The reform of the civil service is an ongoing project and it is included in the main structural reform the Government of Cyprus is promoting. In this respect, a number of external functional reviews have already been carried out, while others are currently conducted, covering the ministries and their respective organizations, as well as the independent authorities. One of the main goals of the government is that by the end of 2015, the functional reviews will cover the whole of the public service. Based on the functional reviews conducted by the experts, an action plan will be prepared which will include a timeline of implementation with specific steps and actions, based on which the policy options decided by the government will be realized.
The scope of the functional reviews is to set out policy options which will contribute to the rational and efficient operation of the Ministries, guided by their strategic goals and the overall government policy. Within this framework, the role, organizational aspects and the structure of the Ministries/Organizations are examined, and recommendations on possible mergers or groupings of departments, possible transfer of responsibilities between Ministries might be expected, that will omit possible duplicities and will create consistency and efficiency gains.
The First Batch, which is already completed, covered the issues of human resource management and local government as well as the following Ministries, and their state owned enterprises:
Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment
Ministry of Education and Culture
Department of Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver
Cross-cutting issues of Human Resource Management
Ministry of Health
Local Government