The public service management code would have clear guidelines leaving “no room for interpretation”, Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar said yesterday.

Addressing the annual Public Service Conference, Mr Cutajar said the code would be clearer, eliminating contradictory chapters and clauses that caused problems when reviewing conduct.

The exercise would be finalised by the end of the year, he said.

Mr Cutajar said 250 “simplification measures” were introduced last year in a bid to eliminate red tape in public procedures. The government had pledged to offer a better, smoother service to citizens and this was becoming a reality through several measures.

Illustrating how this was happening, Mr Cutajar said three centres had been opened – in Qawra, Paola and Birkirkara – offering about 250 services each. Three other centres would also be opened this year.

It takes a lawyer to access some online services

Mr Cutajar admitted he was not happy with the use of online State services by the public and more needed to be done to promote it. This year, all online services would be reviewed and online forms simplified.

“It takes a lawyer to access some online services and complete forms properly. This is not acceptable,” he said.

Mr Cutajar said he had analysed the past few reports by the Auditor General on the public sector and found that the same criticism and recommendations had been made over the past few years.

He questioned why lessons had not been learnt and shortcomings were still being repeated.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that, if citizens still used public services even if they had another choice, then this was a sign of success. Coming from a private sector background, Dr Muscat said his first taste of public service over the past two years was “schizophrenic”. He could not understand why it exhibited both a sense of dire urgency and hard work but also a malaise that held everything back.

On the other hand, he said, he was atisfied with the commitment towards improving online services. Likening the service on offer to a “church noticeboard”, Dr Muscat said people knew about it but were not using it enough.

The conference was one of the largest gatherings of civil servants with about 300 permanent secretaries, director generals, directors, assistant directors and chief information officers attending seminars and workshops.