Less than two months after carrying out a Cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Robert Abela on Wednesday shifted responsibility of the employment portfolio from Clyde Caruana to Byron Camilleri.

The decision, a government statement said, is intended to consolidate and coordinate better the management of foreign workers in Malta.

The Identita and JobsPlus entities are now under one ministry, which will be named Home Affairs, National Security and Employment Ministry.

The statement said that the government has for months been taking direct action to strengthen the control its entities have. The step taken today is primarily intended to improve this coordination.

The employment sector will continue to grow on the foundations laid by Minister Clyde Caruana, the statement said.

As a conseqence of this, reforms and equality have been moved from Camilleri’s responsibility to that of Chris Fearne, with parliamentary secretary Rebecca Buttigieg remaining in her place, but under a different minister.

Fearne’s ministry is now named Minister for European Funds, Equality, Reforms and Social Dialogue.

The mini-reshuffle comes in the wake of scathing remarks made in the Jean Paul Sofia public inquiry, published Wednesday. The inquiry called for administrative practices to be revisited and legal changes made to ensure better scrutiny of applications for work permits by employers for third country nationals, including effective verification of foreign competency certificates.

On 6 January, Abela carried out several changes to the ministers' responsibilities.