Standards Commissioner George Hyzler and Civil Service Head Mario Cutajar will be present to discuss a report that was issued by the Standards Commissioner during a debate surrounding a Persons of Trust Bill in the Parliamentary Consideration of Bills Committee today. 

The committee is currently going through the aforementioned Bill article by article, debating each point, prior to it being moved for the third and final reading in Parliament. The Bill had first been presented in Parliament on 1 July 2020. The Standards Commissioner has issued a report as a result of the Bill, highlighting a number of concerns he has.

In his document, Hyzler said that the bill will, over time, “lead to the recruitment of an increasing number of persons of trust, all of whom would owe their jobs to ministers, and many of whom would not necessarily be qualified or fit for their posts. This would politicise Maltese public administration and result in the further lowering of standards of ethical conduct and service delivery.”

He had also said that when compared with the current definition in the Standards in Public Life Act, the new definition proposed in the Bill will mean, among other things, that secretariat staff will no longer be considered persons of trust unless they are acting as consultants. “The Maltese text of a law prevails over the English text, so if the bill is enacted in its current form all secretariat staff other than consultants would cease to be subject to the Standards in Public Life Act. This would be a major step backwards.”

In addition, he also said that in the Bill, the definition is limited to persons of trust who are engaged from outside the public administration and, therefore, persons in positions of trust – those who are also serving public employees – will no longer be subject to the Standards of Public Act, whatever the nature of their duties. “This too represents a step backwards.”

The PN had previously expressed certain concerns as to the appointment of persons of trust by the government. A PN spokesperson had told The Malta Independent that the government has abused its power in appointing persons of trust or people in positions of trust. “The appointment of persons of trust or in positions of trust by a Labour government has wreaked havoc to the country's reputation leaving workers, business owners and families suffering the brunt of bad governance and paying the cost of abuse of power and corruption,” the spokesperson said.

“The PN is analysing the Bill with the purpose of ensuring that regulation of these positions must establish a strong infrastructure of scrutiny.”

The government argued that the Venice Commission “welcomed in principle the legislative changes which were proposed by the Maltese Government to regulate the appointment of persons of trust.”

“It is the Government’s considered opinion that the provisions of the Bill provide sufficiently defined parameters, accountability and safeguards in order to prevent arbitrariness or abuse in this particular field of employment,” Bedingfield said.