While the tiny Sannat local council has 13 full-time employees working under the Community Workers Scheme, the Mosta local council has only one.

The discrepancy was revealed in response to a parliamentary question by PN MP Ryan Callus, who asked Local Government Minister Owen Bonnici for a breakdown of workers allocated to each local council in Malta and Gozo under the scheme, and whether they are employed full-time or part-time.

Bonnici presented a list of 200 full-time workers deployed across 39 local councils. No part-time employees were included in the data.

Malta has 68 local councils, meaning just over half are currently benefiting from the scheme. The majority of the 39 councils listed are Labour-led.

Gozo leads the way in terms of the number of full-time workers provided through the initiative. Labour-leaning Sannat has the most employees under the scheme, with 13 workers serving a locality of fewer than 2,500 registered voters.

The second-highest number was found in Nationalist-leaning Nadur, which has 10 workers and around 4,500 registered voters.

At the opposite end of the scale, several local councils – including Mtarfa, Għargħur, Iklin and Mosta – were each allocated just one full-time worker under the scheme. While Sannat has fewer than 2,500 registered voters, Mosta has more than 19,500.

Mosta mayor Joseph Gatt was hesitant to criticise the discrepancy noting, “This is just how the system works”.

He said that under the current system, organisations contact the council informing them about people who need work and if they are a good fit they will employ them accordingly.

“Whenever we have had a good candidate, we have always gone for it.”

The Community Workers Scheme was first launched in 2009 and reformed in 2016. It aims to help unemployed individuals gain work experience and improve their job prospects. The scheme also assists local councils, NGOs and other entities with routine tasks such as cleaning and the maintenance of road signs.

The information presented in parliament.

The programme was initially managed by Jobsplus but later transferred to the General Workers’ Union. Since 2021, oversight of the extended scheme has fallen under the remit of the Local Government Ministry.

However, when questioned about the scheme’s allocation patterns, Junior Minister for Local Government Alison Zerafa Civelli distanced herself from the matter.

“As a parliamentary secretary I have no authority to tell local councils what to do, what I think benefits them, it’s the decision of the local council. Why? Because local government is government,” she said.

Zerafa Civelli added that the responsibility falls under another entity, but did not specify which one.