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SearchArchives for March 2011
29 March, 2011UNITED KINGDOM Survey finds PS ready to strike A survey of British Public Servants has found that more than half would take industrial action to protest against PS job cuts. The survey, by totaljobs.com, found that almost one in three Public Servants believed they did not have the experience to work outside the public sector and 78 per cent believed there would be no improvement to efficiency or management as a result of the changes Of the 52 per cent who said they would consider taking action, 83 per cent would do so in reaction to proposed job cuts and 54 per cent against changes to pension rights. The research also outlined where public sector workers believed cuts should be made, with 69 per cent naming external consultancy and 56 per cent saying management. When asked where they believed the cuts would be made, 30 per cent said that frontline staff would bear the brunt, compared to six per cent who said senior management and 12 per cent who said middle-management. Although many public sector workers are considering a move into the private sector, 31 per cent said they did not have relevant experience to move out of the public sector. A total of 45 per cent of the respondents had 10 or more years experience in the public sector - an indication that many do not have the transferrable skills and motivation to move. Furthermore, 81 per cent of the PS workers surveyed believed that the public did not understand the full scope of what the public sector did and a similar percentage (85 per cent) believed that the public sector was being made a scapegoat for the economic downturn. Eighty-three per cent said they believed that sentiment against the public sector was being exacerbated by the Government’s rhetoric. This came at a time when Lord Hutton’s Public Service Pensions Commission recommended that public sector workers work for up to six years longer to earn their pensions and that the pensions be lower anyway. 29 March, 2011 NEW ZEALAND Earthquake cost to cut public services The New Zealand Government has been accused of using the Christchurch earthquake crisis as an excuse to cut public services. The Public Service Association (PSA) levelled the accusation, saying that Prime Minister John Key was planning to remove up to $800 million in new spending from this May’s Budget. Mr Key has said that any extra money the Government had would be going towards the rebuilding of Christchurch – but there would still be room for increased spending in health and education. National Secretary of the PSA, Richard Wagstaff said Mr Key had it wrong. “The Government is looking for any excuse to cut public services,” Mr Wagstaff said. “It’s not looking for a levy or to borrow money to pay for the quake – and that would be a better option. “Instead the Government is choosing to squeeze Departments and services that have already been shaved to the bone.” Mr Wagstaff said last year’s tax cuts, which were meant to foster economic growth, cost the country several billion dollars and produced no measurable economic benefit at all. “The Government complains about its deficit yet it is pushing ahead with corporate tax cuts on 1 April,” he said. “This Government is leading the recession with its blunt cuts to public services. “Decades of evidence from around the world shows that societies that prosper and grow are those that invest in public services, especially in health and education,” Mr Wagstaff said. 29 March, 2011 GHANA 30,000 staff transferred Thirty thousand Public Servants in Ghana have been transferred out of the central Public Service and into Local Government. The transferred staff have been given an assurance by Vice-President, John Dramani Mahama that their conditions of service will be the same or even better in their new positions. He urged those transferred to embrace their migration to the Local Government Service (LGS) with “optimism and enthusiasm”. The Vice-President said the transfer of staff marked the beginning of a dramatic transformation in administration and governance in Ghana and a significant milestone in its journey towards full decentralisation. He noted that some transferred staff were apprehensive as to what the future held for them. “These apprehensions, in reality, are far-fetched, Vice President Mahama said. “A very careful road map has been prepared to ensure that the migration is smooth, painless and rewarding.” He said the Government’s intention was that all preparations would be made in time to inform the 2012 Budget Guidelines which were due to be issued sometime in June. Chairman of the Civil Service Council, Robert Dodoo said there was still more to be done to fully complete the process of administrative decentralisation in which the Council was directly connected. Chairman of the LGS Council, F. N. Andan said the transfer had rekindled the Council’s belief in the Government’s commitment to accelerate the decentralisation process. 29 March, 2011 CANADA PS warned on Facebook entries Public Servants in Canada have been warned to take care posting personal comments on Facebook and other social media sites because of their potential to affect the impartiality of the PS. President of the Canadian Public Service Commission (PSC), Maria Barrados, issued the warning following the release of a PSC report that examined the state of the core principles of merit and non-partisanship under the five-year-old Public Service Employment Act (PSEA). The report found that some of the most significant risks to non-partisanship of the Public Service stemmed from “real and perceived tensions” regarding the appropriate roles of Public Servants and politicians and their staffs. Ministerial staff are appointed at the pleasure of Ministers to give partisan advice and Ms Barrados said a code of conduct was needed to provide them with “the rules of the road”. She cited an incident last year in which a partisan news release was posted on Justice Canada’s website. A PSC investigation found there was no evidence that any Public Servant was involved in drafting the release, but the Commission concluded there was a lack of clarity in the roles of Public Servants and political staff. The PSC report said more needed to be done to improve the understanding and awareness of Public Servants and Government Departments about the core value of non-partisanship. It also said work should continue on ways to provide more clarity to Government employees about taking part in political activities. The report observed that social media had expanded the avenues available for PS staff to exercise their right to political expression, often with higher profile and broader reach than in the past. “Public servants have political rights,” Ms Barrados said. “The question for me is how they exercise them. “I expect those political rights to be exercised privately unless there’s some real due thought about them,” she said. 29 March, 2011 PAKISTAN Striking staff face charges Public Service authorities in the Pakistani Province of Punjab have come down hard on PS officers taking strike action in support of a pay claim. Official sources said 73 officials of the provincial services were being taken to Court, including the President of the Punjab Civil Service (PCS) Officers Association, Rai Manzoor Nasir and three leaders of the Punjab Civil Secretariat Employees Association (PCSEA). The Government also suspended 26 officers of the provincial services and three clerks after they were arrested and required them to show cause within seven days as to why they should not be punished under the disciplinary law. Senior Vice-President of the PCSEA, Shoaib Tariq Warraich whose home was raided, said that the arrest of the provincial officers and action against them had not sabotaged the struggle to secure their rights. In a later development, three office-bearers of the PCSEA announced their dissociation from the PCS officers’ strike. Meanwhile the Government announced that all offices in the Civil Secretariat continued to function normally. Officials said a majority of staff turned up for work although there were some absentees in addition to the suspended provincial officers. The officials said there was no strike anywhere in the province and no-one had left his or her station of posting.. The PCS Officers Association denied the Government’s comments saying a complete strike had been held at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, the Management and Professional Development Department and the Civil Secretariat and in all the districts headquarters of the Province. Meanwhile the Pakistan Medical Association has announced it too will strike unless the Government comes up with a special salary package for doctors soon. 29 March, 2011 UNITED KINGDOM Pension contributions up 3% Personal superannuation contributions for PS staff in the United Kingdom are to rise three per cent under new arrangements announced in the Budget. The Government has decided that the discount rate for calculating unfunded Public Service pension contribution rates should be based on growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). A discount rate of three per cent above the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) will now be used. The discount rate is used to calculate the cost of earning each additional rate of pension benefit for many years in retirement. It is a technical issue that is intended to take account of the value of money many years into the future. The lower the discount rate, the higher the future value of a pension income becomes. The Chancellor (Treasurer), George Osborne said the Government did not intend seeking further contribution rises. He said instead, it would accept proposals set out in a review of public sector pensions conducted by Lord Hutton, the former Labour Minister, that would slow the rate at which new benefits were earned and raise retirement ages. According to the Office of Budget Responsibility, long-term GDP growth is equivalent to a discount rate of 2.9 per cent above CPI. The Government has rounded this to three per cent and proposes to review the level every ?ve years and the methodology every 10 years. It also stressed that the change in the discount rate would not lead to an increase in member contribution rates beyond those already announced in the Spending Review last year. Chief Executive of the National Association of Pension Funds, Joanne Segars said the Government should think carefully about how and when it increases employee contributions into pensions. “Public sector workers are facing uncertainty about jobs and pay,” Ms Segars said, “and a significant hike in contributions could spur many to quit their pensions.” 29 March, 2011 IRELAND Leave overhaul planned for PS A proposal to standardise annual leave entitlements for Public Service staff in all levels of Government is being considered by the Irish Department of Finance. The new arrangements would take in Local Authorities and the health service. The move follows a decision by the Civil Service Arbitration Board to reject proposals by the Department of Finance to abolish privilege days – days off in addition to normal holidays – for personnel in the Public Service. As a result of the ruling, all staff in the Public Service will have to be given two additional annual leave days to compensate for the decision by the Department to abolish the traditional privilege days which they enjoyed at Christmas and Easter. In what was one of the most high-profile changes sought by the Department under the Croke Park Agreement, it had proposed that senior staff would lose the two privilege days which they receive each year. Those in middle grades would lose one privilege day and have one converted to annual leave. Those in more junior positions would have the two privilege days incorporated into an additional annual leave provision. However, Public Service trade unions rejected the proposals, which were put forward last December and the issue was referred to arbitration. The Department told an Arbitration Board hearing last month the measures would generate savings of €4.6 million ($A6.35 million) per year and lead to greater administrative efficiencies. However, the Arbitration Board said the changes to privilege days sought by the Department would have created “a sense of grievance disproportionate to any gains which might accrue”. Privilege days in the Public Service date back to British rule when staff were given two additional days off to mark the King’s birthday and Empire Day. 29 March, 2011 MALAYSIA Retiring staff win free health care Staff retiring from the Malaysian Public Service are to be entitled to free medical treatment under new conditions announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. The benefit would also extend to the families of Public Servants retiring from both the Federal and State Governments as well as Local Governments and statutory bodies. It will not cover those who resigned or left the service voluntarily, however. Previously, only pensioners were eligible for the free treatment. “This move is in appreciation of the good service of Public Servants,” Datuk Seri Najib said. He said Department Heads and Heads of Service would be given the flexibility to determine the methods used to assess their staff. “This is to ensure that the assessment is relevant, comprehensive and suited to their needs,” he said. The initiative would replace the Competency Level Assessment (PTK) as announced in October’s Budget. Later, at the Prime Minister’s Department Service Excellence Awards, Datuk Seri Najib called on the Public Service to continuously evaluate their existing systems and procedures and seek improvements to enable them to change with the times. “This process of improvement must be a journey, not a destination,” he said. “A journey without end.” He said Malaysia’s slogan People First, Performance Now was created as a reminder that the people were the main stakeholders of the Government. 29 March, 2011 MALAYSIA PM pleased with PS reforms The Prime Minister of Malaysia has expressed his pleasure at reforms being implemented in the Malaysian Public Service. Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak described the smooth adoption of the reforms as a “wonderful testament to the commitment shown by the Civil Service”. Members of the International Performance Review Committee, comprising Public Service experts from Australia, the United States, United Kingdom, South Korea, Russia and Singapore, had commended the work and results achieved by the Government so far. Datuk Seri Najib said that in the area of law and order, the Crime Index had dropped by 15 per cent and street crime was down by 35 per cent. He said this was made possible by the mobilisation of more than 14,000 police officers to 50 crime hot spots. The Prime Minister said the Global Corruption Barometer 2010 collated by Transparency International (TI) showed a marked improvement in the public’s perception of Government efforts in fighting graft. “It showed that 48 per cent of Malaysians think Government efforts on corruption are effective,” Datuk Seri Najib said. “This is an increase from 28 per cent in 2009.” He said in some areas performance targets were exceeded. “For pre-school enrolment, for example, we set up 1,500 new pre-school classes with an enrolment of 55,056 children.” He said hardcore poverty had been reduced to just 0.2 per cent and efforts to improve urban transport had also shown positive results. 29 March, 2011 FIJI A new Code of Conduct for Public Servants is to be drawn up in Fiji. The code is designed to allow for a more modernised approach to the Public Service and was among the recommendations in the report of the National People’s Charter National Advisory Council to be submitted to Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama. WALES The Chief Operating Officer at the Wales Audit Office, Anthony Snow, who received a £750,000 ($A1.18 million) redundancy package, has defended his payout saying it was in line with his entitlement under Public Service rules. The payout has been described as “lavish”. Former Auditor General, Jeremy Colman, has been accused of deliberately concealing the extent of Mr Snow’s retirement package from colleagues. SINGAPORE Singapore has been held up as an example of effective Public Service by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). A book produced by the UNDP titled Virtuous Cycles: The Singapore Public Service and National Development, tracks the past 45 years of the Singapore Public Service, as well as the challenges it faces in the future. The book suggests that Singapore is a model for Public Services in both developing and developed countries. UNITED KINGDOM The 2012 London Olympics are expected to create around 1,000 extra public sector ICT jobs in addition to around 4,000 jobs in the private sector. The jobs will be needed due to the unprecedented level of technology required. The extra positions would be on top of IT and telecoms services already increasing as Agencies and companies are selected by Olympic suppliers. PHILIPPINES Applications are now being accepted for Public Service entry examinations for the Career Service Professional and Sub-Professional levels in the Philippines Public Service. The Civil Service Commission has made the call saying it will accept applications until 7 April on a first-come, first-served basis, but warned that the application period may be closed at any time before that date should the quota for the examinations be reached. . The examination is open to Filipino citizens 18 years old and over at the time of filing, regardless of educational attainment. 22 March, 2011 UNITED KINGDOM 132,000 PS jobs go in three months The British Office of National Statistics has revealed that 132,000 jobs were cut from the UK public sector in the final three months of 2010. Half the jobs – 66,000 – were lost from Local Government. The figures, published on 16 March by the ONS, show that a total of 6.2 million people were employed in the public sector in the final quarter of 2010. This represented a steep decrease in jobs between the third and fourth quarters of last year, with a fall of 45,000 in the last three months of 2010 compared to the previous three months. Local Government was down was down 2.3 per cent compared to the end of 2009, with 24,000 jobs lost in the final quarter of 2010. Central Government jobs fell by 9,000 in the last three months of 2009. Almost all – 8,000 – were in the Public Service. The Department for Work and Pensions cut 3,110 jobs; the Home Office cut 1,150 jobs and 780 jobs were cut at HM Revenue and Customs. In the final three months of 2010, Local Government employed 2.9 million people and Central Government 2.8 million – down by 45,000, or 1.6 per cent, from the same quarter in 2009. Police numbers fell by 2,000 and jobs in the armed forces by 1,000 but there were small increases in three areas: public administration, where 9,000 new jobs were created; the National Health Service which increased by 4,000; and other health and social work, where there was an increase of 2,000 positions. The public sector now accounts for 21.2 per cent of total employment in the UK. According to the ONS, 30.4 per cent of jobs in Northern Ireland are in the public sector, compared to 17.8 per cent in the south-east of England. 22 March, 2011 IRELAND Job cuts reach Ministers’ offices Staff numbers in Ministers’ offices are the latest to be cut in Ireland following the change of Government. Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin said the maximum number of Public Servants in a Minister’s private office would be cut from 10 to eight and the constituency office from six to four. In the case of Ministers of State, maximum staffing of private offices would be cut from seven to five and constituency offices from five to three. Mr Howlin said the Government was also ending the practice whereby special advisers hired by Ministers from inside or outside the Public Service received their existing salaries plus an ‘attraction allowance’ of 10 per cent. He said each Minister was entitled to appoint two special advisers (usually one for media and the other having a political or economic role) and Ministers of State were restricted to one such post that must be approved by the Government. Under the previous Government, salaries for special advisers could range as high as €188,640 ($A270,000). The new starting point is €80,051 ($A114,000) and no more than €92,672 ($A131,000). Mr Howlin said these decisions began the Government’s commitments to reform how the Public Service operated. “The transfer of staff from Ministers’ offices to front-line areas will allow the Public Service to become more focused on the citizen,” Mr Howlin said. “Staffing resources are decisions for individual Departments so the number of staff and grades may vary, but the Cabinet decision sets out maximum staffing levels,” he said. “Staff will normally be redeployed to other duties in the Civil Service.” 22 March, 2011 KENYA Courts act on gender equity The Kenyan Attorney-General has been given 45 days to provide a Court with a list of all Public Servants in the country to show whether gender equity is being followed in Government appointments. The Minister, Amos Wako is also expected to provide another list of those working in Government-owned corporations to enable eight non-governmental organisations challenging President Kibaki’s nominations to Justice and Budget office jobs to demonstrate whether or not gender equity had been followed. The groups originally focused on the nominations, seeking to have them declared unconstitutional on the grounds that gender equity was not considered and the Judicial Service Commission was ignored. When the Opposition’s position was supported by Prime Minister, Raila Odinga who said he was not consulted as required by law, the President withdrew the names. In another development, a prosecutor with the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno Ocampo, has called for the Head of the Public Service, Francis Muthaura and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Uhuru Kenyatta to be removed from any involvement relating to police functions and those of the Witness Protection Committee. Mr Muthaura is the Chair of the National Security Committee and Mr Kenyatta is a member of the Witness Protection Committee. The pair are among six suspects summoned to appear before the ICC in connection with crimes against humanity during the 2008 post election violence. The six have been summoned to appear before pre-trial judges on 7 April. 22 March, 2011 UNITED STATES Bureaucracy wants more boffins The Secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has called for more scientists to join the Public Service. Janet Napolitano said that harnessing science and technology to meet the needs of Homeland Security was critical to the nation’s continual security and prosperity. She said her Department was formed with the belief that a problem as complex as securing a homeland could only be solved by bringing together the different kinds of expertise and multiple resources that existed across the Government. “Although we have made considerable progress, we have a way to go to thoroughly integrate our functions and capabilities,” Ms Napolitano said. She said that each day about two million passengers travelled through 370 of the nation’s airports, 50,000 cargo containers entered the ports, and more terabytes of intelligent information than the entire text holdings of the Library of Congress were sifted to identify potential threats. “I look forward to the day when passengers will not have to shed their shoes and go through so much screening before boarding an airplane,” she said. To towards this end the Department was working on the “airport checkpoint of tomorrow”. To encourage participation of scientists in the Department it was building a workforce with long term programs and long term budgets - billions of dollars for big, complex projects, which would last for decades. “Careers in science in the Public Service are equally as challenging and appealing as those in academia and the private sector,” Ms Napolitano said “I want to encourage top scientists to consider working for or spending a stint at DHS. “Our mandate is that we must embrace the benefit of the best of what science has to offer,” she said. 22 March, 2011 UNITED KINGDOM ‘Real’ cost of PS continues to rise The UK National Audit Office (NAO) has found that weak personnel management and a failure to control the salaries of senior Public Servants were to blame for a 10 per cent increase in the ‘real’ cost of staffing the UK Public Service since 2001. Ministers claimed that the recruitment freeze has saved £120 million ($A197 million) since last May with external recruitment falling by 75 per cent, but the NAO report that freezes to Public Service recruitment and pay were “blunt mechanisms” and longer-term savings would come from reforming the Public Service compensation scheme. It said a process of ‘grade creep’ had taken place with 14,000 additions made to the lower levels of Public Service management at Grades Six and Seven. This represented a 67 per cent increase in lower-grade staff and came despite reductions in the numbers of administrative and back-office staff following Sir Peter Gershon’s efficiency review of 2004. According to the NAO, the latest staffing figures from September 2010 indicate numbers in had fallen to 479,000 from a recent peak of 538,000 in March 2004. The Treasury estimated that the Central Government’s staff bill of £16.4 billion ($A27 billion) was made up of roughly one tenth of the public sector payroll, which itself represented 23 per cent of total public spending. According to the Treasury’s Spring estimates, the cost to the Cabinet Office for implementing the Public Service superannuation requirements aimed at reducing staff redundancy and pension costs demanded further net cash requirements of £327 million ($A538 million). This made the new estimated cost of provision of the PS superannuation program £1,886 billion ($A3 billion). Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Margaret Hodge said it was not acceptable for management layers and bureaucracy to build up in the Public Service with nobody in Government controlling what was happening. 22 March, 2011 SCOTLAND Election promise assures PS jobs The Scottish National Party (SNP) has promised to protect public sector jobs if successful in the election being held on 5 May. SNP Leader, Alex Salmond has confirmed his party will go into the election campaign by staking out a claim as the most effective champion of free frontline services even though the Scottish Budget is to fall by £3.3 billion ($A5.4 billion) by 2014. Mr Salmond said 17,700 Public Servants in Government Departments, State Agencies and public bodies would be protected against compulsory job cuts. He said he would campaign for no compulsory job cuts across the public sector in return for an across-the-board pay freeze if the Nationalists were returned to Government. “If the people return me as a First Minister, then I will secure that prize, of no compulsory redundancies and [the] economic security that it brings,” Mr Salmond said. He also said that the SNP would follow Wales by introducing free prescription charges for all next month, only a few weeks before the elections. The latest polls suggest the SNP was narrowing Labour’s overall lead and has a greater number of committed voters than Labour. But, with the full campaign yet to start, the SNP still has to attract non-core voters. The SNP insists it will afford these measures, pressing down hard on other areas of public spending. An SNP Government would demand a public sector pay freeze, cuts in top level salaries, increased part-time working and more flexible working. Its money-saving plans also include the merger of Scotland’s eight police forces, probably into one national police service, and a cut in the number of fire brigades from eight to three. 22 March, 2011 SOUTH AFRICA PSC urged to take hard decisions The Minister for the Public Service in South Africa, Richard Baloyi, has questioned whether the Public Service Commission (PSC) has the capability to implement difficult policies. Speaking at the second Biennial Labour Relations Conference, Mr Baloyi praised the Commission for being a custodian of good governance but challenged it to ensure it implemented its resolutions. “We need to ask ourselves if the PSC has teeth,” Mr Baloyi said. “Does it have power or the ability to enforce adherence to rules? “We need to investigate that.” The conference was convened by both the PSC and the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) with the main aim of sustaining dialogue on the integration and coordination of labour relations in the Public Service. Mr Baloyi said the event was an opportunity to do some introspection on issues concerning both the PSC and the PSCBC. He said these included discussions on what really constituted a fair offer or demand in relation to salary disputes, and whether the PSCBC was acting freely without fear or favour. He said the Government wanted to see labour peace, the advancement of productivity and the fight against corruption within the Public Service. Mr Baloyi also referred to organised labour as being an important partner in labour relations issues, but warned that while that was the case it did not mean there was no room for improvement. He said the first Labour Relations Conference had identified higher level problems, such as the effect of corruption on growth and development as well as unemployment. It resolved to promote sound labour relations, which could be done through the retention of labour relations practitioners. 22 March, 2011 MALAYSIA (Sarawak) New assessment plan for PS A new assessment format for Public Servants in Malaysia is expected to be in place by 1 July. The format will replace the Competency Level Assessment (PTK) examination and will be based on competency and individual Key Performance Indicators (KPI). Director General of the Public Service Department (PSD), Datuk Seri Abu Bakar Abdullah said the Government was in the process of collecting inputs and feedback from Public Servants and unions. More than 2,000 State and Federal Public Servants attended a meeting to hear the announcement. Datuk Seri Abu Bakar said under the new system, Public Servants would be assessed based on their core duties as well as the services offered by their respective Departments, and would no longer be based on a ‘one-size-fits-all’ assessment system. “In line with the Government’s effort to transform the Public Service, we have to recognise its complexity,” Datuk Seri Abu Bakar said. “We need all sizes to fit the uniqueness of the services we have.” Meanwhile, he warned the Public Service not to delay important projects under the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP). He said the delays experienced under the ninth plan should be a lesson not to repeat them. “For new projects, this matter should not happen again as all projects are important to the people who are our clients,” Datuk Seri Abu Bakar said. He said project management issues were important as huge amounts were spent to develop the nation and it was the duty of every Public Servant to ensure all allocations for the projects were spent wisely. He said it was equally important to prioritise important projects, and review others which might not be as important. “In an effort to optimise Government spending, all projects should be implemented on a value-for-money basis,” he said. 22 March, 2011 ZAMBIA Pilot program to boost efficiency A pilot program to improve efficiencies in service delivery has been launched in three Government Departments in Zambia. Entitled the Institutional Appraisal and Organisational Development (IAOD), the program is aimed at improving Public Service mechanisms in the way they respond to individuals, corporations and organisations. The project was launched at an event to introduce it to staff at the Ministry of Labour Speaking at the launch, Deputy Labour Minister, Simon Kachimba said the pilot program had now begun in three Government Ministries - the others were Energy and Water Development and Education. Mr Kachimba noted a number of challenges facing the Zambian Public Service. “First, and of most interest to this audience, is the inadequate development and enforcement of labour policies and legislation,” Mr Kachimba said. “This is a major concern for the Government.” He cautioned workers in his Ministry however not to misunderstand the IAOD pilot project. “The IAOD was developed by the Management Development Division of Cabinet Office, in collaboration with a British consultancy firm, the Centre for Management Excellence Limited,” he said. “It is meant to be an assistance for Public Servants in doing their work more efficiently – not a burden for them,” he said. “If it is implemented properly it will be a winning situation for everyone.” 22 March, 2011 UGANDA Public Servants whose deliberate actions result in the failure of public institutions to operate efficiently are to be put on notice. A four-year program, supported by the European Union and costing nearly 40 billion shillings ($A1.7 million) will benefit institutions such as prisons, the police force, the Electoral Commission, civil society organisations and the Human Rights Commission.. Head of the European Union Delegation to Uganda, Roberto Ridolfi said accountability in the Public Service was the key to good governance. ZIMBABWE Public Servants are outraged that Government Ministers’ salaries have been increased by 200 per cent, at a time when the Government says it is broke. The pay rise comes at a time when Government workers are earning less than $US200 (about the same in Australian dollars) a month. Public Service unions say the increase for Ministers shows the Government has the capacity to pay its workers more. SINGAPORE Singapore’s Public Servants have been receiving intensive training in information and communications technology skills. The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) provides regular ICT training programs aimed at guiding career development in the same way as is currently practiced in the private sector. A major aim of the project is to ready Public Servants for the introduction of cloud computing in both the private and public sectors. CANADA A call for 13,000 public sector jobs to be cut has been made by an Opposition Party in the Quebec Provincial Government. Leader of the Action Democratique du Quebec, Gerard Deltell said the cuts were a necessary sacrifice for the heavily indebted Province. He said the Province’s Liberal Government should take advantage of the coming retirement of several thousand public sector workers to eliminate their positions permanently. HONG KONG A motion urging the Government to give non-Public Service contract staff priority in its Public Service recruitment at Radio Television Hong Kong has been passed by the Legislative Council. The broadcaster is hiring Public Servants again later this month after nearly a decade of recruitment freeze due to a review of its role. However, a Government official said the motion was not binding on the Government and it couldn’t guarantee that priorities would be given to existing contract staff. 15 March, 2011 UNITED KINGDOM PM slams Public Service British Prime Minister David Cameron has launched a savage attack on the UK Public Service accusing it of imposing “ridiculous” rules and regulations that make life “impossible” for the community, particularly smaller businesses. Addressing the Conservative Party’s spring forum, Mr Cameron promised to take on what he called the “enemies of enterprise” in the Public Service and town halls across Britain. These enemies, he said, were “the bureaucrats in Government Departments who concoct ridiculous rules and regulations that made life impossible, particularly for small firms”. He also criticised “town hall officials who take forever with those planning decisions that can be make or break for a business – and the investment and jobs that go with it”. Mr Cameron attacked PS procurement managers who believed the answer to everything was a big contract with a big business and who shut out millions of Britain’s small and medium-sized companies. But while Mr Cameron’s comments hit on a widely acknowledged problem within the UK public sector - namely a fear of innovation - critics said his speech showed a lack of understanding of the complexity of the procurement process. Procurement consultant and former director of the North West Centre of Excellence, Colin Cram said that while the criticism in the main was fair, Mr Cameron’s analysis of the reasons why it happened was very simplistic. “Procurement managers react to and respond to commissioners, so aren’t necessarily the key or only decision-makers,” Mr Cram said. “There’s a great tendency for procurement managers to follow procedures and that provides an alibi, but this goes right through from the people at the top to those at the bottom of the process. “By and large the public sector isn’t entrepreneurial and it goes right through organisations, not just procurement and through contracts and commissioning.” Mr Cram said Public Servants were used to being criticised by politicians so Mr Cameron’s tirade would “probably be water off a duck’s back.” 15 March, 2011 SWAZILAND Super deductions not being paid in The Government of Swaziland has blamed accounting issues for not passing on Public Service superannuation contributions to the PS pension fund. This followed a call by MPs for the Government to restore the confidence of Public Servants that their pension contributions were protected. Legislators warned that the Fund had a rule that once a client defaulted on a pension contribution, they risked forfeiting their lifetime contributions. One MP, Nonhlanhla Dlamini, called on the Minister for Pensions, Mtiti Fakudze to clarify the situation. “Could the Minister give a full explanation on this because rumours are rife in the streets that the Government is not paying in the pension, yet it is deducted from salaries?” Ms Dlamini asked. “How true is that?” Another legislator, Meninjeni Mahlalela, said the Government was risking Public Servants’ lifelong contributions if it was not remitting their pension contributions to the Fund. “If this is true, people will be greatly affected as defaulting results in forfeiture of contributions they have made over the years,” Mr Mahlalela said. Mr Fakudze gave assurances that no harm would be done. He said the Government and the Pension Fund were working to address the matter. “A study was done to verify if the Government had paid the right amounts and it was realised that it had paid more than necessary,” Mr Fakudze said. “Reconciliation is still ongoing to determine if the Government is in arrears or overpaid.” 15 March, 2011 GHANA New pay system causes chaos Problems with a new centralised pay system for Ghana’s Public Service threaten to spark industrial unrest but the PS union has called for calm while the issues are sorted out. The problem concerns the transfer of public sector workers to the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) from the Ghana Universal Salary Structure. Executive Secretary of the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana, (CLOGSAG), Issac Bampoe Addo said CLOGSAG had set up a technical committee that was constantly reviewing issues concerning the implementation of the SSSS, as it affected Public Servants and Local Government staff. “It is evident that our collaborative effort with the Civil Service Council, the Office of the Head of Civil Service and the National Security is paving way for the resolution of issues relating to the job evaluation for CLOGSAG members,” Mr Addo said. He said the union would continue to use legitimate means to draw attention to other pending issues on the implementation of the single spine pay policy. “We reiterate our appeal to members to remain calm while CLOGSAG pursues their social and economic interests in a manner that would not jeopardise the fortunes and present conditions of Civil and Local Government Staff,” he said. In a resolution adopted at its Quadrennial National Delegates’ Congress, CLOGSAG called on the Government to immediately address concerns it raised on the single spine pay policy concerning its members. It also warned that the union would not be coerced to negotiate under the Public Sector Joint Standing Negotiating Committee, and would use all legitimate means at its disposal to protect members’ rights to negotiate. 15 March, 2011 IRELAND Major shake-up follows election The Public Service of Ireland is to face a radical overhaul following the country’s change of Government earlier this month. Senior officials of the incoming Fine Gael and Labour Party coalition are understood to have been unimpressed by the level of expertise at the top of the Public Service and the lack of direction and planning in managing the economic crisis. Several Departments will be changed with both parties agreeing to split up the Department of Finance. Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Joan Burton is expected to be put in charge of the new Department for Public Service and Expenditure with Michael Noonan given the old Finance Department and keeping the portfolios of Economic and Fiscal Planning and Banking. Coalition sources say Mr Noonan showed an understanding of the intricate detail of the economic situation during the briefings. “There is a recognition there needs to be a freshening up and a renewal of expertise,” one source said. While senior Public Servants claimed they were vindicated by a report on the Department of Finance during the economic crisis years, the Department is still facing a major overhaul. The Coalition’s program specifically states: “We will bring new talent and skills into the Department of Finance”. The era of promotions to high-level positions being based on seniority and length of service will also be dealt a blow by the new Government which has promised that all appointments at middle-management level and upwards in the Public Service will be open to private sector applicants. However, there will be no compulsory PS redundancies. The new Government has made a commitment to reduce the number of PS employees by between 18,000 and 21,000 by 2014, compared to the total at the end of 2010. The number will be further reduced by 4,000 by 2015. 15 March, 2011 UNITED KINGDOM Pension overhaul to cut benefits Public Servants in the UK are to have their pensions slashed under a new scheme that bases their payments on average career earnings instead of final salary. A review led by Lord Hutton of Furness recommends that public sector workers lose their generous final salary pension schemes, largely because they have become unsustainable as the population ages and the Public Service shrinks. Lord Hutton’s findings are likely to form the basis of the Government’s reform of PS pensions, which had a black hole of more than £3 billion ($A4.85 billion) last year alone. Without reforms, this is expected to reach £7 billion ($A11.25 billion) in the 2015-16 financial year. According to lord Hutton, this works out as an average cost to each of the more than 23 million taxpayers in the private sector of £1,556 ($A2,500) over the next four years. They would be paying for pensions for six million State employees, who have traditionally been able to retire far earlier and on more generous entitlements than their private sector counterparts. Final salary schemes are becoming increasingly rare in the private sector, with a survey showing that one in five schemes closed to new and existing members in the last year. Lord Hutton was commissioned to carry out his review as part of a drive by the Government to bring PS pensions into line with those in the private sector. From next financial year, public sector employees will be required to increase their contributions, saving the Government £5.2 billion ($A8.3 billion) over four years, and sparing each private sector taxpayer an average of £225 ($A362). Ministers are bracing themselves or a battle with PS unions over the next stages of pension reform, with strikes likely by the northern summer. 15 March, 2011 MALAWI Bank accounts expose ghost workers Public Service staff in Malawi who have not opened bank accounts are being required to line up in a pay parade to receive their salaries. About 68,000 staff members are expected to join the line. The move for PS staff to open bank accounts or appear in person to collect their pay is part of a push to end the practice of creating ‘ghost workers’ then milking their salaries. The Ministry of Finance said in a statement that 68,000 of Malawi’s 169,000 public employees did not respond to the Government’s request to open bank accounts and register for electronic pay deposits. “Payment of salaries for the remaining 68,000 Civil Servants who have not yet opened bank accounts has started through a pay parade,” the Ministry statement, issued by Secretary to the Treasury, Joseph Mwanamvek, said. The statement said the Government wanted to “establish the existence of the 68,000 workers and understand why they are failing to open bank accounts”. It said the Government spends K4.5 billion ($A30 million) every month in salaries for its public employees. Fraud is believed to be rampant in many of Malawi’s Ministries and Departments, especially in the Police Service and the Education Ministry. Four Public Servants from the Education Ministry have been found guilty of creating 135 ghost workers, stealing $33,000 a month from State coffers. 15 March, 2011 UNITED STATES Congress inquiry into PS pay A Congressional inquiry in the United States has heard that US Public servants earn 22 per cent more than their private sector equivalents. Members of the Republican Party sitting on the House of Representatives inquiry said the 2.1 million-strong Federal workforce was overpaid compared to workers holding similar jobs in the private sector. The Republicans are demanding that the Democrat Administration of President Barack Obama cut back on its programs and spending. They have begun a campaign with slogans including 2010 Average Total Compensation; Government Worker $101,628; Private Worker $60,000. (Australian dollars are roughly the equivalent of American dollars). However, Director of the Office of Personnel Management, John Berry said President Obama had imposed a two-year freeze on pay increases for the PS which meant many Federal workers were underpaid and the Republicans’ comparisons were false. He said the Government didn’t employ retail clerks, waiters, short order cooks or other low-paid specialties whose salaries were included in pay comparisons. Mr Berry said half the Federal Government workers were in the nine highest-paying occupations, including judges, engineers, scientists and nuclear plant inspectors, while less than a third of private sector workers were employed in those groups. Member of the Committee of Inquiry, Jason Chaffetz argued that the salary freeze was not real, citing an article that said despite the freeze, some 1.1 million Federal workers would receive more than $2.5 billion in raises during the two-year period through automatic adjustments that were part of the Federal pay system. Mr Berry defended the freeze as a cost-saving measure, and noted most of the awards for Federal employees meant they would receive less than $1,000 per worker. In ‘within grade’ or ‘step’ increases He said they were part of a “natural progression” for Federal workers who were “good, hardworking people”. Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, Andrew Biggs said he was not keen on the across-the-board pay freeze for the PS or any pay cut. He said Public Servants at the top of the pay scale received a smaller pay premium, or earned even less, than their industry counterparts. The Republicans are believed to be favouring a pay-for-performance model for the PS with pay more closely tied to market forces and the Government outsourcing as much work as possible. 15 March, 2011 PAKISTAN Supreme Court probes PS jobs Senior managers and lawyers from Departments and Agencies in Pakistan have been ordered to appear before the Supreme Court and explain why they continue to hire staff on contract in contravention of Government employment laws. The Court directed the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Civil Services of Pakistan Establishment Division to submit a complete list of officials in the Federal Ministries and allied Departments, who were appointed on contract after retiring and receiving their superannuation before March 10. Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is to preside over a six-member bench to hear the case. The Court observed that the Federal Government had made no progress in terminating the services of officers re-employed after retirement except in the case of nine police officers. The Federal and Provincial Governments has been asked to scrutinise the cases of Public Servants who had been appointed after receiving superannuation in violation of the Civil Servants Act, 1973 and to review the current policy. The Court said appointments on contract could violate the rights of officers who were denied promotion because of them. The practice of appointing officers after the age of superannuation is not encouraged by the law, the Court says, specially in the cases of senior staff in the disciplined forces such as the Federal Investigation Agency and the police. 15 March, 2011 SOUTH KOREA Expert calls for improved PS Improving the standard of its Public Service has been identified as a prime necessity before South Korea can claim to be a developed country. President of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS), Kim Pan-suk said a higher quality of public administration in South Korea was needed to build more trust with the Government. Mr Kim said Korea had achieved economic and political stability and it should focus on two pillars to earn distinction as a fully-developed country - improve the quality of public services and make greater contributions abroad. He said the country should implement a higher quality of Public Service with a greater level of choice for citizens. He suggested more customer-oriented services be implemented as a way to boost citizen satisfaction and build trust in the public sector. On a broader level, he said the government should bolster policy in areas such as climate change, economic development and disaster management, to prevent policy failures and emerge as a global leader. Mr Kim said it is imperative for Korea to improve its amount of development assistance to less developed nations. “Global leadership is not free,” Mr Kim said. “You must make contributions to the world in terms of providing assistance to less developed nations.” The Government has announced it had nearly doubled its 2011 budget for official development assistance to more than $1.5 billion. Mr Kim said the Government should continue to work to share Korea’s experience of rising from poverty in the wake of the 1950-53 Korean War to become the most recent host of a G20 Summit. 15 March, 2011 CANADA Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper has demanded that the country’s Public Service cease using the term ‘The Government of Canada’ in official publications. He has ordered that future official references be to ‘The Harper Government’. SOUTH KOREA Public Service examinations in South Korea have seen 92,000 applicants compete for 1,200 jobs. However, the 2011 hopefuls have a far better chance of success than their 2010 counterparts, largely because the number of available positions has more than doubled. There are slightly more applicants than last year, reversing a declining trend which has been in evidence since 2004. NIGERIA The Federal Civil Service Commission is to be repositioned to respond positively to the challenges of progress. This repositioning will be achieved through a constant review of basic operating rules, processes and procedures to align them with the demands of modern trends. The need to reposition and refocus the Public Service is seen as urgent in Government circles. MALAYSIA The Malaysian Prime Minister has told Public Servants they should seek satisfaction in serving the people and the nation. Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said PS staff should not focus on material gain to achieve personal satisfaction. “Working hard with full dedication and integrity is a form of worship in Islam, and whatever we do with sincerity will be rewarded by God,” the Prime Minister said. INDIA (Uttar Pradesh) A new Public Service Act has been introduced in Uttar Pradesh requiring the Public Service to deliver services promptly. The main objective of the Act is to ensure that public services are offered by various Departments within an agreed period of time. Under the Act, a designated officer who fails to provide any service within the specified period without genuine reason could be subject to a fine of between Rs250 ($A5.50) and Rs5,000 ($A110) a day. 8 March, 2011 IRELAND Finance cleared of GFC role An independent report on the role played by the Irish Department of Finance in the nation’s economic collapse has excused the Department of any blame. The review, conducted by Canadian financial expert Rob Wright, found the county’s politicians were responsible. The Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants (AHCPS) said that while its members welcomed the vindication of the actions of senior officials, everyone should take heed of the report’s recommendations on how to improve the work of the Department. General Secretary of the AHCPS, Dave Thomas said the report clearly stated that the actions of politicians, firstly in adopting short-term policies that ultimately led to economic collapse; secondly ignoring repeated warnings of an impending downturn and thirdly failing to respond appropriately when it hit, were the main factors in the collapse. “Indeed, the report states that forces outside the control of the Department of Finance, such as commitments given in successive programs by Government, left officials having to reconcile these with the normal Budgetary process,” Mr Thomas said. “This, allied with the ending of the construction boom, left the economy vulnerable to a downturn that was beyond the control of Civil Servants.” He said AHCPS members had worked diligently and responsibly throughout the economic boom yet despite this, many of them have been conveniently scapegoated by some for the economic collapse. “This report states clearly that our members in the Department of Finance were not to blame,” Mr Thomas said. “On that basis, we welcome the report and will work with the incoming Government to review its recommendations on improving the work of the Department to ensure that we can provide as best a service as possible to Ministers and the public in the future.” 8 March, 2011 POLAND PS ‘cuts’ lead to job boom A Polish Government program to cut Public Service jobs by 10 per cent has instead led to a 17 per cent increase in staffing over the past two years. A newspaper investigation into the number of people working for both central and local tiers of Governments, and which also included those working for the State Pension and Medical systems, found that over past two years, hiring had added another 70,000 people to the public payroll. Polish Local Governments are often blamed for ramping up recruitment because the country gets significant funding from the European Union which goes into building roads, sewerage plants and other infrastructure in the country. However, the investigation found the number of people working for regional administrations rose by just four per cent, compared to 10 per cent for the central Government. The newspaper said that while the Central Government had been trying to cut jobs, a lot of the people let go soon found their way back into similar jobs with different titles. It said the increase in public sector employment would eat up about the same amount of money that was gained by the Government’s temporary increase of VAT by one percentage point, and further undercut Prime Minister, Donald Tusk’s credentials as a reformer. The newspaper said Mr Tusk’s Government had made a series of promises – such as reducing the red tape that entangled businesses – that were largely unfulfilled to date. Chief Economist at the Business Centre Club, an employer’s organisation, Stalislaw Gomulka said the numbers were shocking. “The bureaucracy is growing at an amazing pace,” he said. 8 March, 2011 ZIMBABWE ‘Ghost workers’ busted More than 4,000 Public Servants in Zimbabwe have been sacked because they couldn’t prove they’d been appointed in the first place. Secretary to the Public Service Commission, Pretty Sunguro said the removals were aimed at ensuring efficiency and compliance to regulations. Giving evidence before the House of Assembly Portfolio Committee on Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare on the so-called ‘ghost worker’ problem, Mrs Sunguro said each Ministry would be asked monthly to confirm who was in its employ before salaries were processed. “We have ceased salaries for about 4,000 because they failed to show that they are indeed employed by PSC,” Mrs Sunguro said. “We now have a system where a payroll is produced and sent to every head of Ministry who should confirm that everyone with the name appearing indeed is still employed by that Ministry.” Paymaster at PSC, Brighton Chiuzingo said the system allowed him to recall the salary of anyone discovered not to be employed by the Government. “Starting from February, I balance my wage bill and ask heads of Ministries to verify whether they are agreeable or whether the people on the payroll are bona fide Civil Servants from their Ministry, Mr Chiuzingo said. “If confirmed, we then transmit the money to the banks and we have an arrangement with banks where they can return the money if further discrepancies are found before payday.” Mrs Sunguro said the PSC needed more computers for record-keeping. “A person might die today and by the time the death certificate reaches us that person will have received a salary, so with computers it would be better,” she said. 8 March, 2011 SOUTH AFRICA Government warned on PS pay A prominent economist in South Africa has warned the Government that high Public Service salaries were threatening national jobs growth. The warning has been rejected by the Government which claims the economist’s figures are “exaggerated’. Mike Schüssler of Economists.co.za, made the assertions in a submission on the national Budget to a joint sitting of the Parliamentary Finance Committees. The comments follow the angry repudiation by MPs from the ruling African National Congress of the International Monetary Fund’s assertion that reform was needed in the country’s wage-negotiation structures if it was to achieve between six per cent and seven per cent growth in the short term. The Government’s Budget, tabled by the Minister for Finance, Pravin Gordhan focuses on job creation, continued State expenditure on infrastructure and social grants financed from increasing State borrowings. Mr Schüssler said South Africa’s Public Service wages matched those of wealthy countries and were the seventh highest in the world. He said they were still rising and could soon outdo those of Portugal and France. “In 2011 the average individual wage for workers at the national power utility, Eskom is expected to pass the R500 000 ($A71,360) mark,” Mr Schüssler said. “This makes South Africa the third best paying country for Government institution employers after Sweden and France. “High Public Service earnings are a global trend, but this is quickly changing – not only in South Africa.” He said the average monthly Public Service salary was twice that of equivalent work in the private sector. 8 March, 2011 BURMA Big payrises on the horizon Public Servants in Burma have been told to expect pay rises of almost 400 per cent next month. According to an employee of the Ministry of Education, the current monthly salary for general Public Service staff is 21,000 kyat ($A23.86) which will rise to 100,000 kyat ($A113.63) per month. Government sources said they had heard that salaries for staff at the Ministry of Defence, including soldiers, were to be increased by 520 per cent. Rumours about huge salary increases first began to circulate in the Burmese capital in mid-February. Since then, consumer prices for basic goods have gone up dramatically. An official with the Ministry of Finance and Revenue said that the Military Government’s plan was to equate salaries in Burma’s Public Service with other member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), calling it the ‘ASEAN standard.’ However, several Burma observers said they were sceptical about the expression, pointing out there existed massive gaps between salaries of ASEAN citizens in different countries. During the 22-year rule of the military regime, Burmese Public Servants’ salaries have increased five times – in 1989, 1993, 2000, 2006 and 2010. This will be the biggest pay-rise they have awarded. It comes as the prices of the two most important food staples, rice and cooking oil, were increasing substantially. The majority of the Burmese population still survives on less than a dollar a day. 8 March, 2011 SAUDI ARABIA Call to improve PS Politicians and academics in Saudi Arabia have combined to call for improvements in the country’s Public Service. They say there are needs for higher standards of productivity, discipline, professionalism and the ability to embrace change. The critics say poor performance of Government employees can be attributed to the absence of an effective system to penalise those who fail to perform their duties, as well as reward those who score good results. They say the existing system safeguards lazy employees and that bosses can be too autocratic when disciplining employees and called for an increased role for the Monitoring and Investigation Commission. Head member of the Human Resources Committee of the Shoura Council (Upper House of Parliament), Fahaad Al-Hamad said the standard of services being offered by certain Departments was low. “Some Government officials are lazy, unpunctual and perform poorly,” Mr Al-Hamad said. “There is a huge discrepancy in output and salary in some Government Departments. Some of these Departments also face the problem of surplus staff.” His Committee was currently studying a proposal put forward by some Shoura members that amendments to the Civil Service Law be made to focus on encouraging innovation and excellence from Public Service employees. Member of the Shoura Council and Deputy Chairman of its Committee for Economic and Energy Affairs, Fahd Al-Anzi said an employee keen to maintain an excellent performance was a rare find in Government Departments. 8 March, 2011 NIGERIA Bureau wants corruption probe The Nigerian Code of Conduct Bureau has been inundated with complaints that Federal Public Servants have used their positions to become immensely wealthy. Chairman of the Bureau, Sam Saba said it had been alleged that most of the buildings in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were owned by public officials who were among the richest people in the capital, Abuja. Mr Samba said that if the Bureau was to conduct proper investigations into the various allegations received as well as prosecute any erring public official, there was the need for FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed to assist. “Nobody has been able to substantiate these allegations but we want to get to the root of everything this time around,” Mr Saba said. Senator Bala Mohammed said the Administration was tackling the problem of corruption and was prepared to support the Bureau with all the necessary information. However, he cautioned against hasty generalisation about public officers, noting that most of the allegations eventually turned out to be false. “I know what the Public Servants are known for and in most cases it is not true,” Senator Bala Mohammed said. “We at the FCT Administration will partner with you and make sure that you do this without actually trying to find fault or penalise Public Servants who may be quite innocent.” While he wanted to get to the bottom of the allegations he said it was not good to over-generalise on the extent of corruption in the Public Service because that gave out bad signals to the general population. 8 March, 2011 SINGAPORE PS pays rise to pre-crash levels Singapore’s Public Servants have been told to expect substantial pay-rises this year as the Island nation’s economy continues to recover. Minister-in-Charge of the Public Service, Teo Chee Hean said he expected PS salaries to return to pre-2008 levels with some staff receiving bonuses of as much as eight months’ pay. The Minister’s comments follow Singapore’s impressive recovery last year followed by a demand for labour in the private sector As a result, resignations from the Public Service rose from 3.5 per cent in 2009 to 4.7 per cent in 2010. Among younger officers in the Management Executive Service, the attrition rate went up as high as 17 per cent. Mr Teo outlined the need for competitive wages and said the Public Service was restoring the cuts made during the downturn. Together with the Special Variable Payment of one to 1.6 months, to be paid out in March to those who clocked in a good performance, the annual salaries of public officers would, on the whole, return to pre-recession levels, he said. The annual salaries of senior Public Servants are linked to GDP growth, with the bonus withheld if GDP growth is two per cent or below, up to a maximum of one-quarter of the annual salary of senior officers when the GDP growth exceeds 10 per cent. In 2010, Singapore posted GDP growth of 14.5 per cent. After two years of not receiving the GDP Bonus, which had amounted to an 18 to 22.5 per cent reduction in their annual salaries, senior officers are to get the maximum rate this year. 8 March, 2011 UNITED STATES Post Office claims overpaid pensions The ailing US Post Office has complained to the Public Service watchdog that it has paid too much into the Public Service retirement fund and could put the excess money to better use. However, the Inspector General of the Office of Personnel Management, whose job it is to protect Public Service employees, has rejected the claim. The Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General said in a submission that the Service had overpaid $US142 billion (about the same in Australian dollars) to the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Funds. But the Inspector General of OPM said the Postal Service had contributed the right amount and ought to leave the trust funds alone. “Taking money out will hurt Federal retiree benefits programs without doing much to help long-term Postal Service profitability,” the OPM Inspector General said. The US Postal Service was a Government Department until 1971 when Congress made it a stand-alone corporation that was supposed to be a self-supporting entity. Business volume and revenue grew in the 1980s and 1990s, but the recession and the rise of the internet have hurt revenue in the past few years, forcing it to cut staff from 700,000 at the turn of the century to 596,000 now. The Postal Service reported a $329 million net loss for the first quarter of the new financial year compared with a net loss of $297 million the previous quarter. Projections show that the Service will be out of cash by 30 September and that it will have used up its statutory borrowing capacity. 8 March, 2011 MALAYSIA Bankruptcy is reported to be rife among members of the Malaysian Public Service. The Insolvency Department has reported 1,086 Public Servants were declared bankrupt in 2009. However, debt-ridden Public Servants were getting little sympathy from the Government with one Minister saying that should it affect their performance at work they would face disciplinary action. SAUDI ARABIA More than 75,000 jobs in the Saudi Public Service currently held by foreign expats could be transferred to local workers. This follows a call from the Government to provide more opportunities for nationals within the public sector. According to new classifications, any position that is not currently being filled by a Saudi national is considered to be vacant. The country’s official unemployment rate is 10.5 per cent. Unofficially it is closer to 20 per cent. CANADA (British Columbia) Government officials in British Columbia seeking to reduce paper use have spent more than $C30,000 (about the same in Australian dollars) on iPads for senior Public Servants. The Ministry of Citizens’ Services said 30 iPads were purchased for Deputy Ministers at a cost of around $1,000 each. It said the purchases were part of a pilot project and initial estimates were that the savings from paper and courier costs alone would exceed the cost of the iPads. KENYA Kenya is supporting the capacity building of Southern Sudan Public Servants in the transition period to full independence. Minister of Public Service of Kenya, Dalmas Otieno visited Southern Sudan to inspect progress. He said he was discussing with the Government of Southern Sudan the possibility of continuing the program after the interim period. NAMIBIA After four years in the making, Namibia’s Public Service Commission Strategic Plan will be complete once the Commission, the Office of the Prime Minister and all stakeholders decide which responsibilities fall under which body. The Commission currently reports to the Office of the Prime Minister, which is responsible for its funding. However, there is a possibility it could be converted into an independent authority. PSC Under Secretary, Morimunu Katjivene said the Commission was critically understaffed because it did not have control over its own budget. 1 March, 2011 UNITED KINGDOM Policing to be privatised in PS shake-up The biggest shake-up of UK public services in half a century will see major responsibilities devolved to non-Government bodies with even sections of the police force privatised. Businesses, charities and voluntary groups are to be invited to bid to run services in every area apart from the security services and the judiciary in an effort to end the State’s monopoly over public services. The plan, put forward by Prime Minister, David Cameron in a White Paper, will create the presumption that private providers can apply to run nearly all aspects of the Public Service – with payments based on results. Private firms will be paid for providing National Health Service operations, road maintenance, parks and care services. Creating the most controversy is a plan to enable private sector providers to carry out some police service functions such as forensic testing and back office work – though not frontline policing. Mr Cameron said the plans would end the “old-fashioned, top-down, take-what-you’re-given” culture in health, education and town hall services. Senior figures close to the Prime Minister admitted the planned shake-up will be hugely controversial. A paper written by Director of Policy, Paul Kirby warned that the radical changes required would present many risks and create a lot of turbulence. General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress, Brendan Barber described the plan as a naked right-wing agenda from the divisive years of the 1980s. 1 March, 2011 EUROPEAN UNION PS pay restraint to form ‘role model’ Governments in the European Union, and especially those in the single currency euro zone, have been called on to set examples of restraint by clamping down on Public Service pay rates. President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Jean-Claude Trichet said wage developments in the public sector were much more important than was generally realised and acted as a role model for the whole economy. His comments came as ECB policy makers were growing more nervous about inflation, which accelerated to 2.4 per cent last month. Mr Trichet said all nations in the euro zone should use the central bank’s definition of price stability - inflation of just below two per cent over the medium term - as a yardstick. He said that in the euro zone, Government wage bills accounted for, on average, more than 10 per cent of Gross Domestic Product and more than 20 per cent of the total compensation of employees. “It is already clear from the sheer size of this sector that public wage increases can have a very important signalling effect for private sector wage negotiations,” Mr Trichet said. Between 1999 and 2009, public-sector wages in the euro area grew by close to 40 per cent. “In Germany they grew by 19 per cent; in Ireland and in Greece they grew by more than 100 per cent, roughly 50 percentage points more than private-sector wages,” he said. 1 March, 2011 ZIMBABWE Incentives to attract staff Incentives such as car loans and housing blocks have been proposed for Zimbabwean Public Servants as a way of attracting more skilled staff. Chairman of the Public Service Commission (PSC), Mariyawanda Nzuwah called for the change in an appearance before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Accounts. The Committee had asked Mr Nzuwah to explain why the PSC and the Ministry of Public Service had failed to comply with recommendations to tackle weaknesses in monitoring mechanisms in accounting and staffing issues. Mr Nzuwah said implementing the recommendations had been very difficult due to lack of qualified personnel in strategic areas such as accounting and technical fields because the PSC was failing to pay attractive remuneration for experts in those fields. “The Commission has looked at what other incentives can attract professionals to the Public Service and we noticed that first of all they wanted incentives like accommodation,” Mr Nzuwah said. “To the extent that this nation gave agricultural land to deserving citizens, we have also noticed there is so much Government land throughout the whole country in provinces and districts, so why not allocate Public Servants 20 square metres or 200 square metres to enable them to build their own houses?” The Commission had recommended the Government ask financial institutions to provide housing and car loans to Public Servants, which the PSC would deduct from their salaries to enable them to pay back the lending banks. Cabinet had yet to report back on those recommendations. Mr Nzuwah said as long as the issue of resources was not addressed in the Public Service, it was impossible for Government employees to work efficiently. 1 March, 2011 UNITED KINGDOM Government prepares for PS strikes The British Government is preparing for widespread Public Service strikes in the northern summer as its policies that impact on the PS come home to roost. It has even set up a special unit of senior Public Servants in the Cabinet Office to identify areas of vulnerability in key services and infrastructure and propose strategies to beat the strikers. The unit has identified transport, energy, prisons and the health service as vulnerable to strikes and the trigger for the industrial action the Government’s plans to increase the amount public-sector workers have to contribute to their pensions. The Government is in talks with individual unions, but there are fears that if they break down without agreement, union could have the excuse for action some of them are looking for. Tensions have also been inflamed by the announcement that private companies, voluntary groups and charities will be allowed to bid to provide public services. Ministers said that when the Government took power last June it found the previous Labour Administration had done nothing to prepare for nationwide strike action. As a result all Departments were ordered to make contingency plans to deal with strikes. Teams have been looking at examples of the continuing strikes on the London underground network and British Airways to provide a model of how private-sector contractors could be brought in at short notice to limit the effectiveness of any mass strike action. They are also considering how the ‘nuclear option’ of legislation directly targeting the trade union movement could be employed. This could include a ban on union payroll subscriptions being collected and forcing any ballot for strike action to require a majority support of members – not just those who choose to vote. The situation echoes Margaret Thatcher’s preparations ahead of the miner’s strike in 1984. The then Conservative Prime Minister was able to resist the miners in part because she had stockpiled more than a year’s supply of coal. A senior Public Service source was quoted in the UK as saying: “We’ve been war-gaming this, looking at all the scenarios and working out where we are most vulnerable.” General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress, Brendan Barber said public-sector workers would be aghast to hear that the Cabinet Office was spending time, effort and resources working out how to frustrate possible industrial action in the public sector, rather than focusing on how to avoid it in the first place. 1 March, 2011 MALAYSIA Call for more senior women The first female Governor of the Malaysian Central Bank has called for more women to take on public sector leadership roles. Governor of the Bank Negara Malaysia, Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar said women who had the capability should be brought into the Public Service so that they could contribute towards national development. Dr Zeti, one of the very few women central bankers in the world, said the opportunities were immense for women in the public sector, “yet few rise to leadership positions”. “While there is still a glass ceiling as we advance into the future, the foundations are already in place for women to advance into leadership positions,” Dr Zeti said. “For a woman who is a mother, wife and daughter, the sacrifice involved is great,” she said. “The challenge will be to achieve a balance so that work performance is not being adhered to at all cost.” She said successful nations were those that had accorded priority to their human capital and to organisational review and transformation. “The challenge is to recognise continuous re-invention that is needed to acquire new knowledge, new skills, new experience so as to be able to have the new capabilities to deal with the new challenges,” she said. She also outlined specific leadership characteristics which were important to advance women’s leadership in the public sector. Foremost of these, she said, was for women to have a great clarity of the vision and objectives needed to be achieved by the organisation and the results that need to be delivered. Others included the ability to articulate the vision within the organisation; understanding the business and the key elements driving the organisation and translating ideas into results, and the coordination and integration of skills that would pull together diverse thinking and diverse information. 1 March, 2011 BERMUDA PS job cuts not the answer Cutting public sector jobs to yield savings is not the answer to the Bermuda Government’s financial troubles according to Premier, Paula Cox. Speaking to members of the Chamber of Commerce, Ms Cox said slashing the Public Sector would only increase public debt in the coming year because of redundancy costs. Answering a question on why the Government had not made further cuts at a time when businesses and individuals were suffering, she said further cuts would mean two things: cutting jobs or further cuts to grants. She said cutting jobs would mean that more people were unemployed and that would put more pressure on the private sector which was already rationalising the jobs it had. It would also mean further redundancies. “To make people redundant would increase Government debt this year, because of redundancy costs,” Ms Cox said. “Savings wouldn’t be realised for another year.” She said it could also mean an increase in spending on financial assistance. “Cutting grants would have meant that the vulnerable would have been further disadvantaged. “At a time when people are losing jobs, the Government can’t abandon its responsibility to provide assistance, either directly in the form of financial assistance, or indirectly by working with the helping Agencies.” Asked when the Current Account Budget would balance, Ms Cox said it could easily be balanced tomorrow if the Government decided to do nothing. “I think it’s easy to make it balance, but I’m not sure that is responsible,” she said. “I don’t consider it a success of being a Finance Minister to have a balanced Budget.” 1 March, 2011 ETHIOPIA Angry staff miss out on payrise Ethiopian Public Servants excluded from a recent round of pay rises say the decision to leave them out of the scheme was unfair and had no legal basis. The Government increased the salaries of most Public Servants by between 35 per cent and 39 per cent, but excluded around 400 employees of the Urban Planning and Information Institute (UPII). The Agencies forming the UPII received salary adjustments two years ago as the Institute was struggling to hold on to employees as a result of low salaries. Since these organisations now had separate salary scales they have not been included in the new scheme. A statement from the Central Statistical Agency (CSA) said the salary increment became effective on 9 January and gave more than one million permanent Public Servants a significant boost in pay. The only exclusions were contractors and the UPII. Whether contractors working in permanent positions were to be included in the increment scale is to be decided at a later date. A disgruntled UPII employee said there was no legal reason for the CSA to prevent them from receiving their rightful share of the increase since the Federal Government had allocated the increment to all permanent Public Servants. However, some other Public Servants, including those working for the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA) and State Developing Institutions, said they had not received the pay raises yet either. There are around 66 different salary scales in the Ethiopian Public Service, which adds to the complications. 1 March, 2011 CANADA Fears that strike ban could spread New laws have been introduced in the State Legislature of Ontario banning Government transport workers from taking strike action. Unions fear the move may prompt other public sector jobs being classified as essential. The Ontario Provincial Government introduced legislation banning Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) workers from ever walking off the job again. The Government argued that a city the size of Toronto could not afford to grind to a halt when the subways, trams and buses weren’t running. Minister for Labour, Charles Sousa stressed that the legislation is expressly designed for the unique and critical role Canada’s largest transit system plays in the lives of Torontonians. “For the City of Toronto to lose the people-moving system relied on by 1.5 million on a normal business day, is much more than just an inconvenience,” Mr Sousa said. “The impact of TTC service disruptions would send economic and environmental shock waves across this Province.” Unions have accused the Government of doing Mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford’s dirty work. It was Mr. Ford who asked the Province to introduce the legislation. Leader of the TTC’s largest union condemned the legislation, calling Mr Ford a coward for refusing to acknowledge that he had launched a broad attack on organised labour. However the President of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, Bob Kinnear said he would abide by an earlier promise not to strike or lead work-to-rule campaigns while contract talks with the city continued. 1 March, 2011 NIGERIA Training priority despite budget blues Training of the Nigerian Public Service remains a high priority for the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Professor Abraham Oladapo Afolabi, despite it punching a N40 billion ($A25 million) hole in the Budget. Professor Afolabi said he wanted to make sure that all Public Servants were properly trained before they were promoted and he planned to employ internet learning to help with that goal. He dismissed claims that Public Servants were ne’er-do-wells and said the country had some good workers who had made it proud. While calling for patience and understanding, he noted that the Government was concerned about the “lost glory” of the Public Service, saying it was doing everything possible to better the lot of its workers. “We want to open our doors and allow workers who want to go to the private sector to do so and acquire new techniques,” Professor Afolabi said. “Also, we’ll open the doors for the private sector people to come in.” President of the Institute of Public Analysts of Nigeria, Ganiyu Sanni encouraged Professor Afolabi to “tackle the rot in the Civil Service”. He said corruption has eaten so deep into the fabric of society, including the Public Service, that people were worried. He warned that unless Public Servants’ basic needs were adequately provided, corruption would continue to gain the upper hand. 1 March, 2011 NETHERLANDS The Dutch Government wants to cut or abolish the reimbursement of lawyers’ fees for asylum seekers applying for a second time. Minister for Integration and Asylum, Gerd Leers said the current situation makes it tempting for lawyers to extend the asylum application procedure. However, asylum lawyers said they were motivated by ideals, not money and blamed the lengthy asylum procedures on the employees at the Immigration and Naturalisation Service, who they accused of having insufficient knowledge of the cultural and religious backgrounds of asylum seekers. KENYA Public servants will soon be required to sign performance contracts as part of the reforms being undertaken to improve service delivery. Assistant Minister, Alfred Khangati made the announcement on behalf of Prime Minister, Raila Odinga at a workshop for Public Servants in the North Rift Region. The Government would now move towards full automation of the performance management process to ensure proper monitoring and implementation of the desired reforms in the Public Service. HUNGARY Public Service staff face the sack in Hungary if they do not agree to accept Secret Service investigations of their backgrounds. The announcement, which the Government wants to implement to prevent corruption, gave workers in the Tax and Customs Office until 2 March to give their consent. The Ombudsman’s Office is looking into the matter. JERSEY Senior Public Servants are to have their pay reviewed after revelations about the new Hospital director’s £216,000 ($A346,000) annual contract. The review, which will be undertaken by Jersey’s independent spending watchdog, has been requested by the Public Accounts Committee. Committee Chairman, Senator Ben Shenton said that with several high-profile appointments coming up – including a replacement for Jersey’s top Public Servant, Bill Ogley, who will leave his post in May – it was important to be sure that the right processes were in place. ETHIOPIA The Ethiopian Civil Service College (ESC) is planning to enter into a joint collaboration with the Baranara Hindu University for research work and student exchange programs. President of ESC, Haile Michael Aberra said India and Ethiopia had a lot in common as far as agriculture and rural development was concerned. “We are trying to replicate India’s progress to help our country develop in these fields,” Dr Aberra said. |
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