The Governor and Deputy Governor announced on 7 March an initiative to bring private sector expertise to the public sector. Under the overall programme recently launched by the Deputy Governor of “Vision 20/20: Creating Excellence in the Public Sector” the new scheme aims to encourage public sector departments to learn from some of the efficiencies introduced in the private sector.
The launch the scheme, “Public-Private Partnerships – Enhancing Service Delivery”, three senior businessmen in Turks and Caicos Islands have agreed to share some of their expertise with senior members of the public sector. Ken Adams, The Do It Center and Building Materials, Gilly Williams, The Wine Cellar and Turks Head Brewery, and Robert Brace, Graceway – IGA, Smart and Gourmet, will attend occasional meetings of Government Departments to hear about some of the problems public servants face, and discuss with them how to improve efficiency in those departments. The businessmen will initially focus on alternative energy, the work permit system, infrastructure implementation and road safety certification.
Commenting on the initiative the Governor Peter Beckingham said:
“I am grateful to these three senior and successful businessmen for giving up their time to discuss ways in which the public sector can learn from business. Everyone in TCI will know how their businesses operate successfully and efficiently, and I am confident the advice they can offer will help public servants look at their operations in new and different ways.
“All Government Departments in the UK now automatically have on their Boards senior members of the private sector, so we can learn from their example how our own public sector can benefit from business. We are fortunate to have the free services of these three businessmen to support the departments. I have been keen to get the public sector more engaged with business, and I am confident this is a great way of starting”.
Deputy Governor Anya Williams said: “My focus over the next year is going to be unrelentingly on generating more efficiencies in our public service. I know there are areas where we can improve delivery standards to the public, and engaging three highly experienced businesspeople in this way is bound to help find ways of making improvements. I look forward to working with all three businessmen and having them help us with our work.”
Robert Brace, Graceway, said: ” From my time in business with some of Europe’s large companies I have seen how the public sector can benefit from closer working relations with companies. It is very common in many European countries for these sorts of exchanges between the private and the public sector to take place. I am pleased to see this sort of co-operation happening in the Turks and Caicos. I am sure that Gilly Williams, Ken Adams and I can, at least at the margin, help to bring some efficiencies and a new way of looking at services offered by the public service.”
