A FUNDAMENTAL review is needed of the terms and conditions of staff employed by government, Chief Minister Allan Bell told Tynwald.
Mr Bell said the terms and conditions negotiated in the past were certainly causing ‘considerable problems’ for departments now trying to balance their budgets because of the shortfall in tax after the VAT agreement was changed.
He added: ‘This area will have to be looked at in the future. We cannot react to the very serious challenges we have from budget reductions without a fundamental review at some point for the terms and conditions of employees right across government. That is going to be the only way we can protect and save jobs of the workforce, if we are more flexible in this area.’
Mr Bell was replying to a question from Zac Hall (Lib Vannin, Onchan) who asked about the progress being made by the Transforming Government Group and the need to change the culture of government.
The Chief Minister said he wanted to see an end to ‘allowing people who fear change to block and undermine it’.
He said: ‘There are pockets of very positive culture throughout our public service, but much more needs to be done across the whole service to ensure we have a culture that supports the reform we need.’
Mr Hall asked whether he shared his frustration that more was not done sooner to address levels of absenteeism in government departments, which had resulted in £40 million a year being lost in labour time through sick days.
‘Why wasn’t action already taken on the issue by the Chief Secretary’s Office or the Corporate Leadership Group and the Treasury? Government must have known about the levels of absenteeism and the associated costs for the last few years,’ he said.
Mr Bell replied: ‘I cannot necessarily explain why these changes have not been brought in earlier, other than to say that I am fully committed to making sure that these changes do come in and there is the appropriate level of urgency to ensure the changes are brought in as quickly as possible.’
Mr Hall said it had been reported that airport director Anne Reynolds had said if Ronaldsway was run on commercial lines, annual cost savings of £2 million could be made.
‘This would represent a large percentage cost-saving. If the current cost structure is due to standard government work practices, presumably this degree of waste could apply similarly to other departments? What are officers doing in the Transforming Government Group, in light of this perception?’
Mr Bell said the issue had been flagged up but affected not just with the airport, but other parts of government.