Thursday, January 31 2013

IN an effort to improve efficiencies and save taxpayers money, Government has agreed to introduce a Shared Services proposed by the Ministry of Public Administration. This means that some ministries will share functions such as Finance and Accounts, Legal, Facilities Management and front line services.

Commenting on the programme, the Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, Minister of Public Administration, said “Shared service is not a new concept. Many private sector organisations use shared services to realise greater efficiencies and savings. Public sector organisations in many Commonwealth countries are following this trend. We already have a pilot programme in place between the Ministry of Public Administration and the Ministry of Communications that is being used to help define a model for wider application of this concept.”

The implementation of this strategy is one of the important elements in the transformation and modernisation of the public service.

According to Minister Seepersad-Bachan: “By bringing together more of the services that Ministries use, we will not only save taxpayers money, we will also free up these organisations so that they can focus on implementing policy and delivering services to the public.”

The Shared Services Strategy currently is being introduced on a phased basis in the Ministries that experiences a split in their original portfolios, following the re-alignment of the ministerial portfolios in June 2012.

These include the Ministries of Public Utilities, Environment and Water Resources, Tertiary Education and Skills Testing, Science and Technology, the Arts and Multiculturalism, and National Diversity and Social Integration.