Irish Department backs down on card use
DUBLIN (December 12): Ireland’s Department of Social Protection has dropped its appeal against use of the controversial Public Services Card (PSC), acknowledging that without legislative changes its possession cannot be a precondition by other public sector bodies for the provision of their services.
Announcing that proceedings between it and the Department on the matter had been resolved, the Data Protection Commission (DPC) said at least one other option must now be accepted in any case where an individual is required to verify their identity before accessing public services.
The PSC was introduced in 2011 to tackle welfare fraud and was gradually rolled out to access other services, including obtaining a passport and voter registration.
In 2017, the DPC launched an investigation into the use of the card following complaints from civil liberties groups. It found there was no basis in law for public bodies to require individuals to possess the card in order to access public services.
UK calls for help with COVID booster
LONDON (December 14): The United Kingdom Government is asking up to 120,000 Public Servants to assist the National Health Service with a COVID-19 booster vaccine roll-out.
Whitehall officials said they wanted to see volunteers step up and help with the campaign to offer boosters to all adults aged 18 and over by the New Year.
They said 80,000 additional workers would be needed for non-clinical work and 40,000 for clinical assistance.
Whitehall workers are permitted to take five days of leave every year to engage in volunteering activities.
*********
Ontario work from home order extended
TORONTO (December 14): A return-to-0ffice order for thousands of Public Servants in the Canadian Province of Ontario has been reversed amid a rapidly escalating fourth wave of COVID-19 infections.
Workers were told to work from home until “at least” February 7 next year.
It comes as the Provincial Government considers how to battle the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the virus, which is now responsible for 21 per cent of the Province’s new cases.
The move aligns with the recommendations of Ontario's Chief Medical Officer, Kieran Moore who said employees should, wherever possible, work from home in an attempt to reduce mobility and transmission of the virus.
*********
WELLINGTON (December 9): New Zealand’s Public Service workforce has risen to 61,100 employees over the past year, up by almost 4,000, with the battle against COVID-19 the major reason for the growth.
Public Service Commissioner, Peter Hughes said half of the seven per cent rise in full-time-equivalent employees was directly attributable to the global pandemic response and about 40 per cent was to support other Government priorities.
He did not see growth continuing at the same rate in future, and said most of the increase over the past year occurred in the four Agencies at the heart of the pandemic response.
They were the Ministries of Health (450 staff for the response and vaccination); Social Development (850 for front-line services); Business, Innovation and Employment (250 for managed isolation and quarantine facilities) and New Zealand Customs (250 for maritime border orders).
"Civil Servants should accurately understand the Constitution and the Basic Law, so they can uphold the 'one country, two systems' principle and take up the responsibility of ensuring national security."
Sources said the establishment of the Academy was another step in Beijing’s insistence that only "patriots” should be ruling Hong Kong.
*********
One of the Bill’s sponsors, Grace Poe said by opening these sectors to foreign investors, she expected Filipinos would be given “modern, more accessible and affordable services”.
LONDON (December 11): The naming of a prominent campaigner for the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (Brexit) to a senior role regulating appointments to the Public Service has been described as “deeply inappropriate”.
Ms Stuart will probably have a powerful say on appointments for Departments’ Permanent Secretaries and other senior Public Service jobs.
Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, Fleur Anderson said Ms Stuart had been a front-line politician and “there are huge questions marks over whether she can uphold the independence and integrity of this role”.
The pilot program will run for two years. Its aim is to switch to differential remuneration for Public Servants, thus creating incentives for excellence.
In the current situation, Public Servants receive a bonus if they reach high 'percentages of efficiency'. However, the targets are so loosely defined that almost all workers receive the grant.
Pay warning dampens Nigerian Christmas cheer
WASHINGTON (December 15): The new head of the United States Census Bureau, Robert Santos will be the first Latino and only the second person of colour to lead the Agency in its more than 230-year history.
Mr Santos is one of the country’s leading statisticians, a Mexican American who has been appointed by the Administration of President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate for a five-year-term.
He will head an Agency that is still mostly Anglo, with close to four-out-of-five senior executives at the Bureau identifying as white.
The Ombudsman has long criticised the employment of people from outside the Public Service on a so-called ‘position of trust’ basis, even questioning if it is in conformity with the constitution.
However, Mr Cutajar said the Ombudsman’s Office was employing people on that same position of trust basis.
He also criticised the Ombudsman for delays in resolving cases, saying a number had become “stuck” at the Ombudsman’s Office, without the Government ever receiving any feedback about whether they had been resolved.
WELLINGTON (December 11): Wage growth in New Zealand’s public sector fell behind that of the private sector for the first time since 2018, a census of Public Servants has revealed.
More than 60,000 Government employees across 36 Agencies took part in the census, which the Public Service Commission now plans to hold every two years.
It found wages in the private sector grew by 2.2 per cent compared with 1.9 per cent in the public sector.
The biggest public sector increase was among the lowest-paid employees where wages rose by 3.7 per cent. This was put down to increases in the legislated minimum wage, the strength of the Living Wage Movement and other pay equity concerns.
*********
Lebanese officers slip into poverty
BEIRUT (11 December): Long regarded as bloated, lethargic and rife with corruption, Lebanon’s public sector is falling into further disarray due to an economic crisis that has left some eight in 10 people poor, according to United Nations Agencies.
Before the crisis, most Public Servants earned salaries worth at least $US1,000 ($A1,395) a month. Today, most are earning around a tenth of that after a currency crisis led the Lebanese pound to lose more than 90 per cent of its value.
Some public sector workers have gone on indefinite strike over better pay and living conditions. Others simply can't make it into work now a full tank of petrol eats up half their monthly wage and benefits.
Director-General of the Traffic and Vehicles Management Authority, Hoda Salloum said her Agency would probably be able to keep working until the end of the year “then, it's up to God".
*********
UK union gears up for pay battle
LONDON (December 15): The United Kingdom’s biggest Public Service union says it will ballot its members on their willingness to strike should a better-than-inflation pay rise not be agreed with the Government next year.
The Public and Commercial Services union said it would ask all public-sector members for their views in the New Year in a move aimed at holding Ministers to Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak’s promise that a pause on pay rises was now over.
General Secretary of the union, Mark Serwotka said a combination of inflation, national insurance hikes to fund the Government’s social care plans, and a failure to recalculate contribution rates to the Civil Service Pension Scheme would hit Public Servants in the pocket.
“With inflation running at five per cent, Public Servants are in line to receive the single-biggest reduction in living standards any of us can remember,” Mr Serwotka said.
*********
Boost in Cayman salaries, numbers
GEORGE TOWN (December 12): A new report on the Cayman Islands Public Service has found it is growing both in numbers and in the average salaries paid.
The Government’s annual human resources report for 2020 showed that average salaries increased by $2,946 ($A5,012) per year from 2019, mainly as a result of a five per cent cost-of-living adjustment as well as the decision to move the minimum salary of teachers to $5,000 ($A8,507) a month.
Meanwhile, employee numbers grew from 3,878 in 2018 to 4,102 in 2019 and 4,268 in 2020.
Female representation of 55 per cent was five percentage points higher than across the labour force as a whole.
The full International PS News service will resume on January 18
No comments:
Post a Comment