Civil Service head Derrick Binns says he is confident that public servants will be able to deliver on Government’s mandate regardless of cost-cutting measures.

Mr Binns, also secretary to the Cabinet, said: “Over the past 20 years or so, Bermuda’s economy has become more and more sophisticated and, as a result, the demand for services has increased.

“As successive governments have sought to provide improved services and strengthen Bermuda’s regulatory environment, the size of the Government has grown. Much of the talent in technical and senior management roles in Government has been recruited from the private sector. These are highly skilled professionals that have been able to leverage their private sector experience to support an increasingly sophisticated public service.

“Tough economic conditions coupled with an unsustainable budget deficit will require the Government to establish priorities and reconsider the services that it provides. As public officers, our responsibility is to implement the policy positions of the Government of the day. In accordance with that mandate, we will continue to provide recommendations to our political leaders on options to achieve a smaller, more efficient and less costly service. However, it remains for the political leaders to decide the options they wish to implement.”

Mr Binns said that efforts would continue to address the “pockets of inefficiency” within the service, but he added that he believed most public officers were hard workers who were dedicated to Bermuda.

“Often attacks are specifically targeted at senior officers, suggesting that they in particular are overpaid and deserve a pay cut,” he said. “The truth is that most senior officers work very long hours, and as the Minister of Finance [Bob Richards] publicly stated recently, carry a substantial degree of responsibility that would see them paid in the private sector significantly more than they are paid by Government. Like their peers in the private sector, [they] frequently work weekends and remain constantly available to Ministers and the public.

“The Government debt and deficit will not be solved by painting public officers as lazy or incompetent, and then using that as a justification for reducing the size of the service. The issue will be resolved by determining the services that the Bermuda Government must provide, those that it need no longer provide, and resizing the public service accordingly. Rather than demonising the public service, I wish to invite the public to join me in recognising the commitment, dedication and hard work of the men and women of the public service who are here to serve the people of Bermuda, and to work with us to shape the public service that Bermuda deserves.”