Public sector sheds 4,500 in six years

The number of public sector employees fell by 4,500 to 45,777 between 1997 and November 2003, bringing the government's share of total employment down to 33 per cent from the previous 38 per cent, Public Investments Minister Austin Gatt said in Parliament yesterday.

Most of the reduction - 2,700 - took place in the areas run by public authorities, the minister said.

He was reacting to remarks by the opposition that the setting up of the Malta Film Commission could be an excuse for the government to employ people there.

Dr Gatt said he had made it clear that the commission should use its existing talent and the resources of Malta Enterprise.

Winding up the debate on the Film Commission Bill, Dr Gatt said the debate had shown that both sides agreed that the film industry had the potential to grow in Malta once there was an efficient structure.

It was also agreed that the industry should not depend on the occasional shooting of a major film here, but on a steady stream of work on lower budget productions.

Although government prodding was important, success in this sector would depend on the private sector seeing opportunity for investment, but the government would be providing incentives for this purpose.

Dr Gatt observed that the most criticised clauses of the bill were those on the powers being given to the film commissioner rather than the commission. He drew a comparison with the Data Commission, which was a single-handed organisation rather than a commission, with the same powers as the film commissioner. The only aim of this was to avoid inventing bureaucracy, he said.

The more powers the commission was given, rather than the commissioner, the more bureaucracy there would be, Dr Gatt said.

The bill was given a second reading and started being considered in committee.