House Approves Executive Agencies Act Regulations

The House of Representatives on September 14 approved the regulations governing the Executive Agencies (General) Act, following extensive review since it was first tabled on July 13 this year.
The regulations will seek to address a number of areas, such as defining a stronger role for Permanent Secretaries.
Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, who moved the resolution, told the House that while it was generally acknowledged that executive agencies have been performing quite well, there were some areas that are in need of tightening up and it is within this context that the regulations have been promulgated.
“For instance, one of the areas that required some attention is the question of reporting relationships, because the head of the executive agency actually reports to the minister, while the board is not really a board in the traditional sense of being totally autonomous.the boards related to the executive agencies are really advisory boards. So one of the things that needed to be highlighted is the confirmation of a stronger role of the permanent secretary .and that is one of the things addressed in the regulations,” he said.
The Executive Agencies Act was promulgated in February 2002, although the first set of executive agencies was established in April 1999.
Mr. Shaw said the enactment of the regulations is one of the deliverables under the government’s Medium Term Action Programme that has been developed with its international partners.
“The fact is that the regulations should have been developed, and it’s well over 10 years now that the executive agencies have been in operation and there has been a perceived need to get the regulations into place,” he said.