One member of the SIU invoked the Civil Service Grievance Procedure in March 2012. The complaint was withdrawn in April 2015. From the details provided it would appear that the Deputy may be referring to the Cattle Movement and Monitoring System (CMMS) unit rather than the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the Department.
Following the introduction of a new identification system for bovines which led to significant discrepancies in the early stages, the CMMS Unit was initiated as a support to the work of the local District Veterinary Offices.
For operational management purposes, staff assigned to the CMMS Unit were under the same line management as the SIU. The CMMS unit staff were not part of the SIU.
In 2009, a review of the District Veterinary Office (DVO) operational management within my Department was carried out in order to maximise efficiency. This review led to several significant changes at operational level. As the volume of discrepancies had decreased and there was, following the DVO operational management review, an increased capacity among local office staff to carry out such work, it was decided to discontinue the CMMS unit and to redeploy the CMMS Unit staff to other areas of my Department where vacancies existed. In Sept 2010, my Department met with the staff side’s representatives to discuss the redeployment of the staff that had been assigned to the CMMS unit. Following the announcement of the proposed transfers, the eleven staff of the CMMS Unit, in the period Sept-Oct 2011, lodged similar individual complaints regarding work issues against line management under the Civil Service Grievance Procedure. Mediation efforts were made on 2 occasions, namely July 2012 and Oct 2014. In the former case, the mediator withdrew from the process as he was of the view that the issues raised were not appropriate to the grievance procedure. In the latter case, the mediator made an offer, to bring closure to the issue and allow the parties to move forward. That offer was not accepted by the staff.
I would like to emphasise that no action was taken against any of the staff who complained. Ten of the eleven staff are presently employed by my Department in areas where vacancies existed and one member has retired.
At the time of the making of the complaints, there were 11 staff in the SIU of which 6 were technical staff reporting to line management. Following the retirement of a number of staff in the intervening years coupled with the embargo on staff recruitment, the number reporting to line management at this time is two.
I can confirm that the Chief Veterinary Officer and the Personnel Officer are aware of the complaints made.
