The inspectorate within the Industrial Relations Department carried out 790 investigations last year relating to legal infringements. It found nearly 600 breaches of working conditions over 1,421 inspections carried out between March and December.
Speaking during the debate on the Bill amending various sections of legislation, Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said provided this information to Parliament when he spoke on amendments to the Industrial Relations Act giving the relative department the authority to appoint persons outside the public service to carry out inspections relating working conditions.
The customer care service of the department made nearly 15,000 contacts with the public last year.
Dr Said referred to amendments relating to the local councils’ legislation where regional committees would now be regulated under the same act. Five regional committees had been set up each representing between 12 and 15 councils. These committees were responsible for enforcement and street lighting. The councils one the committee could also delegate other functions to this committee.
The composition of the association of local councils had changed so that these committees would be represented. The executive secretaries of these committees enjoyed the same powers pertaining to their counterparts in local councils. Fines previously collected by local councils were now being collected by these committees eliminating the possibility of abuse.
These committees would also be audited by the Auditor General to ensure greater accountability.
Dr Said spoke also on the administrative committees elected a few months ago to run 16 hamlets. He was satisfied he said with their work adding that they had about €300,000 at their disposal.
Clear guidelines regulating expenditure on certain activities would ensure better administration of finances by local councils under different schemes. These included the use of EU funds, made use of by 46 out of the 68 councils. Some councils had managed to double the budget allocated by the government through EU funds and other sponsorships.
Edwin Vassallo (PN) referred to the amendments regarding the administration of regional committees, saying local councils were facing several challenges with regards to financing. It was positive to note that the government had introduced schemes under which councils could apply for financing in particular areas.
Since councils were facing increasing responsibilities, it was important to ensure that the mayors elected were of the highest integrity and could manage public funds well.
The directorate for local councils had recently seen a rise in the number of complaints against decisions taken by councils, particularly the award of tenders. This was greatly increasing the work load of the directorate and he suggested the introduction of a directorate specifically in charge of investigating and verifying such decisions.
He criticised Mepa and the ADT for delays in issuing permits as these led to a number of councils missing the opportunity to make use of EU funds which were subject to time constraints.
Ċensu Galea (PN) said local councils should try to benefit as much as possible from EU funding.
Other amendment in the Bill pushed up fines related to the quarantine of plants and cruelty to animals. Mr Galea said Malta had to make sure to control imported plants in order to protect local trees and plants. The government was aware of these issues and through this Bill was suggesting a national laboratory which check plants and trees.
Regarding the protection of animals, he said this should be further promoted especially in primary schools. A further amendment said that public transport drivers had to wear an identification badge while on duty. The Bill mentioned that this also applied to leased vehicles. He questioned whether this also included leased self-drive vehicle, adding that this was probably not the case. However, the issue should be clarified.
It was important that government agencies be responsible when works were carried out on roads and pavements. It was useless for Transport Malta to repair roads, only for other entities to damage them.
Winding up the debate, Parliamentary Secretary Jason Azzopardi said the possibility for the MRA to set up directorates and other bodies to help in its task was necessary because over the years the authority had taken on a number of fresh responsibilities. This put paid to Charles Mangion’s (PL) wondering whether this amendment was to empower more jobs for the boys.
Climate change had become very important, and the MRA must take all necessary steps to mitigate the phenomenon’s consequences. Also, to date there was no directorate responsible for oil exploration, and this needed to be addressed.
The new procedure to be applied by the MRA when deciding on administrative penalties must show due process of investigative action. These would mostly be in implementation of EU-level obligations, failing which Malta would be held to blame for infringements. This was why the hands of the MRA were being strengthened. The appeals procedure had been open-ended to date, which was unjust. It was also fair for a presumably-guilty party to express its juridical interest. It was important to remove all uncertainty in any process, Dr Azzopardi said.
Dr Mangion was right to say that the country must strengthen the fight against the insecurity of job tenure. The government was doing its best to counter all kinds of breaches of laws, not least by urging people to report cases they came to know of.
Between March and December 2010 the enforcement unit of the Department of Industrial Relations held made over 1,400 inspections, involving 16,000 employees and uncovering hundreds of irregularities. The department had registered some 800 investigations and 362 financial claims totalling €600,000. The government was only doing its duty in this aspect.
This was why the director of industrial relations was being given the possibility to delegate more people to act as inspectors.
It was important to consider the establishment of regional councils out of local councils. The latter’s existence was important not only for subsidiarity in practice. This could be confirmed from the 72 or so devolutions of government properties to local councils in 2010, Dr Azzopardi said.
The second reading of the Bill was unanimously approved.