Small solutions to big problems – PL

The Budget offered “small solutions to big problems” in the health sector and failed to explain where the money would be spent, according to Labour Party health spokesman Marie Louise Coleiro Preca.

On Monday the government announced it would be injecting another €37.6 million into the health services for a total expenditure of €415.9 million next year.

Dr Coleiro Preca welcomed the new investment but cautioned that the people were not being told where the money would go.

She criticised the Budget measures as “vague” as they promised that certain long-standing problems, such as hospital waiting lists, would be tackled but did not say how.

The government failed to address important issues such as the bed shortage at Mater Dei Hospital and the situation at Mount Carmel Hospital where children were being kept in adult wards, she said.

Dr Coleiro Preca was speaking during a Labour Party press conference organised to react to Budget measures in the health, environment, energy and utilities sectors.

PL environment spokesman Leo Brincat said the Budget had failed to give priority to the environment, green economy and green jobs. He listed several past government promises that had not materialised that included the infrastructure for electric cars and air quality control measures.

He called on the government to give an update of the progress made in the government-appointed Climate Change Committee set up in 2009.

Mr Brincat made reference to a Parliamentary Question he had tabled some months ago asking Resources Minister George Pullicino how many WasteServ employees were on the books of security company JF Security Services.

In his reply Mr Pullicino had said that WasteServ bought the services of 231 full-time employees that appeared on the books of the security company. These ranged from executive officers and clerks to drivers and waste sorters.

The minister said the company had won a public tender and WasteServ was still learning about the operation of the plant, which had created new types of jobs, so flexibility in the employment of workers was required.

Mr Brincat said that while there may have been nothing irregular, he expected WasteServ to go through normal employment channels for such vacancies.

Labour whip Joe Mizzi, who is the spokesman for energy, criticised the government for not putting enough effort into Malta’s oil exploration potential and for failing to liberalise the fuel market.

Marlene Pullicino, spokesman for utilities, said a Labour government would be committed to reducing bills in a sustainable manner.

While the Budget had given tax incentives to industry, Malta’s utility rates for industry remained among the highest in the EU. The solution to helping industry lay in reducing their basic bills and not promising tax credits, she said.