Pressure mounts over oath-taking
HONG KONG (December 29): The head of Hong Kong’s Public Service has stepped up pressure on Government workers by reiterating a threat that any who refuse to take an oath of allegiance to the city could be sacked.
Patrick Nip Tak-kuen said authorities were ready to request all Public Servants to take the oath. More than 3,000 have done so since the oath was introduced in October.
“Civil Servants will have to return the signed declaration within a month, those who refuse will have to give an explanation and will be denied promotion or face dismissal,” Mr Nip said.
He stressed that the one-month deadline was not for Public Servants to consider signing the declaration, but was simply an administrative need.
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Support for remote working
THE HAGUE (December 31): A new survey has revealed that about seven-in-10 Public Servants across Europe believe they can maintain or improve the standards of their service via remote work.
However, the survey, by Dutch-based multinational consultancy, BearingPoint, found that United Kingdom workers were most concerned that without improved training and adaptive management, they would struggle to realise the potential of the new technology they were working with.
The consulting firm polled the experiences of 3,500 Public Servants in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
It found that while the pandemic had seen a major increase in the uptake of digital processes, basic improvements in management and training would be needed to make the most of the changes.
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Recruitment failure draws fire
LONDON (January 3): The United Kingdom Government has come under fire from one of its own MPs for failing to meet its target of recruiting 30,000 new apprentices to the Public Service.
Chair of Parliament’s Education Committee, Robert Halfon said claims that the failure was because of the COVID-19 pandemic did not hold water, because the original pledge was made four years ago.
He said only 16,155 apprentices had been recruited by the time of the lockdown in March — “there is no excuse for this. It’s got to change”.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “We are firmly committed to recruiting 30,000 Civil Service apprentices by April.”
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Data reveals senior PS exodus
WASHINGTON (December 29): Data released by the United States Office of Personnel Management shows that the ranks of senior Public Servants were substantially reduced in the first two years of the Administration of President Donald Trump.
Between calendar years 2016 and 2018, almost eight per cent of Senior Executive Service positions were vacated or remained empty due to a higher-than-usual level of voluntary departures and lower-than-usual number of accessions.
Some Public Servants resigned their posts in spectacular fashion, publicly alleging widespread disaffection and demoralisation across staff after being repeatedly undercut and undermined by Mr Trump’s political appointees.
However, the data also showed that among General Schedule Grade Public Servants, who form the bulk of the Federal workforce, voluntary departures increased only marginally in the same period.
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Year-end bonuses delivered on time
HARARE (December 30): All Zimbabwe’s Public Servants received their annual end-of-year bonus by Christmas Day, Minister for Government, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Paul Mavima has confirmed.
Professor Mavima said the Government had now tasked the National Joint Negotiating Council to come up with a roadmap that would enable the Government to pay its workers salaries equivalent to US$500 ($A648) on average.
“The roadmap is supposed to be done by January 31, so we will have a winning formula going forward,” Professor Mavima said.
Salaries tied to the US dollar, or dollarisation, has been a demand of unions as the local currency is practically worthless.
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Government rejects video criticism
EDINBURGH (January 1): The Scottish Government has been taken to task by the leader of the country’s Conservatives for using Public Servants to produce a film critical of the trade deal Westminster negotiated with the European Union.
Leader of the Conservatives in Scotland, Douglas Ross demanded an apology, claiming Scottish Government officials may have broken the Public Service code on political neutrality by promoting the video, which also argued Scotland should be independent and re-join the EU.
However, the Government was unrepentant saying it represented Scots’ opinion — “and Scotland did not vote to leave the EU”.
Minister for External Affairs in the ruling Scottish National Party Government, Mike Russell said Scotland’s forced exit from the EU single market and customs union would “hit jobs and living standards hard”.
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‘Bloated PS’ claims rebuffed
KUALA LUMPUR (January 3): Malaysia’s main Public Service union continues to rebuff claims that the country’s bureaucracy is bloated, saying critics neglected the fact that the 1.6 million personnel included health, education and security sectors.
President of the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs), Adnan Mat said the actual number of Public Servants was 600,000.
"Taking into consideration the present challenges brought about by the global pandemic and the preparation for the future, we still need more people in the education, security and the public health sectors," Mr Adnan said.
He was responding to a newspaper opinion piece written by former Ambassador, Fauziah Mohd Taib which claimed the pandemic had shown that the Public Service could operate effectively at 30 per cent of its capacity.
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Crackdown on salary protesters
BAGHDAD (December 31): The Kurdistan Government in northern Iraq has been unable to pay full salaries to its Public Servants, leading to demonstrations in the semi-autonomous region.
Security forces launched a crackdown on the protests leading to the deaths of at least seven people.
Leaders of the main Kurdistan political parties have accused the Central Government in Baghdad of withholding money due to the region. However, critics say decades of corruption and mismanagement of Kurdish resources are to blame.
They say there is growing public anger at the current dysfunctional system that has stunted the growth of the Kurdish economy and made it almost entirely dependent on oil and gas.
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PM demands end to corruption
KUALA LUMPUR (December 29): Malaysia’s Prime Minister has told Public Servants they cannot use the pandemic as an excuse not to deliver services to the public in an efficient and effective way.
Muhyiddin Yassin said it was important that more initiatives than ever be implemented to improve integrity and governance “such as through efforts to combat corruption to ensure efficiency and transparency of the administration”.
“As Local Authorities are among the front-liners who are often exposed to corruption, efforts to combat this crime need to remain an important agenda item that should be widely implemented among their personnel,” Tan Sri Muhyiddin said.
“This is so that we can create a work culture with integrity without compromising any code of values and ethics.”
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Ministry investigating PS chat-bots
NEW DELHI (January 3): The Indian Government has invited bids to develop a chat-bot or voice assistance application like Amazon's Alexa or Google Assistant to deliver services to the public.
The artificial intelligence-based conversational platform would be expected to interact with the public in multiple languages, analyse sentiments and intent, collect and analyse data and give personalised experiences to users.
In a statement, the Ministry of Electronics and IT said the chat-bots should be able to turn speech into a textual input and turn text into speech.
"Platforms should also have other deep learning capabilities, recommending users to the best-fit schemes and services available in the Government domain based on his/her profile," the statement said.
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Penalties for men who refused to serve
BEIJING (January 2): Two men who refused to serve in China’s military have been listed as ‘dishonest persons’ the country’s Global Times newspaper has reported.
The men, from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, bordering Vietnam, will be prohibited from employment for an unidentified period, the newspaper said, quoting local media.
The report said the men, named only as Yang and Liao, were also fined 33,006 yuan ($A6,572) and 32,376 yuan ($A6,447), respectively and would be “exposed” on local television.
The Global Times said the two men were initially enlisted, but refused military discipline and were discharged. Military service is mandatory in China.
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New system results in promotions
ILORIN (January 1): The Western Nigerian State of Kwara has announced the promotion of 1,600 Public Servants who passed an examination and oral interview.
Chair of the State’s Civil Service Commission, Habeebat Yusuf said that the officers came from different Ministries, Agencies and Departments and varied in seniority.
“We evaluated the officers using a new Performance Management System which has been a success,” Ms Yusuf said.
“I now urge all the promoted officers to be proactive and diligent in the duties that come with their new responsibilities.”
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New language test for PS
KIEV (January 4): Most applicants for Ukraine’s Public Service will in future have to pass a test showing they are proficient in the Ukrainian language.
The country’s Language Ombudsman, Taras Kremin said the test would initially be taken by mayors, Ministers, officials and heads of administrations, State enterprises and prosecutors.
“So it’s those who will be directly involved in Government activity; it will also apply to citizens of other countries seeking Ukrainian citizenship,” Mr Kremin said.
He said non-Ukrainian speakers already in the Public Service would be given time to get their language skills up to the required level.
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Diversity plan for State troopers
OLYMPIA (January 4): the US State of Washington is to recruit 60 State troopers and 24 Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Officers following months of protests against racial injustice and calls to de-fund the police.
Sergeant Darren Wright said most of the positions that had to be filled were due to troopers retiring.
“One of our priorities is diversifying the Department and we have hired a diversity officer to help with recruitment,” Sergeant Wright said.
“The last class we graduated was 40 per cent either female or minority and we’re looking to improve on that.”
The full International PS News service will resume on January 19.
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