Government to Implement Shared Corporate Services in Public Sector

The Government is moving to implement shared corporate services within the public sector, to reduce the cost of administrative functions and to improve efficiency.

A shared corporate service represents the combining of service activities across different organisations, to improve efficiency and service delivery.

Speaking on the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) television programe, Issues and Answers, Director General of the Public Sector Transformation and Modernisation Programme (PSTMP), Veniece Pottinger-Scott, said the shared services strategy will allow Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to concentrate on their core functions and responsibilities.

She said the routine functions of the MDAs can be undertaken by specific entities that would provide service to a cluster of Ministries.

“When you congregate functions over time, you gain efficiencies because you really are specialized in these areas, and you can move much faster… and when you group them of course, you have economies of scale and overall cost savings,” Mrs. Pottinger-Scott said.

“The intention is to use that shared corporate services approach to try and deal with some of the areas and functions inside of Government,” she added.

Mrs. Pottinger-Scott, who was appointed earlier this year, said the Government is also examining the Human Resources management structures and practices in the public sector, with a view “to getting its services delivered to citizens in a much more expeditious, courteous and more convenient manner.”

She said it is important to reduce the time taken by people to get government services in various areas.

Another plan by government is to merge entities, so as to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness. Mrs. Pottinger-Scott said that government has already begun to execute a number of mergers in an effort “to have a better impact and promote efficiencies.”

She cited the merging of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and Island Special Constabulary Force, and the combining of  two units – the Public Sector Modernisation Programme and the Public Sector Master Rationalisation Plan  – to form the PSTMP, as examples.

“We think this is a way of really concentrating the efforts of the administration of the government, rather than fragmenting it in different entities,” Mrs. Pottinger-Scott said.