Govt to update almost 40-yr-old Public Service Rules

– information technology and Cybersecurity among updates

It has been 38 years since Guyana last updated its Public Service Rules with its 1987 edition, but efforts are now underway to revise them.
This has been revealed by Public Service Minister Dr. Ashni Singh during Consideration of the 2025 Budget Estimates and Expenditure in the Committee of Supply on Wednesday night.
Public Service Rules are guidelines and policies that define the relationship between Government and public servants. According to the minister, work has already begun on an early draft of the updated Public Service Rules.
“So there is in existence what I would perhaps call an early draft of new Public Service Rules. I am advised that this early draft is currently with the Ministry of Legal Affairs for their review. Needless to say, that draft would also have to be the subject of consultation with the union, and we’re not at the point where we’ve had those consultations,” the minister stated.
Further, he noted that the ministry has been actively working on the revision, and the draft would be refined to a standard that is suitable for stakeholder review.
“But clearly this is something that we would like to move forward. You can be assured that we will certainly endeavour to work with our colleagues at the Ministry of Legal Affairs to get it to a point where we can then share it with other stakeholders, in particular the GPSU, and then take it from there,” the minister has said.
Underscoring that other aspects of public service operations would be updated, and all changes are expected to be completed by the end of 2025, Dr Singh said, “And there are other areas as well that we are considering, including things like information technology and Cybersecurity, etc. So, the short answer, Mr. Speaker, is we have essentially concluded work on the Public Service Employee Handbook. Work is ongoing on a number of other areas, and we anticipate making significant progress by the end of 2025.”