Focus on more transparency, better use of technology, PM tells civil servants

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat called for more transparency and efficiency from the public services, as well as recognition for those who prove themselves leaders in their work. 

Muscat was giving the keynote speech at the ‘Quality Service – Public Service Week 2015’ annual conference for permanent secretaries, director generals and directors in the public service. 

He called for a synergy between citizens, politicians and public sector workers. “There is a culture of scrutiny of the actions of the public services,” Muscat said, “But when good decisions are taken, they often go unnoticed.”

Muscat said that in future, those who take decisions, even ones that do not turn out as planned, should be rewarded for their initiative. “Public service should not be servile but professional,” he said. “We need to find solutions to problems that may arise in future.”

A higher quality service, he said, would be possible when bureaucracy is replaced by transparency, and a more efficient use of technology can help simplify public access to services.

Principal permanent secretary Mario Cutajar opened the conference with a focus on two prime sectors – IT and human resources.

“We currently offer many online services but the we, as a government, provide the fewest online services in the EU,” Cutajar said. He called for less reliance on the eID system that is required to access many government services online.

With regards to human resources, Cutajar said that a more structured promotion system needs to be implemented for a balance between qualifications and experience to be reached.

He also focused on the promptness of responses from the public services. “If someone makes a request and does not received an answer in a stipulated time frame, that request is assumed to have been accepted,” he said.

The public services will also be working in closer collaboration with the University and with MCAST, offering a number of new courses that prepare students for work within the services. These include a BA in public administration, an MBA in business and government and a MBA in public policy.

Preparation for the public sector would also take the shape of induction courses that provide employees with an overview of their role as well as the future plans of the department they are about to join.

Cutajar also called for a clear code of discipline within the public services, one that focused not only on punishment but also on tackling the sources of the problem.