PROFESSIONAL OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

That this House notes the pressure on all Government departments to find solutions to redesign and reshape public services and increase their focus on how they can improve public sector productivity; acknowledges that around 300,000 people are currently employed in the public sector at executive officer, administrative officer and administrative assistant level; notes the vital role those staff play in delivering many of the smaller, often more clerical and operational, but nonetheless important tasks; agrees that to date the way these staff are managed has often been overlooked as an area that can increase productivity significantly; further acknowledges the need for operations management in the public sector to be identified as a professional concept in its own right and as a profession that requires the necessary qualifications to deliver productivity and efficiency gains; and encourages all Government departments to look at ways in which methods such as Active Operations Management can help improve productivity and reduce stress and pressure on managers and staff who are often delivering challenging organisational targets and in the context of meeting the efficiency challenge.