14 individuals employed on a person-of-trust basis at Gozo Ministry

Fourteen individuals at the Gozo Ministry are employed on a person-of-trust basis, Gozo Minister Anton Refalo informed parliament.

In reply to a question raised by PN MP Jason Azzopardi, Refalo said that eight were employed at the office of the permanent secretary, two were employed with the projects directorate, and three employed with the tourism directorate, customer services and the programme implementation directorate.

The works vary from transport co-ordinators, to customer care assistants, advisors on cultural and performing arts and on financial control matters; Gozo Channel internal audit committee members and a co-ordinator on solid waste issues.

The salary scale varies between 6 and 16.

According to the Public Administration Act, the staff assigned to the secretariat of a Minister, including advisors or consultants to the Minister, shall be deemed to be occupying positions of special trust and shall, even if they are public officers assigned on transfer, be appointed thereto on the basis of a definite contract.

However, the list of persons mentioned by the Minister are not employed within his secretariat.