PRESS RELEASE BY THE OFFICE OF THE PRINCIPAL PERMANENT SECRETARY

As the Principal Permanent Secretary Tony Sultana presented the publication ‘Governance Action on the NAO’s Annual Report on Public Accounts 2023 and other NAO reports 2024’ to the Auditor General, Mr Charles Deguara, he announced that the Public Service had implemented 686 actions arising from the Auditor’s reports.

This is a very strong number and clearly indicates that the Public Administration not only recognises the valuable work of the Auditor, but also acts upon the recommendations received.

During the presentation, it was also stated that this year, the publication was completed two months earlier, and the statistics are updated until the end of August 2025. Despite this, a strong implementation rate of 86% was achieved.

The Governance Action report continues to serve as an important monitoring tool to promote transparency and accountability in decisions and actions taken. The report actively contributes to identifying areas that need improvement, while harmonising administrative procedures with the principles of good governance and Malta’s national strategic objectives, including those defined in ‘Malta Vision 2050.’

The Head of the Public Service, Tony Sultana, said that apart from the positive results achieved, there were entities highlighted as examples of good practices. These were the National Statistics Office within the Ministry for Finance and the ‘Home Care and Help Services’ scheme within the Ministry for Health and Active Ageing. He stressed that government departments and other entities should emulate these practices in order to improve their operations.

The publication ‘Governance Action on NAO’s Annual Report on Public Accounts 2023 & other NAO reports 2024’ can be found on the Public Service website https://publicservice.gov.mt/media/Publications/NAO%202025%20-%20Book%20Combined%20-%20Digital.pdf?v=202509251031