Tag: Civil service

British civil servants have been offered mental health support to ease the stress of preparing for a no-deal Brexit, it has emerged. 'All I hear is anger and frustration': how Brexit is affecting our mental health Read more It coincided with the recruitment of about 1,300 staff as Defra bolstered its “emergency preparedness in case of a no-deal scenario”, with the department responsible for food and water, waste strategies and animal movements – meaning it has one of the largest no-deal Brexit workloads. A Defra spokesperson said: “The health, safety and wellbeing of our staff is always a priority for Defra and we have a range of services on offer to support staff’s mental health. This short-term contract expired at the end of January and bolstered our own wellbeing services for two months while we made changes to our existing employee support.” It is understood the service was then brought in-house once the department made changes to its support programmes and increased capacity. Primarily for those working in EU exit hubs during emergency preparedness in case of a no-deal scenario.” The Gloucester-based employee assistance company Care First was paid £40,000 to provide the support services to Defra staff in London, York and Bristol. The contract was awarded on 30 November last year, although it began on 1 November. “Pressure and stress are not uncommon within most people’s daily working lives, but if not managed effectively can have a significant and negative impact on productivity, morale and the bottom line.” In a letter to the EU energy and environment parliamentary sub-committee in November, the environment secretary, Michael Gove, said Defra was doing everything in its power to prepare for a no-deal scenario. He recognised that such an outcome would complicate live animal exports and that regardless of the nature of Brexit, the UK was undertaking measures to increase its surveillance capacity as it prepares to become an “independent coastal state”. Gove also said farmers and food producers would face “considerable turbulence”, with food prices rising in the event of no deal amid friction on the border and potential tariffs. It has been reported that Defra still requires approval for eight pieces of Brexit-related no-deal legislation.

Chris Wattie/Reuters OTTAWA — Canada’s top public servant, who was accused of improperly pressing the former attorney general to settle a corruption case involving a major corporation, resigned on Monday as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tried to put more than a month of political turmoil behind him. In parliamentary testimony, Jody Wilson-Raybould, who stepped down as justice minister and attorney general, had singled out Michael Wernick, the public servant, for making what she called “veiled threats” to steer her toward using a new law to impose a hefty financial penalty, rather than a criminal conviction, on SNC-Lavalin, a Montreal company accused of bribery in Libya. A criminal conviction would have barred the company from government work for a decade, which led Mr. Trudeau and others to fear the loss of Canadian jobs. Public appearances by the clerk are rare, and past clerks have generally been guarded and careful in their comments, as it is their job to ensure that government workers carry out the laws passed by politicians. “I worry about the rising tide of incitements to violence when people use terms like ‘treason’ and ‘traitor’ in open discourse,” he said, referring to terms used on social media by some critics of Mr. Trudeau’s actions in the SNC-Lavalin affair. “Those are words that lead to assassination. I’m worried that somebody is going to be shot in this country this year during the political campaign.” [Read more about how Justin Trudeau was ensnared by the SNC-Lavalin scandal] Opposition politicians said afterward that Mr. Wernick’s actions involving Ms. Wilson-Raybould and his comments about the political state of the nation were improper for a public servant in any position. One member of the New Democratic Party, Charlie Angus, asked Mr. Trudeau in a letter to demand Mr. Wernick resign. But in his resignation letter to Mr. Trudeau on Monday, he said that “recent events have led me to conclude that I cannot serve as clerk of the Privy Council and secretary to cabinet during the upcoming election campaign,” and “it is now apparent that there is no path for me to have a relationship of mutual trust and respect with the leaders of the opposition parties.” The clerk is a key figure in the transition if the government changes hands during an election. Both Mr. Butts and Mr. Trudeau have insisted that their requests, and those of others, that Ms. Wilson-Raybould look into the possibility of a settlement were neither excessive nor improper.

Twitter What to watch for this week in New York politics: This week starts with the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, which will include many commemorative events acoss the city and state. The week will feature a lot of action at the Democratically-controlled state Legislature in Albany, on Tuesday and Wednesday, as both houses continue to pass bills that have not moved in past sessions when Republicans controlled the state Senate, and at the New York City Council, where there will be a variety of committee hearings and one full-body Stated Meeting, at which new bills are first introduced and bills that have passed committee receive a floor vote. We're continuing to watch four other themes this week: next steps after Governor Andrew Cuomo's State of the State and budget presentation from last week; how the MTA Board is handling the change of L-train tunnel repair plans; what Mayor Bill de Blasio will do next in his rollout of his State of the City agenda and his pursuit of a national spotlight; and the race for New York City Public Advocate, with the Feb. 26 special election rapidly approaching. --The Committee on Land Use will meet at 11 a.m. --The Committees on Civil Service & Labor and Housing will meet jointly at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “Section 3 hiring requirements.” --The Committee on Cultural Affairs will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “arts, culture, and Stonewall 50.” At 10 a.m. Tuesday, the New York City Advisory Commission on Property Tax Reform established by Mayor de Blasio and the City Council will hold its latest public meeting at 250 Broadway. Topics will include “social and public health issues affecting New Yorkers, including HIV/AIDS prevention and education, substance use, mental health, LGBT rights, and discrimination.” The forum will take place at the New School Auditorium in Greenwich Village. Thursday The City Council will hold a stated meeting at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Speaker Corey Johnson will hold the usual pre-stated press conference at 12:30 p.m. Also at the City Council on Thursday: the Committee on Finance will meet at 10 a.m. to discuss proposed laws relating to property taxes. At 9 a.m. Thursday, City & State will host the P3 Summit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, discussing public-private partnerships. At noon Thursday, the New York State Board of Elections will hold a commissioners’ meeting in Albany. E-mail Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max any time: bmax@gothamgazette.com (please use "For Week Ahead" as email subject).

Strategic roles in government have in the past been used as a reward mechanism for those who support the president or some sort of loyalty retainer. The president has sought to distance himself from the fall-out that will ensue when she pursues senior politicians in the ANC for their role in degrading the South African state. The other is the establishment of a competent and responsive public service. However, it would appear to me that not much focus is paid by society at large on the need to have a fully functioning, competency driven public service that is capable of carrying out the many important tasks that confront South African society. By itself, deployment is a necessary mechanism to ensure that the ruling party's objectives are translated into programs of action by government and that all are focused on the same vision. On arrival at these institutions, they encounter highly capable public servants who have been overlooked for leadership positions despite their extensive experience in their portfolio. This disempowers the director-general who is the accounting officer of the department to the detriment of general discipline and focus on policy objectives. It also leads to conflict between the minister and the director-general, leading, in most cases, to the irretrievable breakdown of working relations and even worse, many departments being without accounting officers for very long periods of time. - Thembinkosi Gcoyi is the managing director of Frontline Africa Advisory. The views of columnists published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24.

In the ugly past, American politics was tainted by the “spoils system.” Winning politicians fired multitudes of government workers, replacing them with their own political minions — who spent government time politicking. The people need professionalism in their government offices, not to pay for jobs that election winners can hand out like prizes, so the Civil Service was created. In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such victims have a right to sue. The amount of disruptive turnover with each election subsided. However, periodically, a new case arises. When he took office in early 2017, Warner purged 16 workers in his office — 15 Democrats and one independent. Now, four of them have won nearly a combined $1 million in settlements, while eight more await judgments. But an independent agency like BRIM ought to be the one deciding whether to pay settlements like this. Otherwise, elected officials like Warner might choose to fight a losing case all the way through the court system — costing taxpayers even more, all in an attempt to save face. Some Republicans claim they’re “draining the swamp.” Elected officials with practices like this bring the swamp with them.