People’s faith in the Public Service exceeds the European average by 12%
Public Service Week 2021, themed ‘Insaħħu s-Servizz Pubbliku’ (‘Strengthening the Public Service’), kickstarted this afternoon. Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar described it as a week that brings to an end the chapter of the Public Service’s renewal and gives way to the start of a new chapter that will see its strengthening.
At a news conference, Mr Cutajar said that, on the basis of studies carried out on what has been achieved so far, the Public Service will now have a five-year strategy to strengthen itself. This strategy will, for the first time, bring together the three main elements on which the Public Service operates, namely technology, people, and service and its quality. These are the elements that will be discussed during Public Service Week in preparation for this strategy.
Mr Cutajar also launched the second edition of the publication ‘Ħidma tas-Servizz Pubbliku’, which gives an account of the simplification measures that have been implemented and of other work carried out by the Public Service during the last twelve months.
It emerges from this publication that the Public Service has implemented nearly 80 % of the simplification measures on which it embarked last year. A total of 127 simplification measures were implemented in 2020.
These measures include inter alia online applications for social aid, other online services in courts to help research on judgments handed down, full accessibility to public contracts at the Office of the Notary to the Government, and electronic systems in many areas – such as information on farming, the Institute for Education, and intellectual property.
“This publication attests to the work carried out in innovative areas on which the Public Service might not have been expected to embark. These include remote working, the less-paper office, as well as the switch to electric vehicles – projects that place the Public Service as a leader in these fields,” Mr Cutajar said.
Other work involves inter alia the curbing of the spread of Covid-19, the massive flyover project in Marsa and Santa Luċija, the planting of more than 11,000 indigenous trees, a new school in Marsascala, and a new childcare centre in San Ġwann, as well as unprecedented investments in the Customs Department.
The Principal Permanent Secretary stressed that all these efforts have led to a surge in people’s faith in the Public Service. So much so that, according to Eurobarometer statistics, the rate of faith in the Public Service in Malta exceeds the European average by 12%.
Mr Cutajar also outlined the Public Service Week’s extensive programme, which starts today, on the 28th of May and ends on Saturday 5th of June. It includes meetings with stakeholders, virtual concerts, awards, and an exhibition of artistic works done by children.
