The public service faces an impending wave of retirements, Parliamentarians heard this morning.

Walton Brown, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, said that the Government’s “workforce is ageing and there are skills shortages in key areas of the Service”.

MPs heard that the public workforce numbered 4,630 at the end of September.

Mr Brown said that 1,181 employees would have reached the minimum eligible retirement age of 60 over the next five years.

He added that 515 of those employees would attain the mandatory retirement age of 65.

Mr Brown said: “The combination of any ageing workforce and resource limitations in certain areas of specialisation reinforces the need for the Government to place particular emphasis on succession planning.

“The aim is to identify and develop leaders within the Service at both technical and professional levels that are ready and available to fill key roles in the future.”

He said that Government had put into place a seven-step succession planning framework “to ensure the right people are in the right jobs at the right times to fill positions that are deemed critical or key”.

Mr Brown said that there were 17 Bermudians were in training, with 12 being developed for positions “deemed difficult to fill and/or held by non-Bermudians”. He added: “The Government is actively working towards building capacity in the public service through the implementation of a strategic succession planning framework to meet the needs of a future-forward Government for the people of Bermuda.”

• To read Walton Brown’s full statement, click on the PDF under “Related Media”