Around 90% of the Auditor General’s recommendations to government in an annual report last year were being worked upon or had already been implemented, according to the head of the civil service.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar said that of 192 recommendations put forward by the NAO, 172 had been “accepted”.

He told reporters that 332 interventions and action plans had been drafted in reaction to the recommendations, 78% of which had already been implemented.

These interventions and action plans were reviewed by the government’s own internal audit office the Internal Audit Investigations Department, to ensure transparency, he said.

Detailing the recommendations not accepted, Mr Cutajar said some included basic errors by the NAO which had been communicated and discussed.

The civil service on Wednesday published its fourth annual reaction to the Auditor General’s annual report for 2017.

The report includes reactions to several other reports released by the NAO throughout 2018, a first for the civil service.

A parliamentary officer, the Auditor General has free reign to audit any government entity in the annual report released every year.

Mr Cutajar said that it had been the previous Labour administration’s decision to undertake this initiative.

Trust in the civil service, he said, was 18% higher than the EU average, and this he said, was because of its transparent approach.

The other reports that the civil service is replying to include five own-initiative NAO investigations, and a report on government IT systems.