The recruitment and appointment processes of the Civil Service and certain bodies in the public service have been reformed and modernised under the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004. The provisions of the Act were recently commenced and provide a modern and efficient framework for public service recruitment to ensure that the high standard of recruitment and selection is maintained. Recruitment and selection to senior posts in local authorities is carried out by competition conducted by the Public Appointments Service in accordance with the provisions of the Act. The remaining posts are filled by local authorities in accordance with well established recruitment and selection procedures, which will be kept under review having regard to experience in the implementation of the new legislation.