The government is to insist that suitable employment offered to surplus public sector employees should not be refused unless there are valid reasons.
The pre-Budget document launched on Saturday insists that effective and efficient performance in government entities will not be attained if restructuring is based on the premise that they will continue to hold on to surplus staff.
"Government entities should be put on a lean and mean basis, with surplus staff being designated as such and placed in a surplus pool...
"Surplus employees need to understand that redeployment, including redeployment with the private sector, is a necessary and unavoidable step. It is in their own interest and in the interest of their colleagues," the document says.
Earlier this year, the government set up the Recruitment and Redeployment Advisory Group within the Office of the Prime Minister to specifically manage labour situations, and it intends to intensify this policy in the coming years.
Public sector employment rose from 38,397 in 1983 and reached a peak of 50,122 in 1995. In 2004, the figure stood at 45,752, which, however, is still 33.4 per cent of the gainfully employed population.
It is being proposed that surplus staff are attached to a Surplus Employment Pool. A skills profile will be drawn up and these people shall be offered retraining in order to fill skills gaps within both the government and private sector. Although this process has already started, it will be intensified.
Where it is relevant, a review of entities should also be carried out. The government intends to appoint a task force to produce regular reviews on a six-month basis, with the first planned for March.
The document also indicates that the development briefs for the golf course, the Birzebbuga tank farm and the Tigné site occupied by the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza hotel will be issued by the end of the year.
In a move aimed at providing an investment opportunity, the government is looking into the possibility of forming a government company that owns its property and inviting the public to invest in it. Subject to tight security, its management would be in private hands.
"The aim is to commercially exploit to the full a major government asset without the need to sell that asset but rather to create an investment vehicle open to the public."
The government is asking the Malta Financial Services Authority to produce a detailed study on this proposal and it intends to take a decision by the end of the year.
The document also states that although it is not the government's policy to introduce price control regimes, it will strengthen its market-price monitoring and fair competition capabilities in order to ensure that no dominant market positions are created, as well as to dismantle any cartels "and to negotiate price reductions in sectors where it is proven that prices are exhibiting inflexibility".
In addition to this, the government intends to establish a Better Regulation Unit to closely monitor all regulatory developments and to ensure that no unnecessary added burden is imposed on business. It shall also create a Matching Bureau to help small businesses find suitable partners so that they can better exploit Malta's position.