The Standards Commissioner’s office said Friday that the funds it had been allocated were the total of the budgetary allocation it asked for.

In a statement, The Office of the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life said it has taken note of the concerns that have been expressed in the media about the apparent reduction in the funds allocated to this office in the national budget for 2023 compared to the current year.

However, the amount of €450,000 in this office’s budgetary allocation for 2023 is the total amount requested by the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life, the statement said.

The Office of the Commissioner for Standards is not envisaging a reduction in its activities and it anticipates that it will spend more than this amount in 2023. The additional funds will come from unutilised funds from previous years.

Over the years this office has accumulated a balance of unspent funds. This is partly due to fiscal prudence, and partly because in 2022 this office was actually allocated more money in the national budget than it had requested.

These accumulated funds will be used as necessary to fund the office’s activities in 2023. This explains the apparent discrepancy between the funds allocated to the Office of the Commissioner for Standards in the national budgets for 2022 and 2023, the statement said.

The post of the Standards Commissioner is still vacant after incumbent George Hyzler was appointed to be Malta's representative on the European Court of Auditors.