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A strong and achieving public service is a necessary condition for a competitively successful nation. The Management and Training Services Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat assists member governments to improve the performance of the public service through action-oriented advisory services, policy analysis and training.
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Throughout the Commonwealth, personnel management in the public service has traditionally followed a highly centralised pattern. Central agencies have played an extensive role in staffing, classification, and the setting of pay levels. Traditionally, line ministries and departments have been somewhat passive recipients of centrally recruited and administered staff.
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Delegation refers to the re-allocation of responsibilities within the central agencies, from the Service Commissions to the central personnel office, and from the centre to the line ministries and departments. Despite the difficulties, there is very significant delegation in personnel management responsibilities in many settings in the Commonwealth.
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The earlier discussion of public service values is far from theoretical. Service Commissions experience very real pressures impinging on the public service and are daily conscious that the “traditional” public service values of probity, integrity, and selection by merit, are not maintained by chance.
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In Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Service Commissions were set up by ordinary law rather than the constitution (necessarily so in Britain and New Zealand, which have no written constitutions). Provisions relating to Service Commissions were written into the independence constitutions of most other Commonwealth countries.
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Public servants, Service Commissioners, and politicians are under pressure as never before. The pace of change within the service, rising public expectations about service quality, and increasing resistance from tax-payers are challenging all players to produce more, quicker, with less. At times of pressure, bigger pictures are harder to see.
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