Heads Of Gov’t Depts. To Talk Strategic Planning On Friday

~~Adz:Right~~Roadtown, Tortola; Thursday, January 15 – The Premier’s Office, which is the ministry spearheading Government’s strategic planning effort will provide an update on the process for heads of departments at a meeting on Friday, January 16.

Officials of the ministry will explain to department heads the status of the initiative and also provide guidance for transforming the plan into specific actions.

Permanent Secretary in the Premier’s Office Mrs. Rosalie Adams told the Department of Information and Public Relations she expects the ministry’s plan to be finalised and ready for presentation to Cabinet by the end of January. “We are just about complete in our activities; we have already formulated all of our strategies for the period 2008 to 2011,” she said.

Mrs. Adams also noted that as the coordinating ministry, the Premier’s Office has been entrusted with overall responsibility for Government’s strategic planning process.

“In addition to the ministry’s strategic plan development, we in the Premier’s Office are also required to coordinate the strategic planning effort throughout Government and as such, we will be offering guidelines to other ministries as to how they would roll out their strategic plan, working all the way down to the job descriptions of individual staff members,” Mrs. Adams explained.

Underscoring the importance of strategic planning, the Permanent Secretary said “it will help alleviate the need to have band-aid solutions to conducting our work on behalf of Government and it will also give us a guide as to what is expected of us for a given period.”

Mrs. Adams said it is important that ministries are able to plan ahead and not simply execute daily functions without any clear sense of direction. “It is imperative that we plan ahead for the short, medium and long term and it assists us then in covering a wider range of activities because they are all laid out before us,” she stated.

Acting Deputy Secretary in the Premier’s Office Mrs. Marva Titley-Smith, who has direct responsibility for strategic planning within that ministry explained that “the strategic plan basically outlines Government’s commitment to the people of the Territory and what it proposes to deliver.”

Mrs. Titley-Smith said in addition to its overall strategic plan, the Premier’s Office is moving full speed ahead with development of its operational plan and she cited a need to create a direct link between the two.

The Acting Deputy Secretary said “while the strategic plan outlines what will be achieved over four years, the operational plan focuses on the financial, human and other resources necessary to fulfil that plan.”

Mrs. Titley-Smith explained that “the operational plan will in turn form the basis of the performance agreements for employees, which defines their individual roles in achieving the overall objective of Government.”

Government’s focus on strategic planning is part of the overall public service reform process which also includes human resource development, financial reform and service delivery.

The underlying objective is to create a world-class highly efficient public service that delivers high quality service to the public it serves.