Conservationist headed Kenya’s PS
NAIROBI (January 5): Conservationist Richard Leakey, who has died aged 77, was also a career Public Servant who rose to head Kenya's Public Service.
President Uhuru Kenyatta described Dr Leakey (pictured) as a leader who served the country with dedication, with his Public Service roles including Director of the National Museums of Kenya and Chair of the Kenya Wildlife Service Board of Directors.
“He is celebrated for his prominent role in Kenya’s vibrant civil society, where he founded and successfully ran a number of institutions, among them the conservation organisation WildlifeDirect,” Mr Kenyatta said.
Dr Leakey is credited with making improvements to the way the Government kept track of money and in the quality of people appointed to high office.
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UK advice on costly lunch rejected
LONDON (January 5): United Kingdom Foreign Minister, Liz Truss reportedly rejected the advice of senior Public Servants and hosted a lunch at an expensive private club owned by a donor to her Conservative Party.
Ms Truss apparently “refused to consider anywhere else” when urged to choose a cheaper venue and asked for £3,000 ($A5,676) in public funds for the event where she hosted a United States trade representative.
Public Servants were so concerned at the cost and the venue’s close links to the Conservative Party that the proposal was referred to the most senior official at the Department for International Trade.
In negotiations, the venue agreed to reduce the bill to £1,400 ($A2,648) but on condition of immediate payment, which meant Public Servants had to use an emergency process to pay up straight away.
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New calls to postpone Indian exam
NEW DELHI (January 6): Candidates for India’s main Public Service examination have upped their demands for a postponement as another wave of COVID-19 infections cripples the country.
With the Union Public Service Commission Civil Services Examinations due to begin this month many candidates fear contracting the virus as they travel from their homes in towns and villages to exam centres in the major cities.
They are saying long hours on public transport and having to stay in hotels near the exam centres are unacceptable risks.
The examination consists of nine papers taken over several days. Candidates who pass this stage are called for a personal interview.
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Department pays for ‘death threat’ software
LONDON (January 7): The United Kingdom’s Department of Health and Social Care has spent £700,000 ($A1.32 billion) on software designed to detect and report online death threats made against “named high-profile individuals involved in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout”.
The technology is also intended to identify and flag up misinformation about the pandemic, including targeted foreign interference conducted on social media by hostile Governments.
Commercial documents reveal the Department has signed a contract with artificial intelligence firm, Logically which will see the company use open-source intelligence methods to provide “regular reporting of threats to life and property” made against people to be specified by the Department.
Open-source intelligence relates to any information that is available to the general public using standard search engines, as well as the wealth of information on the deep web, which invariably sits outside of the scope of common search tools.
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Politician slams ‘constipated’ Irish PS
DUBLIN (January 7): The Irish Public Service is "constipated" and dealing with it will be one of the biggest challenges for a Sinn Féin-led Government, Leader of the Opposition, Mary Lou McDonald says.
Ms McDonald, whose Sinn Féin party is surging in the polls, said Public Servants needed a "jolt" to become more efficient.
"There is immense talent in our public administration, but we have, in many respects, a system that is constipated, a system that is slow, and a system that needs to be jolted into more efficient actions,” Ms McDonald said.
As an example she said the length of time it took to hire doctors and nurses for the health service was "just shocking". She also criticised the length of time it took for capital projects to clear the planning system.
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UK digital awareness lacking at top levels
LONDON (January 7): Research from Global Government Forum maintains that few senior public officials in the United Kingdom are genuine champions of digital transformation.
The research also reveals that Public Service recruitment and performance management often weeds out people with the skills and behaviour required for leading digital transformation projects.
The report highlighted that in most countries, the careers of Public Servants progress based on political and policy skills rather than technical expertise.
One interviewee said that as a result of this, senior digital figures in Government ended up working with Departmental leaders who had “spent their entire careers being reflexively liability-conscious and risk-averse – it is the wrong cohort to try to get to lead such an operation”.
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Ireland reveals cost of PS pensions
DUBLIN (January 2): Figures released by the Irish Department of Public Expenditure under Freedom of Information legislation have revealed that 65 former Public Servants are on annual pensions worth more than €100,000 ($A157,700).
There are 28,773 Public Service pensioners whose pensions cost a total €541 million ($A853 million) a year.
The Government is currently struggling to make provision for its growing public sector and State pension costs. It is estimated that it owes €149.6 billion ($A236 billion) in retirement benefits for current and former Public Service employees.
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath, said the overall figure was undoubtedly large, but it was important to bear in mind that it would be paid over the next 70 years or so.
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UK public dentists threaten walkout
LONDON (January 4): The British Dental Association (BDA) has warned that thousands of dentists will quit the National Health Service (NHS) if they are penalised for activity levels less than 85 per cent of what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement, the BDA said nearly two-thirds of practices currently estimate they are incapable of achieving the required 85 per cent activity level. They claim the NHS-imposed target has had a devastating impact on morale and financial sustainability.
A recent survey by the BDA shows that more than 40 per cent of NHS dentists are now likely to change career or seek early retirement this year given the current targets.
More than half also state they are likely to reduce their NHS commitment, and one in 10 estimates their practices will close in the next 12 months.
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Greek officials brace for Omicron chaos
ATHENS (January 3): Greek officials are bracing for the rampant Omicron variant of COVID-19 to disrupt vulnerable services including hospitals, public transport, Public Service offices, schools and universities.
There are already signs of dysfunction in hospitals, and in the police and the fire services, where employees cannot work from home.
Sources say even if Omicron lives up to its billing as a milder form of the disease, the extra hospital admissions will pose a problem, which will be exacerbated if large numbers of hospital personnel also miss work hours.
Aides to Minister for the Interior, Makis Voridis said all Public Servants who did not deal directly with the public would work from home.
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Malaysian call for business as usual
KUCHING (January 6): Business leaders in the Malaysian State of Sarawak are calling for the local Public Service to return to full-capacity working as the country enters Phase Four of its National Recovery Plan (NRP).
Secretary-General of the Sarawak Business Federation, Jonathan Chai said it was important for the Government to increase public sector capacity to ensure delivery of services to businesses and members of the public would not be disrupted.
Mr Chai said that in Phase Four of the NRP the private sector was allowed to operate at 100 per cent capacity.
“Therefore, Government Departments and Statutory Agencies should follow the same guidelines to normalise the Civil Service which is crucial for supporting and maintaining the livelihoods of many people,” Mr Chai said.
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Overhaul for Greek teleworking
ATHENS (January 3): A new project is aimed at increasing the efficiency of Greek Public Servants working remotely through a public sector teleworking system overhaul.
While the Government’s initial experience with teleworking has not been good, with results from the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 showing a fall in efficiency, the latest surge in the pandemic is a reminder to everyone that working from home in some form is here to stay.
The latest project, now out for public consultation, covers issues such as the monitoring of workers’ efficiency and the compliance with standard procedures and working times.
The consultation document states that for teleworking to function in the public sector, the entire flow of labour will have to be monitored, while ensuring the timetable set for specific tasks is adhered to.
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Korean warning on feline firebugs
SEOUL (January 5): South Korean public officials are warning cat owners in Seoul that their pet could burn their house down.
The warning comes as the capital’s Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Headquarters estimated that more than 100 fires over the past three years were started by cats, many of which managed to turn on electric stoves while playing with knobs and dials.
An official working at the Department, Chung Gyo-chul said 107 fires sparked by felines were recorded between January 2019 and November 2021.
Nearly half of those were started when the owners were out of the house, but in the recorded incidents, four people were injured. Often the pets themselves did not survive.
The full International PS News service will resume on January 18
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