Oct 21 - GSD Say Government In “Suspended Review Animation”
The Opposition say it is concerned at the length of time it is taking Government to publish findings and come to concrete conclusions over the future of many key areas of domestic policy, which, it claims, the Government “has kept secret so far.“
A spokesperson said: “It has become standard practice for the GSLP Government to commission reports and conduct endless reviews, at taxpayers’ expense, and then keep them to themselves by refusing to share the contents of those reports in Parliament. This prevents anyone judging whether the reviews have been conducted properly or not and whether all the recommendations contained in those reports are to be implemented, when, why or why not.”
The GSD cites as one example the GHA’s Clinical Governance review by Langan & Schroter Ltd, which, they say, “cost the tax-payer £130,000 and nearly a quarter of a million pounds on interim Chief Executives and expenses.”
The GSD say that this report was completed last November, and has already been seen by all GHA Executive Directors and managers, all GHA Board members and numerous members of staff, but not presented to Parliament. The GSD considers this “a breach of faith with the public who are entitled to know what sort of health service they are to expect.”
“Equally,” the spokesperson continues, “the City Fire Brigade Audit Report, which was conducted last November by Sir Ken Knight, is still to be published. The Minister this month couldn’t say when this would be so, despite him stating in May it would be within two months. The public again is entitled to know what the new Fire Service will be and what it will cost in terms of investment and annually recurring costs. Over a year later the Disability Review, the review of Mt Alvernia’s nursing staff and the residential services of Tangier Views are still pending, the architecture of the dementia strategy is awaited 20 months on, as is the extensive Housing Works Agency review, which started last September.”
Highlighting other examples, the GSD says many of the Schools’ Health & Safety audits are yet to be implemented, the skills audit of Gibraltar’s labour market beyond the construction sector is not complete or even published, and the Upper Rock Nature Reserve review and consultation, which started nearly two years ago, still awaits a report and further consultation before a management strategy is even decided on. The Transport and Traffic management plans, where the Government has been in consultation with stakeholders since January 2012, including the traffic survey, will, say the Opposition, hopefully yield some results in six months time.
The spokesperson continued: “The Government needs to stop making grand statements ahead of itself which only gives a veneer of efficiency. Of course, when the Government publishes a report such as the Fishing Report, under intense public pressure, it has chosen to disregard many of the expert recommendations, making a mockery of the process. The Government must get on with governing, stop stalling and making excuses.”
