MALTA
The Maltese Ombudsman has criticised the country’s Public Service Commission for lowering the passing grade for applicants for senior Public Service positions after not enough candidates achieved the original required pass mark of 70 per cent.
Candidates for the role of Senior Principal (roughly the equivalent of Australia’s Senior Executive Service) were initially required to obtain a 70 per cent grade in a general ability test.
They are then shortlisted and asked to sit for an interview.
Following a complaint from one of the candidates who had received a score in excess of the original 70 per cent, but had not been appointed, the Ombudsman found that the PSC had taken a unilateral decision to lower the pass mark of the general ability test to 65 per cent.
Applicants were informed of the decision when the results were published.
The PSC told the Ombudsman that it had been “requested to consider lowering the pass mark of the general ability test, since it transpired that 70 per cent was ‘too stiff’”.
It also said 87 of 252 candidates had achieved the passing grade of 70 per cent, adding this would “still be insufficient to address the exigencies across the Public Service”, which needed 89 Senior Principals.
After the decision to lower the pass mark to 65 per cent, the numbers eligible for an interview rose to 126.
The PSC pointed out that “criteria may be altered subject to the prerogative of management and sanctioning by the Commission”.
However, the Ombudsman said the criteria set out for selection should not have been altered or modified after the test was held and a result published.
“If any changes were required to be carried out regarding the pass mark rating, this should have been done before applicants sat for the test, and all applicants should have been informed in advance of any changes made in the pass mark,” the Ombudsman said.
The Ombudsman also noted that the PSC should have published an amendment to the call or withdrawn the call and published a revised one.
Valetta, 29 March 2018
