SEMINAR FOR SENIOR MANAGERS IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE

On 21 June 2001 a seminar for senior managers in the Public Service was organised by the Staff Development Organisation, Office of the Prime Minister. The seminar was part of the programme of activities of Public Service Week.

The Prime Minister opened the seminar by stating that the Public Service reform effort which began in 1990 yielded good results. This left the Maltese Public Service well-placed to cope with prospective membership of the European Union relative to other applicant countries. Maltese public officers were of a calibre equal to the best officials in EU member states. The Prime Minister went on to say that the improvement of the quality of public services was at the top of his Government’s agenda. Major investments were being made to this end.

The seminar was also addressed by Dr Austin Gatt, Minister of Justice and Local Government, who spoke about Malta’s electronic government initiative. He stressed that technology was only one aspect of e-government, others being the re-engineering of internal systems and procedures and the re-skilling of employees. Senior managers had to make the changes necessary for e-government to work. The Service, said Dr Gatt, should aim to become among the best public services in the world, and he expected senior managers to rise to the challenge.

The seminar was also addressed by Dr Hugo Agius Muscat, Acting Chief Information Management Officer, who spoke in more detail about e-government; Ms Joanna Genovese, head of the Charter Support Unit within the Office of the Prime Minister, who discussed the improvement of service quality; and Mr Maurice Caruana, formerly Director of the Local Councils Department and currently adviser within the Ministry of Justice and Local Government, who dealt with the role of Local Councils in the delivery of public services.

The conference was brought to a close by the Permanent Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister, who spoke about the need to respond to contemporary challenges such as globalisation, rising public expectations, and the need to make cost savings. He stated that the Service was already very different from that of ten years ago, and continuing change meant that the Service of ten years hence would be very different from that of today.

Around 250 senior managers in the Public Service were present at the seminar, which was held at the New Dolmen Hotel in Bugibba.