Bermuda has much to learn from the British Civil Service says union leader Ed Ball.

The General Secretary of the Bermuda Public Servants Association said fast tracking of high flyers and streamlining he had witnessed during his visit to the UK in January should be applied here.

Mr. Ball said: "We saw at first hand what went on at the heart of the British Government. We met with the people who carried out policies.

"(British Prime Minister) Blair has his own particular style in bringing the service up to speed with European business savvy. In order to be successful you need a successful civil service.'' Around 70 BPSA members gathered at the Cathedral Hall on Church Street on Thursday night to hear about Mr. Ball's visit with the Government's Director of Personnel Judith Hall-Bean.

And he attacked the scare-mongers who had doubted the relevance of British input into how Bermuda's government could be better managed.

He said: "I was very satisfied that the Civil Servants are ably qualified to look at the Government review.'' He said they had experience in Commonwealth countries and Europe as well as South Africa.

And he said the Civil Service Review was a positive move.

He said: "Government wants to improve efficiency and productivity -- it's one of the wisest moves in Government for a long time.'' And he called for training to be improved throughout the service, saying: "In order to improve efficiency we need retraining.'' And he said wasteful duplication could be avoided by amalgamating tasks. He said: "Instead of each department having a Xerox machine there could be a central location doing this.'' The BPSA head said he was glad the review had ruled out privatisation of Government Services which had been pioneered in Britain.

He said: "What happens is that the lucrative bits go to big business but the non-profitable pieces are left to collapse.'' Ed Ball Jr.

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