CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
22
Public Sector Reform
Serving the Community
The government recognises the need to engender in the public service a culture that goes beyond the provision of the bare minimum; a culture that recognises the public as the paying customer and treats him or her accordingly.
The Efficiency Unit, reporting directly to the Chief Secretary, serves as the focal point to direct and co-ordinate efforts towards achieving this aim. Key initiatives. have included:
A performance pledge programme, whereby all government departments directly serving the public now produce performance pledges, informing their customers what services are available, the standards set and how these standards are monitored. All departments with substantial interface with the public have also set up Advisory Groups or Customer Liaison Groups.
A programme management system, to help branches and departments manage performance better. Under this system each department has developed its own programme structure, setting out the key programmes and activities needed to deliver its aims and objectives. Programmes and activities represent the basic building blocks of the system and are defined in terms that describe the nature of the work in each area.
A Trading Funds Ordinance, to enable selected departments to provide services on a commercial or quasi-commercial basis. The staff of trading funds remain civil servants but the accounting arrangement allows such departments to retain revenue and to operate with more financial autonomy to improve services.
A Helping Business Programme, to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the way the government provides services to the private sector. In particular this programme seeks to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy and outdated regulatory activities, thus reducing the cost of compliance for the business sector and the cost of enforcement for government departments. It also seeks to introduce new services or improve existing services in response to reasonable demands from the private sector and, where appropriate market conditions prevail, transfer government services to the business sector.
Over time, the Efficiency Unit has gradually integrated these and other initiatives into a new management framework based on the four basic principles of Being Accountable; Living Within Our Means; Managing for Performance and Developing Our Culture of Service. This framework builds on traditional strengths to give a clear direction to management tasks across the government and provide the momentum for continuous improvement.
Key objectives include devolving more authority to those who carry responsibility for policy formulation and service delivery, placing greater emphasis on serving customers and generally seeking to raise standards across the whole spectrum of services provided by the government.
To ensure the delivery of quality service to the public, the government has embarked on a new approach to personnel management. This involves the development of a more dynamic management environment wherein staff will be motivated, developed and managed to maximise their contribution to the Civil Service. As a result of this approach, departments now have greater devolved authority in matters such as staff management and professional training.