Following a successful first phase, the Office of the Deputy Governor is accelerating the civil service review by doubling the number of review teams for the second round of assessments.
The new teams are reviewing six departments: Computer Services, Customs, Children and Family Services, Education Services, Fire Services and the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service.
Phase two also includes a review of two statutory authorities – the Cayman Islands Airports Authority and the Port Authority.
“Phase one’s findings will yield considerable savings of $15.2 million for government, realised over a 12 to 18 month timeframe,” said Deputy Governor Donovan Ebanks. “This has prompted us to accelerate the pace of the review, as it is imperative that we further reduce our operating costs by streamlining public services.”
Phase two started in October. Conducting it are eight teams, comprising 37 civil servants and eight private-sector representatives. The Chamber of Commerce has fielded the private sector participants, while PricewaterhouseCoopers is providing staff to assist teams with technical expertise and guidance.
As with the first phase, the civil servants went through an intensive training course covering business process reengineering and change management. Kim Leng Tan, from KDI Asia in Singapore, conducted the training; and the Commonwealth Secretariat funded the sessions.
“The review is central to our efforts to reduce public expenditure and is vital to secure a sustainable public service. I therefore thank all involved in the first phase for their cooperation, including staff members from the first four departments.
“I also hope that the review teams will continue to receive the necessary support to conduct productive and timely assessments,” the Deputy Governor said.
The first phase of the comprehensive public service review was launched in mid-December last year, when four review teams were appointed to scrutinise Her Majesty’s Prison Service, the Department of Tourism, Public Works and Cayman Islands National Insurance Company (CINICO). The final report is on the Portfolio of the Civil Service’s website, www.pocs.gov.ky, in the Document Library under Freedom of Information.
The review is part of an agreement between the Cayman Islands Government and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, following the UK’s approval of Cayman’s borrowing request earlier this year.
