friendly and deliver better services and maximise value for money.'' That was the statement from the Premier Sir John Swan this week when discussing efforts which have been going on inside Government.

This "Access to Government'' programme is the most constructive thing we have heard of in a long time. As we have said of the tourist industry, sometimes it is of great benefit to any operation to sit back and take a hard look at just how and why things are being done. Are things being done because they are beneficial or are they being done because they have been created to be done.

That's what Government needs to ask throughout the Civil Service.

As we see it, the ideal mission of a Civil Service is to help and assist the people in going about their business. Whereas, far too often, it seems to be there to get in the way of the people and their business. People should be able to go to the Civil Service in a cooperative manner for help in getting things done but too often the public comes away feeling that it has had to do battle with the Civil Service. Sometimes that is true. The old American expression, "Go fight City Hall,'' is too often true about the Civil Service.

We think that those people who suggest that the Civil Service is paid too much, is too big and should be cut, often do so because they have had not-so-pleasant experiences in dealing with civil servants. Thus the impression is created that Government is over-staffed and wasteful when that may well not be the case. The public begrudges the civil servants every pay increase because it does not look favourably on the Civil Service.

As an example, look at the Planning Department. We don't know what the truth is but we do know that Planning is perceived by the public as being inefficient because it takes a long time to get building permits. It is seen as being destructive to Bermuda because of some of the building it allows.

People think it is toothless or worse because everyone has a story about "someone'' who got away with some outrageous project while "someone'' else was refused something rather simple. The perception is what matters.

Planning could be seen as protecting Bermuda in a very constructive and beneficial way, indeed that is what it was originally intended to do, but instead it is seen as an irritating public foe. We think that comes about because Planning refuses things to the public but seldom explains what the public can do and how the public can best do things. The essence of being a good public department is to be seen as dealing with all members of the public in the same way, pleasantly and with an even hand. Planning is not seen that way. Bermudians dislike being dictated to but they are reasonable people who will accept explanations.

Planning is only an example. Too often the Civil Service deals in refusal rather than help. A public service should primarily be designed to inform the public how it can best and most efficiently do things but too often is seen as dealing only in refusals.

There are also those members of the public who try the patience of the most saintly public servant but everyone who deals with the public faces those characters on a daily basis and generally in Bermuda everyone learns who those people are and learns to deal with them accordingly. If Civil Servants feel put upon by the Country's difficult people, we have sympathy with them because, they should try publishing a newspaper.

Of course the Civil Service sometimes has to say "No''; but too often it is seen as saying no when it could be asking, "How can Government help you.'' The refusal, of course, results in "them and us'' which is the opposite of what the public's reaction to the Civil Service should be.

The Civil Service should treat the public as valued customers. We see this move as a giant step in the right direction because "user-friendly'' is exactly what Government should be and Bermuda is small enough to be able to make the plan a success.