PALMER. ministry now has a tender out

THE Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Criminal Registry of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal are to be computerised soon, according to Carol Palmer, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Justice.

Palmer, attending yesterday's sitting of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament at Gordon House, was responding to a question from Dr Morais Guy, a PAC member, about the status of computerisation of the courts.

The permanent secretary said the ministry now has a tender out for computerisation of both the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and of the Criminal Registry of the Supreme Court. She added that officials of the ministry would be meeting by next week to settle on the features and customising of the software.

".We will finish that exercise. by July for the start-up of case management in the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court, which will improve the efficiency of that operation," said Palmer.

She said the ministry was also looking at the computerisation of Resident Magistrate's Courts. "That, however, has to be done alongside the physical plant development, because we cannot put computers which will require cooling systems in inferior buildings," she said.

All court staff, she said, were being afforded computer training, noting that the Justice Training Institute on Camp Road in Kingston has a computer lab which was available to all members of staff "and it behooves them to take advantage, so when the computerisation is done they are in a position to participate".

Dr Neil McGill, a PAC member, said there were some persons in the court system who felt they were doing a good job but evaluations showed otherwise, and asked if court administrators were aware that they were being evaluated.

In response, Palmer said all public officers were aware or ought to be aware that they were subject to evaluation annually and when there were special circumstances.

The ministry, she added, gets information from its internal and external auditors which reflect on the performance of those court administrators. She said the reports were sent to them as soon as they were received by the ministry.

"What I think is the problem in the public service, and it's a problem that I grapple with every day in the ministry, is an attitude of public employees where they feel nothing can be done to them if they do not perform. And I have already given notice that that culture needs to change, both in terms of the staff and in terms of the persons who have the power to make the decisions," the permanent secretary said.

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