– Alexander calls for Betram Collins College to focus more on service delivery

TECHNICAL Adviser to the Minister of Public Service, Mr. Vincent Alexander, said there is need for the Public Service to be run as a business.

Mr. Alexander was at the time addressing members of the Bertram Collins College of the Public Service during the opening of a three-day work retreat being held at Splashmin’s Resort. He said the ideology of the public service ‘being run like a business’ does not mean it should be used to make a profit, but rather be a tool geared at increasing the efficiency of the administrative arm of government.

“Every so often we hear about making the public service business-like, so people take that to mean that the public service must now make a profit…the public service is service oriented and not profit oriented, but business-like speaks about the manner in which you run the public service and not the purpose…,” Mr. Alexander said. “So yes, the public service should be business-like,” the Technical Adviser declared. In keeping with this view, Mr. Alexander noted that the Bertram Collins College must examine the changing demands of the public service.

“The college is challenged not only to deliver a curriculum, but to also be very responsive to the changing requirements of service delivery. The college must be able [to]do research and determine what are the new needs and the manner in which those needs can be met,” Mr. Alexander stated. Further, he said the college can only be effective if there is a clear understanding of the ideology intended to guide the public service. The institution, he said, should be utilisied to attract the best minds to the public sector, thereby becoming a model of the ideal public service. Staff of the college will be meeting over the next three days to assess the success of the institution and craft strategies for the future.

Mr. Calvin Benn, Director of Training for the institution, said based on the training of the students who have graduated and have been placed at ministries, the institution is getting positive feedback about the quality of their work. “Ministries are especially happy about the attitudes they are seeing in these persons, when compared to persons who would have been in the public service for years, who would have joined without any preparatory training,” said Mr. Benn.

He explained that the Bertram Collins College is focussed on training public servants through phases of management and middle management level training, as well as staff outside of the managerial setting and those who are now entering the institution. Since its operation, 58 students have graduated while another batch of 60 is to graduate in December, 2018. (Ministry of the Presidency)