Treasury ‘prepared for major pay deal’

United Kingdom Treasury documents have revealed the Government is prepared for a pay deal which gives its 5.5 million public sector workers increases beyond the current rate of inflation.

Negotiations with unions are under way, with the Treasury advising public-sector pay review bodies, which make the final recommendations, to use its two per cent inflation target as a guide rather than the Bank of England’s forecast of 5.75 per cent for the year.

However, figures buried in Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) documents reveal Government spending plans assume the public sector wage bill will increase by 6.7 per cent in the fiscal year starting next month.

A pay rise of that amount would almost certainly be enough to match the annual rate of inflation, even after accounting for the rise in energy prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Public sector employers and unions are currently locked in pay negotiations, with April the key month for settlements. Staff want wages to keep up with surging inflation, and a shortage of workers is giving them rare bargaining power.

In February, the Government proposed a three per cent pay rise for the National Health Service’s 1.3 million staff.

Public Service union, Unison said the “tight-fisted” offer was a wage cut in all but name.

The National Health Service’s pay review body is now considering what to recommend.

OBR projections suggest the big increase in Departmental spending announced in the October Budget might be enough to meet Government plans for Public Service provision and increase pay significantly for public sector workers, who have been subject to freezes and tight pay-rise caps in recent years.

A Treasury spokesman played down the OBR forecasts, saying an assumption of pay bill growth could not be derived from them.

“Pay increases need to be proportionate to the pay rises in the wider economy, balanced with the need to manage the country’s long-term economic health and protect public-sector finances,” a spokesperson said.

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Public sector may trial four-day week

 More people in Wales could be working a four-day week after the country’s Commissioner for Future Generations, Sophie Howe called on the Government to launch a shorter working week trial in the public sector.

Ms Howe (pictured), a Government official whose role, enshrined in law, is to protect the interests of future generations, said the Public Service should lead the way and inspire other businesses to follow suit.

She acknowledged there would be a heavy cost to the public sector in the short term, but argued that it could eventually mean increased productivity and savings for society if it led to a healthier workforce and more cohesive population.

“It’s clear that following the pandemic, people across Wales are re-evaluating their priorities in life and looking for a healthier work-life balance,” Ms Howe said.

“The escalating demands of caring for loved ones due to an ageing population and an increase in mental health issues, exacerbated by working long hours, are just some of the factors that make a shorter working week more appealing.”

Noting that the working week had not changed for more than 100 years, she said now was the perfect opportunity for the Government to commit to a pioneering trial and build evidence for greater change across Wales.

A report by Ms Howe and think tank, Autonomy found that about two-thirds of Welsh people would ideally work a four-day week and almost 60 per cent said they would support the Government piloting a scheme to move towards it.

“Moving to a four-day week in the Welsh public sector could be particularly effective as sickness rates are high there, and giving staff an extra day off could help to tackle this,” the report says.

“It would foster better cohesion by giving people more time to take part in community groups and projects, and could cut carbon emissions by reducing commuting.”

It also argued that a shorter working week would especially help women, who had less free time on average than men.

A Government spokesperson said it recognised the potential benefits of a shorter working week.

“We are considering the progress of pilots in other countries and examining the lessons Wales can learn,” the spokesperson said.

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Concern over ‘revolving door’ officials

 Many former Israeli Public Servants enjoy lucrative second careers in the private sector, new research has revealed.

Data collected by the Bank of Israel shows that more than half of the nation’s publicly-traded companies employ former officials, including regulators who once oversaw the same companies they have now joined.

The report’s author, Noam Michelson said the “revolving door” trend, in which Public Servants transitioned to work in the private sector, represented a challenge for democracies and developed economies.

“There is a need to strike a balance between conflicting needs: Public interest versus employees’ rights,” Mr Michelson said.

“On one hand, such transitions, if not properly regulated, can lead to abuse. They may give an unfair advantage to companies that employ former Public Servants who could use their knowledge and connections to influence future regulation.”

He said in addition, the lure of the private sector could influence the decisions of current regulators who might try to avoid harming their chances of future employment.

“On the other hand, Governments need to be able to attract top talent to the Public Service, part of which requires that they refrain from curbing workers’ employment options once they leave,” Mr Michelson said.

“At the heart of the debate… lies the question of the balance between public trust, market freedom and efficiency, and the individual’s freedom to engage in any occupation.”

He said a society could shore up trust in the public sector by banning all transitions of former Public Servants to private-sector jobs.

“However, that would impose a heavy cost in terms of limitations on market freedom and efficiency, as the set of choices from which firms choose managers would be smaller,” Mr Michelson said.

“The possible resulting deterioration of quality in the public sector would, paradoxically, lead to an erosion of public trust in the Public Service.”

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‘More efficiency’ with fixed-term contracts

Estonian State Secretary, Taimar Peterkop has called for a significant expansion of the number of Public Servants employed on fixed-term contracts.

In his feedback to a draft law amending the Civil Service Act, Mr Peterkop (pictured) said middle managers of virtually all Ministries and Public Authorities should be contractors.

 In its current form the Act states that these officials are appointed for an indefinite period, except in exceptional cases.

 Exceptions include the State Secretary himself, as well as the Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries of Ministries and the heads of Government Agencies, all of whom are appointed for five years.

 Mr Peterkop wants the five-year contracts extended to the next level of management, including the heads of individual units within Ministries.

 “Every five years, a competitive process would be held for the position where, of course, the current manager would have the opportunity to run and be appointed if successful,” Mr Peterkop said.

 "The introduction of the fixed-term employment, not only for senior Civil Servants but also for their immediate subordinates, and the establishment of uniform requirements and selection, evaluation and development principles will make the rotation system, which has been relatively modest, more efficient."

 He said he wanted to change the situation where the middle manager was sitting in place for decades and the arrival of new and perhaps more capable people was being blocked.

 There are currently, 217 middle managers working in the Ministries, whose average length of service in the same position is 4.5 years. However, 66 middle managers have held one position for more than five years, and 28 for more than 10 years.

 The number of middle managers working in the same position for a long time has decreased in recent years due to the restructuring of four Government Agencies.

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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 

Media boss calls for independent Northern Ireland

The Chair of a major United Kingdom media group has called for an independent Northern Ireland as a first step towards eventual union with the South.

David Montgomery, who heads JPIMedia, has urged the Province to “seize the moment and boldly determine its own future”.

A native of County Down, he believes that Northern Ireland as an independent entity supported by Britain, Ireland and Europe “a Switzerland of the north, may be the only route to finally resolving the Irish Question”.

“If Irish unity is ever achieved it can only be with two equals — two nation states — coming together voluntarily. Otherwise it will be perceived by a vociferous minority as an annexation on the one hand and a betrayal on the other,” Mr Montgomery says. 

He urged the Province’s politicians to “become statesmen and stateswomen unreservedly representing the whole of Northern Ireland and no other nation”.

Mr Montgomery said Northern Ireland was changing with a good quality of life for an expanding middle class, a growing diverse population and high standards of behaviour based in part on religious adherence.

“More people are identifying less with being British or Irish and instead they proclaim being whole-heartedly Northern Irish,” Mr Montgomery said.

“They identify with pride to be from a place apart that mainly by its own efforts is casting off the struggles and bitterness of the past.

“For Northern Ireland, at the start of 2022, a nation beckons.”

His comments come as two new polls show voters in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland see themselves united as one country in the next 10 years.

South of the border, 62 per cent of people favour Irish unity, though the majority view it as a long-term project rather than an immediate priority, according to the poll published in the Irish Times

A separate poll in Northern Ireland shows that while most still support the link with the UK at present, a majority think if a referendum was held in 10 years it would result in a vote in favour of a united Ireland.

Importantly, unification with the South was most popular with younger voters, with one in five saying that the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union had made them question their support for staying in the UK.

This is significant among a generation that has grown up since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 that made the island of Ireland borderless within the EU.

A majority in the Province (and in Scotland) voted to remain with Europe in the 2016 referendum, only to see their wishes denied by the English majority. 

There is also increasing disgust at the antics of the Government in Westminster, with Ministers seemly more concerned with picking fights with the EU than governing effectively.

In this fraught atmosphere, with no other solution on the table, Mr Montgomery’s idea of an independent Northern Ireland deserves serious consideration.

 

Keyboard warriors a threat to journalism

Journalists are being driven from the industry by an incessant barrage of online abuse and threats, a senior editorial executive in the United Kingdom has warned.

Ian Carter, of Iliffe Media, also believes the attacks are leading to a fall in the number of people wanting to become journalists. 

“I have no doubt this is happening, in part, due to a reluctance to open themselves up to abuse from morons,” Carter says.

Recently a senior journalist in Cornwall quit, citing abuse directed at him and colleagues, while media group Reach has appointed an online safety editor in an effort to confront the problem.

Reporters and editors have had to deal with disaffected members of the public since the birth of newspapers in the 18^th century. In my time in the media I was often confronted outside court with defendants pleading that I not publish their case. 

On one memorable occasion I had to negotiate with a trio of rogues who buttonholed me demanding to know why my story on their rampage that led to the near destruction of a local bar was on my newspaper’s front page rather than a major battle in Vietnam (yes it was that long ago).

You learned to talk your way out of those kinds of situations (blame some anonymous editor). However, the problem has been hugely magnified by the domination of social media in the past couple of decades.

Where once a complainant had to go to the bother of penning a letter, or taking on the journalist face-to-face, keyboard warriors can, from the anonymity of their living-rooms, direct a torrent of vitriol and vile threats at their helpless victim.

It often goes beyond simple abuse and foul language. Women journalists have been threatened with assault and rape; males with beatings, or the sinisterly ominous “we know where you live” statement.

Carter believes “a very dangerous narrative is developing; it’s no wonder we are seeing smaller numbers of people entering the industry”.

The problem here is that social media is a two-way street. Journalists must be on Twitter and Facebook — and let the world know they are there — because increasingly that is the way we communicate.

Media outlets attach comment sections to the stories reporters write because they want to judge the interest they generate. There is also the possibility that sensible and informed comments will lead to valuable follow-ups.

However, that makes the authors, in effect, Aunt Sallies for anyone who thinks they have a grievance, to take a shot at.   

Carter says that while anonymous social media users are the biggest problem, it isn’t helped by people who should know better feeding the myth that journalists are untrustworthy.

“We have had numerous examples of [police] family liaison officers warning people off talking to the press, and every politician who labels something ‘fake news’ because they don’t like their own shortcomings being exposed, add to the problem,” he says.