The Public Service Commission has identified the first five ministries for phase one of the Civil Service restructure, as Government moves deeper into right sizing the civil service and bring about improved efficiencies in service delivery.
Commission deputy secretary, Ms Iva Tavai said the ministries concerned include Health, Education, Ministry of Works, Transport and Public Utilities and the Departments of Fisheries and Forests in the Ministry of Primary Industries..
Ms Tavai told listeners on a Radio Fiji One talkback show this week that the report on functional review of the Public Service Commission had been approved by the Prime Minister.
“The review is about streamlining the functions of ministries and opportunities for merging are examined. It is through this process that Government hopes to right size ministries and ultimately, the whole of Government, where it will be able to focus on cost savings,” Ms Tavai said.
“From the divestment and merger of functions, Government will be able to focus on cost saving through the removal of duplication and overlapping of responsibilities that exist. This will possibly result in positions being de-established.”
She said the five ministries in the first phase of the review were all front line service provider ministries and accounted for 68 per cent of staff in the civil service while incurring 46 per cent of operating expenditure in Government’s National Budget.
“Major gains can be achieved by refocusing Government’s reform efforts in these five larger ministries. The organizational structure will focus on the core functional responsibilities and the way they interface with the public in terms of service delivery,” Ms Tavai said.
“Major changes will focus on the main functions of the respective ministries to allow better service delivery to the public.
“For a country like Fiji, the challenge is to maintain the currency of workers skills throughout their career so that they remain productive,” Ms Tavai added.
“The Public Service Commission is investing highly in skills development and training and that’s the reason why skills development, innovation and productivity has been identified as key drivers for our economic growth.”
Ms Tavai said a lot of work done by these ministries would be outsourced or corporatized as the case may be.