Latest news with #publicadministration
Irish Times
16-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
How many civil servants does it take to run a small country like Ireland?
There was a time when the news that the number of civil servants has increased by 50 per cent over the last 10 years would have triggered outrage from the usual suspects: right-leaning politicians, business lobby groups, golf club bores and the rest. Somewhat surprisingly, then, the revelation that there are now just under 53,000 civil servants – people directly employed by the State rather than via agencies such as the Health Service Executive – pretty much went unnoticed last month. The figure, which was sought by Fianna Fáil TD Malcom Byrne, shows a rebound in numbers across all grades and roles since the Government took its foot off the austerity pedal. The question as to how many civil servants does it take to run a small country like the Republic is an interesting, if difficult one. But it turns out there is a man for that: Matt Kerlogue, the data scientist who compiles the Blavatnik Index of Public Administration produced by the eponymous business school at Oxford University. [ Our top civil servants: Who they are and what they earn Opens in new window ] The most recent version is from 2024 and compared the civil services of more than 120 countries. It reviews four things: strategy and leadership; public policy; national delivery; and people and processes. The State comes joint 24th alongside Israel and Slovenia. The top spots go to Singapore, Norway, Canada, Denmark and Finland. READ MORE It appears the Republic is strong on public policy, which measures the ability of the Civil Service to develop and implement policies as well as manage risk. The State came eighth. We were weakest on people and processes, which 'seeks to assess what and how it feels to work in or for the public administration'. The Republic ranks 58th We are sort of middling on strategy and leadership, which looks at 'the setting of the strategic direction for a government's programme of work, the stewardship of public institutions, and the overarching values that guide the behaviours of and approach taken by public officials'. We came 23rd. The Juggle: Issues facing women with young children when balancing childcare and career Listen | 44:30 The result was similar (28th) when it comes to national delivery, which 'seeks to assess the ability of the national government to oversee the delivery of public services, including those services it delivers itself'. The index paints a picture of a Civil Service that is pretty good at coming up with policies but populated by people who probably want to work somewhere else and who are doing an average job of implementing said policies. Sound about right? Dublin metro? Housing crisis? The question as to whether we are getting a reasonable return from the money spent on the Civil Service is harder to answer. According to Kerlogue, there does not really seem to be any relationship between a country's ranking in the index and its size or how much money it spends on its civil service. There is no correlation between expenditure (as a percentage of gross domestic product) and index ranking, he says. The same holds for population. If anything, says Kerlogue, the countries that do best are the ones that seem to have some sort of overriding national imperative. Singapore, which tops the index despite spending much less in terms of gross domestic product per capita on its civil service, than other countries tops the survey. It has focused relentlessly on being a hub for trade since it was expelled from Malaysia in 1965 with little going for it but a strategic location. Estonia, which also outperforms, lives beside a large and relentless threatening neighbour. It is hard to say what the national imperative of contemporary life in the Republic is other than everyone for themselves. So, how do we judge if we are getting a good bang for our buck when it comes to the Civil Service? Kerlogue suggests that the best approach is to compare our index score with countries that have a similar political system or are of a similar size. When it comes to the political system our closest peers are the United Kingdom and, more pertinently, other countries that, like ourselves, adopted and modified the British civil service model. The one that probably ticks the most boxes is New Zealand because it has a similar population, 5.22 million versus 5.3 million. Both countries also have comparably sized civil services. New Zealand has almost 64,000 civil servants versus our 53,000. The bad news is that New Zealand came joint sixth in the index and wipes our eye on all four measures, particularly in people and processes (they come second and we come 57th). The only area in which we come close is public policy (we come eighth and they come 6th). For the record, they are placed 12th for national delivery and 11th for strategy and leadership. It's probably a bit simplistic, but both countries seem to be equally good at coming up with policies, although we are much worse at getting them done. Could the fact that New Zealand civil servants seem a much happier bunch than our own be the reason? Could the fact that there are 10,000 more of them explain the difference?
Argaam
25-06-2025
- Business
- Argaam
DGA says new govt contracts up 19% to SAR 38B in 2024
The Digital Government Authority (DGA) stated, in its report on government spending for ICT services in 2024, that the value of new government contracts reached approximately SAR 38 billion, marking a 19% increase compared to 2023. According to the report, there was a notable rise in government spending on AI products, emerging technologies, and cloud computing. Government entities also achieved estimated savings of SAR 1 billion in 2024 through applying spending efficiency practices and improving budget and procurement management. Additionally, purchase orders under framework agreements surged by 157%, reaching SAR 4.47 billion through 9,457 purchase orders. The report also highlighted a rise in government contract values across several sectors in 2024, most notably healthcare and social development, defense, infrastructure, transport, public administration, education. Spending increased in the following sectors, security and regional administration, healthcare and social development, infrastructure and transport, military, and education.
BBC News
15-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Jersey and Guernsey leaders discuss AI at British-Irish summit
Leaders from Guernsey and Jersey have attended a summit with Irish, UK and other Crown dependency politicians to discuss artificial intelligence (AI).Jersey Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham and Guernsey's Policy and Resources President Lyndon Trott were among the guests at the 43rd British-Irish Council (BIC), which was held in Newcastle, Northern were joined by other leading politicians, including the first ministers of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin and representatives from theme of the meeting involved potential benefits and challenges of using AI in public administration, the States of Guernsey said. 'A vital forum' The BIC was set up as part of the Good Friday Agreement to promote relationships between the UK, Ireland and Crown said the summit allowed him and Jersey's External Relations Minister Ian Gorst to have "useful conversations" with other leading politicians which could benefit the added: "The British-Irish Council remains a vital forum that brings together member administrations to discuss, and address, our many joint challenges and opportunities."Trott said it was the last BIC summit he would attend before he retired from politics at the end of this month following the election in Guernsey."It has been one of the great honours of my public life to represent Guernsey at the British-Irish Council table over the years during my times as chief minister," he said.
The Independent
30-05-2025
- General
- The Independent
Chinese student struck a chord emphasizing humanity during Harvard commencement speech
A day after her emotional speech at Harvard University's commencement, Yurong 'Luanna' Jiang kept running into classmates who praised her message that people should see everyone's common humanity rather than demonize others for their differences. 'We're starting to believe those who think differently, vote differently or pray differently — whether they're across the ocean or sitting right next to us — are not just wrong. We mistakenly see them as evil. But it doesn't have to be this way,' she said in her address, which drew wide applause. 'The message itself, if I have to put it into one sentence, will be humanity rises and falls as one,' Jiang told The Associated Press on Friday. 'We are living in a very difficult time. There's a lot of divisions in terms of ideas, ethnicities, identities. This is a time where we can use a little bit more moral imagination and imagine ourselves being connected with one another.' The 25-year-old Jiang's speech never directly mentioned the Trump administration nor its multi-pronged attack on the nation's oldest and richest university. But she said the turmoil beyond their campus and its impact on her classmates was on her mind as she delivered her speech. 'Students can be very emotionally charged because they care deeply about a lot of issues,' said Jiang, who comes from China and graduated with a masters degree in public administration in international development. 'When you are emotionally charged and activated, it's very easy to demonize another person." She said the relentless attacks from the Trump administration on the school's funding and threats to detain and deport people studying in the U.S. on student visas have left her unsettled, adding huge uncertainty to her future plans. 'In terms of the plan going forward, I would say everything is up in the air at this point,' Jiang said, who had hoped to remain in the United States for a few years but now is open to working in international development overseas. 'At this point, it's difficult to say what will happen." This week, the Trump administration asked federal agencies to cancel about $100 million in contracts with the university. The government already canceled more than $2.6 billion in federal research grants, moved to cut off Harvard's enrollment of international students and threatened its tax-exempt status. Then it widened the pressure campaign, suspending visa applications worldwide and threatening to deny U.S. visas to thousands of Chinese students nationwide. These actions resonate with Jiang and her classmates — about 30% of Harvard's students are international, and China has among the highest numbers. 'The anxiety is real,' said Jiang, who knows two international students from China who are weighing whether to travel for work in Kenya and Rwanda. 'Because of the uncertainty of their visas, they are facing a very tricky situation,' she said. 'They can either go abroad, go to Kenya and Rwanda to do their internship and work on poverty alleviation and public health but risking not being able to make it back to campus safely. Or they can stay on campus and do their internships remote." 'It's pretty heartbreaking," she continued'They wanted to help humanity and, to see them entangled in politics they didn't choose, is hard." Jiang, who went to high school in the United Kingdom and earned her undergraduate degree at Duke University, said there should be more, not fewer, academic exchanges between China and the United States. 'Humanity is facing a lot of crisis,' she said. 'There are conflicts. There is climate. There are a lot things that not only one country can tackle. China and the U.S. are the two most powerful economies or countries in the world. They have to work with each other to be able to combat the problems or the issues that affect every single human being.' Jiang also defended the importance of international students at Harvard, recalling how 60% of the students stood up at the Kennedy School of Government commencement when the dean, Jeremy Weinstein, asked how many came from outside the United States. Then he asked if they had learned something from their international classmates, and most everyone stood. 'A lot of us clapped and cheered. A lot of us were in tears,' she said, as Weinstein told them to 'look around, this is your school.' Without international students, it would be a challenge for Harvard to achieve its mission, Jiang said. Campus culture depends on its globally diverse student body, studying and hanging out together. 'Harvard wants its students to go and change the world and you can't change the world without understanding the world,' she said. 'You can't understand the world without truly having a personal connection with people from all sorts of countries."
Washington Post
29-05-2025
- General
- Washington Post
Harvard celebrates graduation in the shadow of its fight with Trump
Yurong 'Luanna' Jiang did not mention President Donald Trump on Thursday at Harvard University's commencement in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but her 6½-minute speech before thousands of other graduates was a full-throated rebuttal to his administration's ban on the school's ability to enroll international students like her. Jiang delivered 'Guard Our Humanity,' a treatise on the importance of Harvard teaching students from around the world. She'd joined a class of 77 students from 34 countries for the Harvard Kennedy School's two-year master's program in public administration in international development.
