There are 344 staff currently employed in my Department, amounting to 310 equivalent full time posts. Currently, these staff are assigned within my Department as follows:
Area
|
Number of Staff
|
Energy
|
54
|
Natural Resources
|
113
|
Communications and Broadcasting
|
44
|
Corporate Divisions
|
125
|
Minister/Minister of State’s Appointees
|
8
|
I have appointed three external advisors to my Department. Two of these advisors perform duties assigned by me as appropriate to the position of Special Advisor as set out in Section 11 of the Public Service Management Act 1997. I have also appointed a Special Advisor to the Minister of State at my Department who likewise performs appropriate Special Adviser duties for the Minister of State.
My Department's Secretary General, along with his colleagues on the Management Committee, keeps the issue of staff resources and internal staff deployment under continuous review so as to ensure that we can flexibly respond to changing policy priorities if and when the need arises.
There has been an increase of one extra staff member to the energy area in the last 12 months.
Staffing levels into the future will continue to be determined by reference to Government policy in relation to the overall public sector pay-bill. In this context my Department will put in place appropriate resources to meet its contribution to the cut of 3% in the public service pay-bill announced by the Minister for Finance on 8th July last.