ANOTHER restructure of government which could reduce the number of departments will not take place in the near future, but it might happen eventually, the House of Keys was told this morning.
Chief Minister Allan Bell said he was not prepared to authorise re-examination of the structure of government, but the focus presently was on the scope of government, which would be handled by committee.
“Once the scope of government has been examined then I’m not ruling out another look at restructure, but that won’t be until the current process is completed.”
Mr Bell was responding to a series of questions from Malew & Santon MHK Graham Cregeen who is clearly a supporter of another restructure process as a cost saving measure.
Mr Cregeen tried to get the Chief Minister to give a timescale for a new restructure programme which could include cutting down the number of departments and, consequently, the number of highly paid senior executives in each department.
But Mr Bell would not be drawn, even when he was directly asked in a supplementary question whether he actually agreed with the restructure programme which had been led by former Chief Minister Tony Brown.
“Another restructure of departments at this point, only 18 months after the previous changes, would not be helpful at this time,” he said. “The new departments are only just settling down after a truly difficult period and to restructure again now would only create further disruption.”
