The Minister of Public Service, Administrative and Institutional Reforms, Mr Teeruthraj Hurdoyal, met with the Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, Dr Renganaden Padayachy, this afternoon, during a Policy Dialogue meeting to present proposals for his Ministry in the context of the 2022/23 Budget.
In a statement after the meeting, Minister Hurdoyal highlighted that one of the main priorities discussed was the allocation of funds for the training of civil servants given that the Pay Research Bureau Report has recommended that it is necessary to provide 40 hours of training to civil servants. The construction of a Civil Service College has already started and is expected to be completed by next year, thus, the training budget needs to be increased, he added.
Mr Hurdoyal pointed out that the transformation and digitalisation of the Public Service through the Sandbox Framework, put in place by the Ministry to provide the right platform for the accelerated adoption of innovative technologies in the Public Service, and the e-HR, geared towards the adoption of digitally enabled Human Resources processes across the Public Service, were also at the fore of discussions.
He recalled that Budget 2020/21 paved the way for the introduction of a Sandbox Framework to promote the adoption of emerging and innovative technologies in Ministries and Departments by facilitating the development of proof of concepts and pilot exercises with a view to test the possibilities of innovative technologies without prejudice to Government. Several Ministries and departments submitted proposals, he indicated.
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Another key project, the Minister underlined, is the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) which is very important to prevent disruption of services in difficult times such as the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are putting a lot of emphasis on increasing the budget to promote the BCP, in particular the Work from Home scheme in the public sector as we intend to provide the means and incentives to enable more civil servants to work from home,", he said.
Mr Hurdoyal also stated that his Ministry is focusing on the health and safety of officers so as to enhance productivity in the Public Service sector. On this score, he pointed out that his Ministry has organised a health and safety week to raise awareness and mitigate the risks that civil servants face at their workplace.
The Minister furthermore laid emphasis on the celebration of the United Nations (UN) Public Service Day on 23 June and added that due to COVID-19, this day was not well commemorated during these last years. "I requested an additional budget funding for the celebration of this day for next year as we are hoping to successfully celebrate this day if the current situation gets better," he indicated.
