Civil servants must change their mindset from one in which they believe they ?cannot be fired? to one in which they are held accountable, a senior civil servant said last night.

And Assistant Cabinet Secretary Kenneth Dill revealed that talks are underway about introducing performance-related pay to the public service.

Mr. Dill was speaking at the second public forum on the draft sustainable development strategy report which had the theme of ?transforming governance and the public sector?.

At the meeting, Premier Alex Scott also said the Government would be making a major announcement this week on public safety and security, which was drawn in part from research done in the sustainable development initiative.

Mr. Dill said at the Bermuda Industrial Union headquarters meeting that it was ?vital? to have a civil service that was held accountable and served the people of Bermuda.

?We must change the mindset from within that one cannot be fired,? Mr. Dill said. ?We must change the mindset from without that the civil service are lazy. People must be held accountable.?

He said weekly meetings held by the Civil Service executive committee were already discussing the need for a ?culture of accountability?.

?There are ongoing discussions with respect to performance based pay,? he said. ?There are also ongoing discussions about equal pay for work of equal value. Wide consultation must take place with stakeholders including the employees and unions.?

He added that the executive was also looking at what other jurisdictions were doing, including a 1999 UK report where a consultant recommended the same for the UK government. Towards the end of the two-and-a-half hour meeting Mr. Dill said the executive had a timeline in place to implement the various recommendations made in the report.

?We will implement the guidelines proposed,? he said.

Mr. Dill also said it was important for Bermudians to realise that the civil service was meant to serve them.

?The services you require have already been paid for, it is no longer satisfactory to be dissatisfied. If something is wrong tell someone.?

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