The Council of Ministers has made substantial changes to its responses to an Economic Policy Review Committee report, replacing several paragraphs with revised positions.
This includes its commentary that cutting civil service numbers would likely only lead to a rise in unemployment benefits.
In the report, the committee said that the public sector “should not threaten or be competition to the private sector, and the recruitment control framework should be updated to reflect this, along with a clear set of aims benchmarked against the rate of growth in the private sector”.
In its response, the government said the committee’s report “does not account for the financial or social consequences of reductions in public-sector employment, including the likelihood that government would need to fund increased unemployment benefits”.
This brought into question the government’s faith in the island’s economy or people’s ability to secure employment outside the public sector.
However, this has now been deleted and replaced with: “Nevertheless, the principle is accepted and the review of the Recruitment Control Framework will take this recommendation into account.”
Accepted
Furthermore, the government’s response has replaced the paragraph: “The size of the public sector should not threaten or be competition to the private sector, and the recruitment control framework should reflect this, with regular formal reviews to ensure the effectiveness of what it aims to achieve in line with wider Government objectives.”
It replaced that with a simple “accept”.
You can see the further changes below: