AAnnnnuuaall RReeppoorrtt 22001122 ˜˜ MMiinniissttrryy ffoorr GGoozzoo December 2013 CONTENTS ____________________________________________________________________________________ Page Ministry for Gozo Director General (Operations) 1 Corporate Services Directorate 6 Information Management Unit 9 Projects and Development Directorate 12 Customer Services Directorate 23 Directorate General (Strategy and Support) 51 Eco-Gozo Regional Development Directorate 55 EU Affairs Directorate 61 Tourism and Economic Development Directorate 62 Annual Report 2012 ~ Ministry for Gozo 1 Directorate General (Operations) FUNCTIONS The overall objectives of the Directorate General (Operations) are: − To participate actively in the development and implementation of the Ministry’s strategic, operational and resource plans and co-operate with senior staff towards the achievement of the Ministry’s goals by sharing resources, providing support and assistance, disseminating information of mutual interest, etc; − To provide direction to Heads of Directorates, including the Chief Information Officer within the Office of the Permanent Secretary, in the preparation of operational plans to support the Ministry in the implementation of policy directives; − In liaison with the respective Heads of Directorates, to plan, develop and ensure the implementation of work standards within the Office of the Permanent Secretary to ensure quality, timeliness and cost- effective results; − To supervise the drawing up of corporate strategic operational plans as may be required by Government’s central agencies, such as Financial Business Plans, and ensuring their submission within the established timeframes; − To liaise with Heads of Directorates within the Ministry in order to evaluate staff and identify training needs and provides, as far as possible, programmes to address such requirements; − To establish and maintain effective channels of communication with client groups, and with other ministries, departments and agencies to enhance the exchange of information and ideas on matters of common interest and to ensure that services and programmes are appropriate to the needs of clients, as well as being compatible and complementary to other service initiatives; − To coordinate the operations and activities of the line directorates of the Ministry; − To manage the day-to-day operations of the Back Office Unit as well as the Gozo offices of the Land Registry, Public Registry and Notary to Government. NOTARY TO GOVERNMENT OFFICE The Office of the Notary to Government in Gozo prepares drafts and publishes deeds to which the Government and parastatal bodies are a party. Since the post of Notary to Government is still vacant, no deeds were published during 2012, however the Office is, with the assistance of an Acting Archivist, certifying copies of Formal Contracts and Formal and Informal Testaments. This office is also responsible for the conservation of Notarial Acts according to law and for their safe-keeping and custody regarding immovables situated in Gozo and Comino. Such Acts can be inspected by the public who can also demand a copy of relevant deeds according to the relevant laws. During the year 2012, 860 individuals requested copies of relevant deeds. Revenue collected during the period amounted to €3,941. The majority of Notaries practicing in Malta continued to send copies of deeds published in Malta relating to transfers of immovables situated in Gozo and Comino. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Annual Report 2012 Ministry for Gozo 2 LAND REGISTRY This section deals with applications regarding the registration of property in Gozo and Comino, sale of site plans, and the registration of charges on properties. The Office received the following applications during 2012: 1,622 Land Registry Applications, 510 Charges, and 607 Official Searches. This office continued with the scanning of all documents relating to the applications so that in future these will be available electronically. PUBLIC REGISTRY During 2012, 2,453 Notes of Enrolment were registered in this Office, while there were 1,499 notes of Hypothec. Notes of References relating to hypothecs amounted to 565, while 8 Legal Hypothecs were registered. The number of Schedules of Deposit relating to redemption of ground-rent of immovables in Gozo and Comino amounted to 44. There were also 38 Warrants of Prohibitory Injunctions and 18 subbasti. The total number of acts registered in the Civil Status Section was as follows: Births 274 Marriages 211 Deaths 262 The number of certificates issued by this same section was as follows: Extract Certificates 5,895 Full Certificates 509 During 2012, the Marriage Registry processed 210 marriage applications. During the same year there were: Religious Marriages 156 Civil Marriages 55 Other Religions 0 During 2012, searches regarding transfers and hypothecs, as well as their input and testamentary searches were ordered through the Gozo Public Registry. The relative cost amounted to €149,988.58 for searches and €7,278.64 for wills. The official searches were delivered through the Public Registry. Public Registry Data Entry and Validation Section The total of marriage certificates inputted during 2012 amounted to 72,368, while the death certificates inputted (up to register year 1972) amounted to 54,647. Furthermore, the total number of verified birth certificates (up to register year 1947) amounted to 59,600. SALARIES SECTION (HEALTH DIVISION) During 2012, the main functions carried out within the section were the following: • The payment of personal emoluments to the employees working at the Health Division within Ministry for Health, the Elderly and Community Care. • The answering of queries on the part of employees about their salary as well as the issuing of HR related documents requested. • The coordination with the Personnel Section at the Health Division on matters concerning the attendance, transfers, resignations and change in working hours of the employees. • The issuing of reports relative to the Personal Emoluments block on a regular basis. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Annual Report 2012 Ministry for Gozo 3 • The processing of the required payments to governmental and non-governmental entities which provide their services to the Health Division. • The drawing up of payroll schedules and any multipayments in connection with supplementary pay list. • The collection of data in connection with overtime and the Bi-Annual Reports; and • The processing of data in respect of parliamentary questions. SALARIES SECTION (EDUCATION) As in previous years this section continued to offer its services to all the employees within the Education Division in Malta. During 2012, this section has also been entrusted with work relating to Adult Educators and with the inputting of adjustments to all extra duties carried out by employees of the Education Division in connection with the new Collective Agreement. During the year the number of Casual Staff, Retired Educators and Adult Educators which have their salary processed by the Section nearly doubled in number to 650. Wage sheets were also issued to every casual employee. Throughout 2012, the section processed around 16,155 mid day break supervision claims on a quarterly basis. There was an increase in Professional Development claims which amounted to 9,252. There was also an increase in new employees mainly teachers, supply teachers and supply learning support assistants. TAS and ESTS students were also paid from this section. The staff has dealt effectively with queries, requests and complaints from the Education Division. SALARIES SECTION (MRRA) The main function of this Section is to process the salaries including allowances and overtime of all the employees of the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs. During 2012, the staff dealt with incoming telephone calls, faxes and files from the desk officers in Malta. Necessary action was taken to issue the Form As and Form 7s in a timely manner. Form 7 entries that were inputted in the Dakar System amounted to around 14,000. 1,773 Form As were filled and sent to the Central Salaries Section. This section also issued 66 multi-payments, 69 schedules of payment to other departments, 87 schedules of payment received from other departments, 196 salaries schedules of payment to Treasury and 31 Transfer & Adjustment vouchers. The staff also dealt effectively with a substantial number of queries, requests and PQ’s forwarded by the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs and the Ministry for Gozo. THE CENTRAL SALARIES & TREASURY PENSIONS SECTION The Central Salaries Section is responsible for: • The proper processing of salary and the timely issue of payrolls thereof; • The proper maintenance of adequate records of promotions, progressions and appointments of all employees on the government payroll; • The correct interpretation of the various Directives from PAHRO, government collective agreements through PACBU, MPO and MFEI circulars and relevant changes in the Public Service Management Code (PSMC); • The processing of data supplied by the HR/Salaries Sections in every department to ensure the timely printing of payroll and cheque payment; • In collaboration with the HR Systems & Data Management Directorate (PAHRO), the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA) and the Dakar officials, the Payroll Administrator (IT System) and all Desk Officers,