falls very much into the yes...but category.

Yes, many of the changes which were published in the Official Gazette on Friday are sensible and wise.

But there has been no explanation as to why the changes are being made or for what purpose.

Premier Jennifer Smith's decision to move the Parks Department and responsiblity for the Railway Trial to the Ministry of the Environment is long overdue.

Parks was a part of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for many years before beign moved first to Works and Engineering and later to Youth, Sport and Recreation. Now the department is being moved back to Environment which has responsibility for preserving open spaces, of which the parks are a vital part.

Putting Parks and the Railway Trail in the hands of Environment rationalises responsibility for most Government-owned open spaces in one place. That is good policy and the Premier deserves credit.

The other, and more controversial change, comes in the stripping down of the Development, Opportunity and Government Services Ministry, with several of the departments coming under Cabinet Office control.

These include Management Services and Personnel Services, the latter of which is responsible for all hiring and firing of Government employees. Statistics and Archives, formerly under Education, also move to the Cabinet Office.

Some of these changes are not unprecedented. Like Parks, Government Information Services has been something of an orphan in the last few years. It makes sense for GIS, which speaks for all of Government, to be under the purview of the Cabinet Office.

Shadow Legislative Affairs Minister John Barritt has questioned whether placing Personnel Services under the Cabinet Office would lead to politicisation of the Civil Service should the Premier choose to ensure that appointments were dependent on whether appointees were Progressive Labour Party supporters.

He is right to raise the point; the public service has seen the departure of a number of top civil servants since the PLP took power and it is important that the Civil Service continues its long-standing apolitical tradition.

But it must be assumed that moving it to the Cabinet Office will make little difference and that the Government will respect the independence of the Civil Service and the Public Service Commission.

Nonetheless, it is clear that the Premier is concentrating more power within the Cabinet Office. This is in line with the recommendations of the Civil Service review which recommended the Cabinet Office should have a strong central policy unit.

Because the Premier is the person responsible for enunciating the policy of the whole Government -- as opposed to that of a particular Ministry -- it makes some sense for the Cabinet Office to have the information it needs at its fingertips.

Having said that, under the Westminster system of Government, the Premier is first among equals in the Cabinet and any decisions on policy must be made with the concurrence of her colleagues.

Even assuming that all the changes being made are good ones, the public should be concerned about the way in which the changes have been made. There has been no opportunity for the media, and by extension, the public to ask the sorts of questions raised by Mr. Barritt or to get a fuller understanding of why the changes are being made.

Mr. Barritt is right to say that this is Government by stealth, regardless of how healthy the reforms may be. It is a long way from the transparency which the PLP promised when it was elected.