State staffing agency says it lacks staff By Andre Bagoo Sunday, November 30 2014 THE PUBLIC SERVICE Commission (PSC) is the agency that is supposed to staff all the others. Yet, according to officials there, the PSC is under-staffed. This is the picture painted by a formal submission made by the PSC to the Parliament Joint Select Committee charged with reviewing its performance. That submission was tabled in the House of Representatives on Friday. On the general issue of the “structure of the Service Commissions Department and a permanent structure for the Tobago Office” the PSC tells Parliament it is lacking staff. “In 2011, the Service Commissions Department commenced discussions with the Public Management Consulting Division of the Ministry of Public Administration to review and introduce new management structures in the Department,” the PSC says in its five-page submission signed by the Acting Director of Personnel Administration Anastasius Veronica Creed. “This process has been hampered over the years due to staff shortages in both organisations and the high rate of attrition of staff due to retirement and promotion to other Ministries/Departments.” The submission continues, “In order to expedite the process, in 2013 it was recognised that the services of additional resources were required to assist both agencies. As a result, the Ministry of Public Administration, in conjunction with the Service Commissions Department and the Personnel Department, collaborated on securing consultancy services for an institutional strengthening project to address the needs of the agencies including the Service Commissions Department.” In the very same submission, on the issue of the “accountability and assessment of permanent secretaries,” the PSC notes its duties under the Constitution. “The constitutional mandate of the Public Service Commission is to appoint, promote and confirm appointments, to transfer, to remove from office, to exercise disciplinary control and to enforce standards of conduct on public officers,” it states. The PSC further notes, “The Commission has continuously reviewed the Permanent Secretaries’ job performance and conduct as it pertains to the delegation of authority. The Commission has met with Permanent Secretaries and advised them of the findings with a view to improving their performance.” The Public Service Commission states it, “realises that the design and implementation of an instrument to access the performance of Permanent Secretaries is the responsibility of the Chief Personnel Officer and the Permanent Secretary to the Prime Minister. The Commission would only require the end result to assess Permanent Secretaries’ job performance and conduct.” However, regulations on disciplinary procedures are still pending. “The Public Service Commission is in the process of finalising the review of its Regulations and is expected to be completed by the end of October, 2014,” the PSC states. “The issues of disciplinary proceedings and the introduction of Alternative Disciplinary Resolution Centre are included in the process. Upon completion of the amendment to the Regulations, staffing and funding for an Alternative Disciplinary Resolution Centre will be pursued with the relevant authorities.”
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 11:23:53 +0000
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