Isle Of Man Begins 'Transforming Government'

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

22 March 2011

The Isle of Man government has announced the appointment of Dan Davies as the Transforming Government Programme Director, to drive forward fiscal reforms to reduce government expenditure, required as a result of the revision of the VAT-sharing agreement with the United Kingdom.

Davies will head a central team, resourced from within the government, who will work closely with Departments to deliver substantial cost savings over the next three years in line with targets set out in February’s Budget. Several initiatives are being progressed as part of the package to rebalance the government’s finances following the reduction in the Isle of Man’s share of VAT revenue, under a revenue sharing agreement with the United Kingdom, revised in March 2009. These initiatives will include the introduction of shared service centres, reductions in staff costs and better use of technology.

Chief Minister, Tony Brown said: “The work currently being undertaken will move us towards our target of rebalancing public finances by the year 2014/15. In a time of financial constraint it is vital that government takes a careful and planned approach in order to safeguard frontline services and ensure it is well-equipped to face the future.”

The introduction of shared services for certain back-office support functions has taken another step forward in recent weeks, with staff employed in finance positions across government being brought together to create a new centre of excellence. They will shortly be followed by a team of officers who will form a central Office of Human Resources responsible for recruitment, redeployment and employee relations across the public service.

According to the government, the move to shared services, supported by the Council of Ministers, aims to reduce administration costs and generate improvements through consistency of approach, economies of scale and the sharing of best practice. A central procurement team is already in place and generating cost savings, while plans to integrate Estates Services will be implemented over five years due to the complexity of this area.

Chief Secretary, Will Greenhow added: “As an organization we are in a period of transition and major changes are required to modernize and streamline our way of working in line with new realities. We simply cannot afford to stand still. The most important part of any change is the people involved and I want all Departments to work in partnership with Davies and his team to ensure we emerge in a position of strength. The Transforming Government programme has my full support and will help us to keep moving forward by identifying further efficiencies and ways to improve service delivery.”

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