Civil service bosses pick up reform tips in UK

| 01/11/2012

(CNS): The visit by the deputy governor and a delegation of Chief Officers to London last month was “useful and relevant” for CS reform here according to the latest minutes released from the deputy governor’s office of the 22 October civil service boss meeting. The trip included discussions with the UK Cabinet Office as well the Heads of Public Services in Overseas Territories Conference hosted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The five member delegation of public sector bosses also attended various meetings with a variety of UK departments and agencies to discuss best practice, policy initiatives, and the impact of the UK’s reform initiatives.

Transparency, the process of rationalisation and competition between government agencies for funding based on results delivery were three of the key concepts covered by the UK Cabinet Office in discussing the reform. Improved IT infrastructure was also said to have provided a strong basis for improved efficiency and cost reduction in the UK.

The minutes reveal that although the size of the Cayman civil service differs from the UK, the discussions were still very useful and very relevant and the challenge now was to take the information and use it to advance Phase 4 of the Public Service Review.
The CO’s meetings with agencies related to their respective areas also provided a chance to hear alternative views on the reform process and opened up scope for interaction with agencies in the UK.

The meeting also included a presentation from Caroline Hastings and Roy Towler Procurement Experts from Jersey who were in Cayman to assist with local procurement and share the benefit of their experience.

See deputy governor’s meeting minutes below

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Watch channel 3 on a Saturday evening – old BBC series from the 80's called Yes Minister – still so relevance. The CIG CS got all their bad habits from the UK civil service in the first place, why would we expect it to try and modernize other than by using touchy feely jargon!

  2. Anonymous says:

    The UK civil service giving CIG advice on how to improve performance – now that's scary!

    Where I now live in the UK a major government department recently recruited over 150 new staff at a cost of several million pounds then promptly started paying off existing staff with redundancy packages.

    The same department then shut down a major local call centre and in the process created chaos for several months as the workload was shifted elsewhere. The bill for that little cut back is still being worked out but it's definitely cost a lot more than leaving things as they were.

    It would be very interesting to give some of our current top civil servants free access to a brewery for a weekend and see how many of them came out sober – my guess is every single one. And if that went over your head – it's as in 'couldn't organise a p**s up in a brewery'.

  3. Anonymous says:

    next time skip the jolly, stay home and  and read the miller shaw report…….muppetts…

    • Anonymous says:

      Clear the CS of all non expat no essential/non professional staff.  The CS do not need a single expat employee that a Caymanian can fill.  This should reduce the CS by more than 60% and this would stop the government from having to pay out so much and killing the locals with taxes.

      • Anonymous says:

        Then absolutely nothing will get done, as opposed to very little.

      • Cheese Face says:

        I agree, clear the CS of all non expat staff.

        Dumbo.

      • Anonymous says:

        Only — most everyone of them has status now, so you cant kick them out!!

        langa langa boo boo

        • Anonymous says:

          Yes – well done Mac. Do you come close to understanding the damage you have done to your people?

          • Anonymous says:

            Purchasing votes, give them status.  Who won the game? The Premier did!  Ha Ha Ha.   See you in 2013.

    • Anony says:

      except that Miller & Shaw walked in with agendas and twisted stats to fit their ideas … muppet.

    • Anonymous says:

      The Miller Shaw Report takes a broadbrush and somewhat simplistic approach to the issue of overstaffing of the civil service. It is not practical to implement. And that is not what their visit was all about in any event.