Special Adviser’s special salary
LONDON (December 22): A
report from the United Kingdom Cabinet Office has revealed that Prime Minister
Boris Johnson’s Chief Special Adviser, Dominic Cummings is paid three times the
average UK salary.
Mr Cummings, who was brought into Number 10 when Mr Johnson became Prime
Minister in July, is paid up to £99,999 ($A188,500). The average UK salary is
£29,500 ($A55,600).
Special advisers, known in Westminster as Spads, offer senior Ministers
political advice away from the impartiality of the Public Service.
As of November 5, there were 108 full-time equivalent Spads working
across Government, costing the taxpayer £9.6 million ($A18 million) once
pension and national insurance contributions were factored in.
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Protester suspensions defended
HONG KONG (20 December): Hong Kong’s Secretary for
Civil Service, Joshua Law has defended the practice of suspending Public
Servants suspected of committing offences during months of protests.
Hong Kong Police have been accused of arresting
people indiscriminately during the protests, which began in June.
It was revealed that “a small number” of Government
employees had been arrested over the course of the city’s pro-democracy movement.
Mr Law said the officers had been suspended because
Public Servants must be “law-abiding, dedicated, impartial and politically
neutral”.
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Firefighters win pensions fight
LONDON (December 22):
United Kingdom firefighters have won an employment tribunal case that returns
them to their pre-2015 pension schemes.
This comes after a
ruling, confirmed by the Supreme Court, that a Government decision to transfer younger firefighters into a financially inferior scheme
while older members remained on more favourable schemes, had been unlawful on
age, sex and race discrimination grounds.
General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, Matt
Wrack said it would now pursue compensation for injury to feelings and
financial losses for members who lost money because of the 2015 changes.
The decision will also apply to members of other
public sector pension schemes.
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Retirees
targeted in austerity drive
BUENOS AIRES (December 23): Argentina’s new Government is targeting
newly retired senior Public Servants in a series of belt-tightening
"public spending adjustments".
The move comes amid a debate about the retirement packages of some
senior Public Servants, including judges and diplomats, which are significantly
higher than those of other public workers.
President Alberto Fernandez has said he will seek to repeal these pensions
in an extraordinary session of Congress next month.
"The two Departments with the highest pension packages are the
Foreign Office and the judiciary. We want that discussed. Within this law, we
will set up a commission to deal with this issue," Mr Fernandez said.
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Mall-style
PS cuts waiting times
JAKARTA (December 21): Indonesia’s ‘Mall for Public
Services’, introduced in the capital, Jakarta, in 2017, is slowly gaining
popularity as citizens discover that by visiting it they no longer have to take
a whole day off work to attend to bureaucratic requirements.
Initially set up by the Jakarta City Administration
to service businesses’ permit needs, other services for ordinary citizens have
been added over time.
Dita Guritno, a mother of two, said she once dreaded
the long line and the prospect of being rejected and told to come back with
more documents.
“To my surprise my name was called on schedule. The
officers were helpful and gentle to my son and didn’t mind taking
pictures again and again for my son’s passport,” Ms Guritno said.
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Call for
more flexible work
ST HELIER (December 20): Group director of External Relations for the
Government of Jersey, Kate Nutt has called for Public Service jobs to offer
flexible working whenever possible as a way of improving both diversity and
quality among recruits.
Ms Nutt also announced the launch of a pilot program, I WILL, which aims to get more women
into senior leadership roles in the public sector.
There is currently just one female Director General, while 13 of the Government’s
33 directors, including Ms Nutt, are women.
The Government’s gender pay gap report shows that the difference in the
average pay between all men and women in the workforce is 18.3 per cent. It
also revealed that of the 10 employees earning above £170,000 ($A320,500) a
year, just one is female.
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Racial abuser loses appeal
BOSTON (December 23): A United
States firefighter who was sacked after allegedly using the ‘n-word’ against a
black colleague has lost his appeal for reinstatement.
Former Navy veteran Gregory
LaVallee, who had served in the Boston Fire Department for 14 years, lost his
job in March after the December 2018 incident in which it is alleged he entered
his fire station drunk and off-duty and swore at an on-duty black firefighter
using the racial epithet.
The Civil Service Commission
voted to uphold Mr LaVallee’s termination, with Chair, Christopher Bowman
calling the word choice “repugnant” and the circumstances of the case
“particularly ugly”.
Mr Bowman said it was right
and proper for him to deny the appeal, although he was “not unsympathetic” to Mr
LaVallee’s “challenges with alcoholism”.
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Lump-sum
pay-out for PS
NASSAU (December 23): After months of negotiations the Bahamas Public
Service Union (BPSU) has signed an agreement with the Government that will see
its members receive a $B1,400 ($A2,043) lump sum payment.
Minister of National Insurance and Public Service, Brensil Rolle estimated
the total cost to be about approximately $B30 million ($A43.8 million).
In an attempt to clear up confusion over who will get the pay-out, Mr
Rolle said it would go to teachers, permanent weekly paid employees, uniformed branches
and Public Hospitals Authority staff.
Those not receiving the payment included staff at other Government
authorities and corporations, members of the judicial branch, contract and
temporary workers, air traffic controllers, Ministers and Members of
Parliament.
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Extra payment
for life changes
PHNOM PENH (December 25): Cambodia’s Ministry of the Environment has
announced that members of its staff who get married, give birth, or die will
receive a one-off payment of five million riel ($A1,250).
In a statement, the Ministry said the money would be paid out of its
Environment and Social Fund and be managed by the Cambodian Women’s Association
for Peace and Development.
“The policy was made to contribute to improving the living conditions of
the Civil Servants working for the Ministry of Environment,” the statement
said.
“The Ministry has paid a lot of attention to providing funding for the
wellbeing of Civil Servants as well as to encourage and support them as
gratitude for their sacrifices towards the national wellbeing of the Kingdom
and its people.”
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‘Stern action’ in transport blitz
JOHOR BARU (December 24): The Road Transport Department (JPJ) of Johor
has completed a blitz on public service vehicles operating in the Malaysian
State, taking “stern action” against 96 of the 630 inspected.
Director at the JPJ, Razali Wagiman said 120 officers were involved,
some going undercover as passengers on express buses, intercity buses and
factory buses to ensure the safety of the public.
“A total of 137 offences were committed by the 96 vehicles and their
drivers including driving without a valid licence, not having a Public Service
Vehicle licence, using expired driving licences, and one for breaking traffic
light regulations,” Mr Razali said.
“Special operations on public service vehicles will be held from time to
time to raise road safety awareness.”
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Cypriot PS numbers rise
NICOSIA (December 20): There was a slight increase
in the Cypriot Public Service in the third quarter of the year, bringing the
total to 66,846 people, the Statistical Service has announced.
According to the Service, the number of workers in
the general Government sector was 61,476 while 5,370 people were employed in State-controlled
entities.
The Central Government saw an increase of 297 people,
or 0.52 per cent, while State-owned entities staff rose by 40, or 0.76 per
cent.
Local Authorities saw a 1.27 per cent drop in staff
numbers, representing 54 people.
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Malawi
boosts travel allowance
LILONGWE (December 25): Malawi’s
180,000 Public servants have been given an end-of-year boost to their pay, with
the Government raising subsistence allowances for all grades.
The increase in allowances
takes effect from January 1 2020 with a further raise — this time in holiday
pay — from July 1.
Subsistence allowances
mainly apply to officers travelling on duty within Malawi to cater for, among
others, accommodation and incidentals.
The full Public Service News service will resume in the New Year
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