National reform programme 2008-2010 Malta - European Commission

Measure 1.5
Redeploy Government employees with other public sector organisations and Government
departments through the Recruitment and Re-Deployment Advisory Group
The Recruitment and Redeployment Advisory Group is supported by the Resourcing
Department within MPO. Recruitment in non-essential categories in Government
Departments and public sector entities is being restricted, whilst other human resources
requirements are subject to validation and justification procedures.
An amendment to the Employment and Training Services Act (Cap. 343) (Art 15A) was
adopted to allow for redeployment of employees between public sector entities.
As a result of these polices the people in employment with the Public Service decreased by
687 employees to 29,061 for the period December 2005 to August 2008. In the case of
Independent Statutory Bodies there was a decrease of 377 persons for the period April 2005
to April 2008. In the case of Companies with Public Majority Shareholding the decrease was
more evident with a decrease of 2,598 employees for the same period 3 .
Measure 1.6
Consolidation of Government entities to ensure that back office capacity is not fragmented
and replicated. A Task Force is to be appointed in 2006 to produce regular reviews
The Public Service has introduced a back office function operations in Gozo and is gradually
migrating the Malta based base functions such as data inputting and salaries processing to
Gozo under Service Level Agreements. Malta based resources are being retrained /
redeployed as necessary to other functions or services. To date some 60 persons have been
transferred thereby reducing social fragmentation in Gozo, and developing more knowledge
based work on the island.
It is positive to note that the private sector is following such an opportunity by following
Government’s model. This can be clearly seen in the setting up of a call centre by a
prominent bank in Gozo.
Measure 1.7
Develop a more aggressive plan against benefit fraud supported by the necessary legislative
framework, especially with regards to invalidity benefits and unemployment assistance
This measure is ongoing since it also includes recent measures such as the reform in the
invalidity pension criteria which is still to be assessed.
The Benefit Fraud and Investigation Directorate is committed to investigate all reports of
alleged abuse in social benefits and recommend actions to be enforced against defaulters.
The total number of inspections carried out by all the relevant authorities including the Benefit
Fraud and Investigations Directorate, ETC officials and other units, from October 2004 to
January 2008 totalled 13,563. Out of these, 7,131 infringements have been observed. As a
result 6,234 persons have been removed from the unemployment register during the same
time period. The ETC has won 82% of the cases referred to the courts as a result of the
appeals by the defaulters.
Measure 1.8
Asses the role of means-testing instruments that determines eligibility for means-tested
benefits
A Working group under the chairmanship of the Permanent Secretary of MSOC was set up, to
implement this measure. A sub group of technical experts was established in order to (a)
extensively discuss means-tested benefits and services across Government; (b) identified
and discussed the tool to be adopted with a view to introduce a single means-testing
instrument.
The Working Group is now working to define the capital / income bands to be tied to each
bracket of the new means-testing instrument.
3 Data obtained from the Management and Personnel Office, Office of the Prime Minister.
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