More than 85 per cent of the Auditor General’s recommendations related to the Public Administration were implemented by the Public Service. This implementation rate is greater than the average of the last seven years.
This was announced by Principal Permanent Secretary Tony Sultana during a meeting with Auditor General Charles Deguara, in which the latest publication ‘Governance Action’ was launched by the Public Service. This publication covers the response of the public administration to the Annual Report on Public Accounts 2020, and other reports that the National Audit Office issued in 2021.
Sultana explained that from 45 audits carried out by the NAO, 537 recommendations were issued, of which the Public Service accepted 527. These led to the formulation of 1,171 actions, of which 85.4 per cent were carried out.
Photo: DOI“This result also marks an increase of 450 actions on last year’s figures, highlighting the fact that the internal mechanisms and structures of the Public Service are working and even improving their results. In this way, we continue to strengthen our accountability and putting it into practice,” concluded the Principal Permanent Secretary.
At the end of the meeting, Sultana presented the first copy of the publication to the Auditor General Charles Deguara.
The publication ‘Governance Action on NAO’s Annual Report on Public Accounts 2020 & other NAO reports 2021’ can be found on publicservice.gov.mt
Photo: DOIDialogue for improvement in industrial relations
In the context of more collective agreements being signed every month, the Head of the Public Service, Tony Sultana, met with unions’ representatives for a dialogue meeting, aimed at improving relations with the workers’ representatives, and strengthening the negotiation process.
The Principal Permanent Secretary said that in the past five months, 12 new collective agreements were signed, and that in the same period, the Public Service sat down with every union.
“We are giving this importance to this aspect because these collective agreements not only improve the worker’s conditions, but also incentivise and assist the employee to improve his skills, and facilitate career progress,” said Sultana.
While there is still room for improvement, each side needs to understand the needs of the other, and work in the same direction toward the same common goal: the interest of the public officer.
This dialogue meeting was attended by all the unions that have some kind of agreement with the Public Service, namely the General Workers’ Union (GWU), the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin (UĦM), the Union of Teachers (MUT), the Medical Association of Malta (MAM), the Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN), the Chamber of Psychologists (MCP), the Union of Public Sector Architects and Engineers (UPISP), the Maltese Police Association (MPA), and the Civil Protection Union (CPU).
Principal Permanent Secretary Tony Sultana was accompanied by Permanent Secretary Joyce Cassar and officers from the Industrial Relations Unit.