Another exercise underlining public administration accountability
90% of all recommendations made by the Auditor General were implemented by the Public Service. This marks an improvement on implementation rates over the past year (81%) and two years ago (78%). This rate of implementation was confirmed by a similar exercise published by the NAO.
This was announced by Head of Public Service Mario Cutajar at the launch of the Governance Action publication covering the public administration’s response to the Annual Report on Public Accounts 2019 and eleven other reports issued by the NAO in 2020.
Mr Cutajar explained that, out of 331 NAO recommendations, 319 recommendations were accepted. These led to 714 actions to be addressed, of which 90% have been implemented, that is, 643 recommendations. Among others, recommendations dealt with procurement procedures, inventory management, and internal controls in general administration and public funds.
In the publication launched today, which is the sixth edition, an overview is also given on the progress of actions, which were reported as outstanding in the previous publication.
“In the past, the Auditor General complained of finding the same deficiencies year after year because the administration did not heed his reporting. Today, the Auditor General acknowledges the work carried out by the public administration and is in fact in agreement on the percentages of implementation reported by the public service, which continues to give credibility to this exercise,” Mr Cutajar said.
The Principal Permanent Secretary said this publication shows how much accountability is being put into practice, with structures put in place by the Public Service in recent years that have given permanence to the way the work is planned and carried out. Mr Cutajar said that accountability would be further strengthened through the new strategy, which has accountability as a key principle, alongside quality and sustainability.
Following the launch of the publication, the Principal Permanent Secretary presented a copy of the publication to the Speaker of Parliament Anglu Farrugia and Auditor General Charles Deguara.
The publication ‘Governance Action on NAO’s Annual Report on Public Accounts 2019 & other NAO reports 2020’ can be found on the Public Service website:
https://publicservice.gov.mt/en/Documents/Governance_Action_on_the_NAOsAnnual_Report_on_Public_Accounts_2019_and_other_NAOReports_2020.pdf
Source: Office of the Prime Minister