly accepting funds from an insurance firm in return for giving them business. 2 March, 2010 CANADA Conditions attract more to PS The Canadian Public Service has been praised for being a professional, dynamic and adaptable institution. In the fourth report of the Advisory Committee on the Public Service, the PS was applauded for its performance over the past year, which included its response to the H1N1 threat and the global financial crisis. Co-chair of the advisory committee, David Emerson commended the PS for its work to untangle the “web of rules” associated with Government procedures and reporting requirements, and the decision to modernise its 40 year old pay system. “The Committee is very pleased to note tangible results of efforts to renew the Public Service,” Mr Emerson said. “In order for the Public Service to re-think and transform its models for delivering on the business of Government, renewal must remain a priority.” In the report, A Relevant and Connected Public Service, he acknowledged the leadership transformation currently taking place as waves of senior Public Servants retire. The report recommends the PS focus on supporting and sustaining leadership at the most senior ranks, connect with Canadians to ensure relevant policy-making and long-term planning, and look at new ways to do business more effectively. Other Co-Chair of the Committee, Paul Tellier said any high-performance PS needed to be tuned into the needs and concerns of the public. “The Committee recognises the importance of the Public Service’s ability to engage in regular face to face exchanges with external organisations,” Mr Tellier said. “This should not be restrained, even as we enter a period of fiscal restraint.” Mr Tellier and Mr Emerson also highlighted the need for the Public Service to create a workplace that enabled its staff to provide efficient public services. 2 March, 2010 FIJI PM admits service delivery is poor Public Servants in Fiji have been urged to leave their comfort zones in a bid to improve service delivery. Prime Minister of Fiji, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, said he was disappointed with reports he had received of the Public Service over the past few weeks while he was touring rural areas of the country. Commodore Bainimarama said Public Servants often blamed the unavailability of Government vehicles for failing to carry out their duties. “When you don’t have vehicles, take the bus and then claim your bus fares,” he said. “If you have a horse, then ride the horse. “You need to come out of your comfort zone and look at the service that needs to be provided.” He said poor service delivery had been going on for too long and needed to be fixed. “I must admit that the delivery of service is very bad,” he said. “It is something we have talked about for years but there was no opportunity to change that.” Commodore Bainimarama made his comments while touring the Public Service Commission in Suva. He said the Government had introduced the People’s Charter to help the Public Service improve service delivery to the public. 2 March, 2010 UNITED KINGDOM Leaders needed as cutbacks hit Leadership in the United Kingdom Public Service needs to be more “genuine”, according to a report released by consultancy firm, Deloitte. The report, Leadership at all Levels: Leading Public Service Organisations, highlighted the need for more “adept” leadership as the Public Sector faces budget and spending restrictions. Deloitte called on Agencies and Departments to encourage strong leadership at all levels rather than “simply hiring or training more managers or leaders.” Principal author of the report, Keith Leslie said he believed funding constraints concealed a major opportunity for Public Service Leaders. “This crisis will be a chance to reform public service delivery and bring together Public Sector workers around a motivating vision,” Mr Leslie said. “People don’t want to hear about cuts but they will want the chance to take control of their organisation’s destiny.” He said delivering improved services was possible by motivating the PS workforce and exercising more leadership. In the report, Mr Leslie said senior leaders should demonstrate their leadership by showing emotional intelligence, facilitating effective change, managing demanding environments and helping others lead. He said strong leadership would be essential in making the difficult calls brought on by reduced resources and leaders would need to root out “dysfunctional system behaviours” that impeded service delivery. Deloitte’s paper is the second in their Agility in the Age of Austerity series and outlines the importance of leadership in the PS when faced with budgetary pressures. Mr Leslie said the report also addressed governance and control processes, structures for change and leadership programs. 2 March, 2010 TRINIDAD & TOBAGO Revenue body a threat to PS Plans by the Ministry of Finance to establish a Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority would increase efficiency in revenue collection and voluntary compliance amongst taxpayers, according to chairman of the TTRA Management Company, Andre Vincent Henry. Dr Henry said establishing the Authority, or TTRA, would help improve the careers of Public Servants. “The TTRA proposes to provide a superior employee experience, which recognises each employee, not only as the primary source of the value proposition for the customer, but also recognises the employee as a unique individual having an inherent value for the TTRA,” Dr Henry said. He said although the responsibility for policy would remain with the Minister of Finance, the TTRA would consider all options available for improving efficiency in revenue collection and make recommendations to policy-makers. “The proposed Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority will seek to make the fulfillment of this responsibility as painless as possible,” Dr Henry said. He said its establishment was based on a Government decision to correct what was a “mismatch between the dynamic demands of revenue collection administration and the static nature of the institutional framework.” Dr Henry said from a revenue collection base of $600 million in 1972, the national budget moved under $13 billion in 2001 to $50 billion this year. “We are really talking about a change in reality,” he said. One of the country’s trade unions, the Public Service Association, said establishing the Authority would disrupt and potentially destroy the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of Public Servants. The union said facing “reality” meant revenue collection operations would need to be taken away from the Public Service. It said attempts to reform and to restructure the Public Service to improve efficiency and performance had failed in the past. 2 March, 2010 AFGHANISTAN MoU to improve service delivery The Afghanistan Civil Service Commission and the United States Government have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to improve service delivery in Afghanistan. Under the agreement, the United States will train Afghani Public Servants to improve the delivery of Government services on a national and state-based level. Chairman of the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission (IARCSC), Dr Ahmad Mushahad, the Mission Director of USAID, Bill Frej and the US Ambassador, Karl Eikenberry signed the MoU. The agreement commits the two nations to the Civil Service Support Program, which includes $84 million in funding to train Afghani Public Servants. In its first year of implementation, the program will see 4,000 Public Servants in Kabul trained, while 12,000 more will receive training over the next two years. The Public Servants will receive instruction on Afghanistan’s five core public administration functions: financial management, project management, procurement, human resources and strategic planning. The program is to assist ministries with advancing the Public Administration Reform process so Civil Servants are properly paid and categorised. Director of the IARCSC, Farhad Osmani said the Commission would prioritise the training of personnel in a number of districts and provinces. “This event is a clear indicator that the Afghanistan Civil Service Institute is the key component to building capacity for the Afghanistan government on a local, provincial and national level,” Mr Osmani said. Ambassador Eikenberry said the program brought “new energy and ideas” to PS reform in Afghanistan. “This is a process that will no doubt take time, but one that is necessary for both the advancement of the Afghan Government and the progress of the Afghan people,” he said. 2 March, 2010 IRELAND Staff across the entire Irish Public Service have taken part in a half-day blanket ban on answering phone calls. The ban was held from 1pm on 25 February and formed part of ongoing industrial action by the Civil and Public Service Union in reaction to budgetary pay cuts. It came as another union, IMPACT, announced plans to impose rolling bans on phone answering across the health service from next week - including hospitals. CANADA One fifth of the Canadian workforce is now employed in the Public Sector, according to a survey conducted by Canadian firm, Brainstorm Consulting. 20.4 per cent of the workforce are Government employees, up from 18.9 per cent in 2008. The survey listed reasons such as flexible schedules, career advancement, compensation and benefits packages, good work-life balance, good management and mentoring as reasons many Canadians were choosing to work in the PS. JAPAN Japan’s cabinet has endorsed a Bill to establish a new bureau to manage the appointment of senior officials at all Government offices. The Bill is expected to be submitted to Parliament and cleared by the end of March. If this occurs, the new bureau will be set up in the Cabinet’s Secretariat and be functional from 1 April. UNITED KINGDOM Public Servants in the United Kingdom are to stage a 48 hour strike on 8 and 9 March to protest against proposed cuts to their redundancy packages. The walkout is to involve almost 270,000 staff including tax workers, coastguards, border agency officials, courts staff, driving test examiners and employees from Jobcentre. The Public and Commercial Services union said 63 per cent of members had voted in favour of stoppages and 81 per cent had backed an overtime ban. The union did not rule out further protests. KOREA Plans by the private sector to raise the retirement age of all staff by introducing a peak salary system are expected to be quashed by the South Korean Government. The Strategy and Finance Ministry said it would prepare a standard model of the peak salary system, which allows staff to extend their retirement age in return for less pay. Under the standard model, companies would be urged to institute retirement through incentives and voluntary measures instead of extending retirement for all staff which could reduce the hiring of younger entry-level employees. The government is expected to recommend the Public Service also adopt the model. |
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