A decision by the Public Service Commission to have different selection boards overseeing the same vacancy has prompted concerns from the ombudsman about the fairness of the practice.

The matter was the subject of an investigation launched last year by the ombudsman’s office into complaints by aggrieved civil servants who missed out on a promotion for the post of assistant principal.

Due to the fact that around 1,000 applications were submitted, the PSC – a constitutional body which handles promotions and disciplinary matters within the civil service – decided to appoint three selection boards to speed up the process for the interviews.

The ombudsman noted that each board had been provided with pre-set criteria and weighting, as well as the same questions for all candidates who sat for the interview. In this respect, no evidence was found that the assessment process was not conducted with the established pre-set criteria.

At the same time the ombudsman acknowledged that whatever procedure is used for an interview, there would always be a degree of subjectivity.

He said it was his duty to make recommendations especially on the PSC’s decision to appoint three selection boards, on which he expressed “serious reservations”.

“Despite any possible safeguards put in place (including pre-set questions and the different boards meeting regularly to discuss methodologies), subjective assessments would invariably differ from board to board,” he remarked.

“A completely uniform and cohesive assessment of all candidates cannot be guaranteed when such assessments are carried out by different selection boards composed of different members. Which in and of itself brings into question the fairness of this practice,” the ombudsman added.

He recommended that more frequent calls should be issued by the PSC to avoid having such large and administratively complex selection process.

This would result in fewer applicants per call, which in turn might remove the need for appointing multiple selection boards.