There is serious concern within the Civil Service about the way Minister Renee Webb is running the Department of Tourism because of her ?complete disdain? for staff, a senior civil servant has claimed.

In an unusual and wide-ranging briefing, the top civil servant told Tourism staff were afraid of losing their jobs because the Minister was unpredictable, and said her management style was driving people out.

And there is alarm within the Civil Service, said the senior officer, about Ms Webb?s comments in on Wednesday that the person to replace Director of Tourism Director Judith Hall Bean will ?more than likely? come from outside the service.

The civil servant said there are clear rules to keep politicians out of civil servant appointments ? which are carried out by the independent Public Service Commission ? and Ms Webb?s comments fly in the face of this.

But last night Ms Webb said the attack on her was due to resistance to her restructuring of the Tourism Department, and was an example of ?out of control? public servants having no regard for the rules banning them talking to the Press.

The senior civil servant also confirmed a story last week that Mrs. Hall Bean, who it was announced yesterday is to become Assistant Cabinet Secretary, asked to be moved from Tourism. Ms Webb denies this.

The civil servant confirmed reports from other civil service staff that Mrs. Hall Bean ? who became Director of Tourism in 2001 ? asked Cabinet Secretary John Drinkwater to move her out following a dispute with the Minister, which several staff described as ?the straw that broke the camel?s back?.

?She is consistently at odds with her staff, particularly her senior management staff within the Ministry of Tourism, and has a well known, and widely known, distaste for civil servants, period,? said the civil servant.

?To lose one senior employee might be considered careless, but to lose two is perhaps clear evidence of where the problem lies.

?In a very short space of time a number of people have left the Ministries of Tourism and Telecommunications (which Ms Webb also runs), all largely because of her.?

The reference is to the recent departure of Telecommunications Director Greg Swan who has joined TeleBermuda International. has heard conflicting civil service reports about Mr. Swan?s departure ? with one saying it was purely routine ? and he could not be contacted for comment yesterday.

Two assistants to Ms Webb in the Department of Telecommunications have also left recently.

?The Tourism Ministry staff are unable to give her advice ? their advice is rejected out of hand,? added the civil servant. ?There is constant confusion about directives from the Minister and her management staff are never sure from one day to the next what she will be like and what to expect from her.

?There is some serious concern about the level of attention she has put into the Ministry of Tourism in areas where she should have a key role.

?When Carnival announced the withdrawal of their service for 2004, the Minister was caught on the back foot. It was only after that that the Minister employed a round of introductions overseas to the people who really matter within the cruise industry.

?She spends very little time at the Ministry of Tourism and there is an atmosphere that pervades because of the disdain for anything emanating from the Civil Service that stifles creativity and discourages the development and enhancement of policy.

?There are all sorts of ways people in the Department of Tourism are covering their backsides. They don?t know if their jobs are in jeopardy or their professional integrity, to such an extent that memos or e-mails, any routine communication, is copied to all sorts of people just to ensure there is a paper trail there to protect them from the Minister.?

Referring to Ms Webb?s comments this week that the new Director of Tourism would ?more than likely? come from outside the Civil Service, the officer said: ?When a post is advertised in the Civil Service applicants are reminded they should not canvass any member of the legislature.

?That a Minister of the Government should express a view in the process is astounding. There are processes designed to discourage political influence and this matter is no comfort to civil servants. It is a source of serious concern within the Civil Service.

?This concern runs parallel to the concern about the Minister?s complete disdain for the Civil Service.?

The officer also confirmed that Mrs. Hall Bean asked Cabinet Secretary John Drinkwater that she be moved out.

Mrs. Hall Bean?s only comments on the matter have been to say she had informed staff that she would likely to be moving soon and that the move was ?positive?.

In what may be a rebuff to Ms Webb?s statement that the new Director of Tourism would ?more than likely? come from outside the Civil Service, the Government press release on Mrs. Hall Bean?s new job stated yesterday: ?Commenting on recent media reports about the Department of Tourism, the Secretary to the Cabinet reiterated that all appointments in the Civil Service, including the Department of Tourism in Bermuda, are matters for the Public Service Commission.?

Last night Ms Webb told : ?I am not going to be contradicted by something an anonymous civil servant says (about Mrs. Hall Bean?s move).

?What I have told you happened, it was part of the restructuring of Tourism. Judith has a job offer at the Cabinet Office and I wish her well. People who turn around and complain anonymously, I have no respect for them. They can come and talk to me.

?That (complaints about the management style) has not been complained of to me. It has never been brought to my attention and I have regular meetings with directors and if there is an issue, I am sure people are old enough to address it.

?I have never had any problems with my managers. I have never had any problems with Judith Hall Bean. My staff may not have wanted to carry out the policies, but I have never had a problem.

?The fact they don?t want to carry our policies and embrace change, I can understand that. That?s normal, it?s human behaviour. My interest is more on if people embrace change.

?People?s jobs are not under any threat and as for disdain for the Civil Service, that?s nonsense. The Civil Service has issues and that has to be addressed.

?The Department of Tourism is being reconstructed and it has to be done and Bermuda needs to be served well. I have some great people working for me in Tourism.

?In the Department of Tourism we are about change and what you are seeing is resistance to change.

?I have never had any issues about my management style at the Department of Telecommunications. Telecommunications is about change and people being on board for change. I have never been accused of bad management style because it is about change.

?This is an example of some civil servants ? not the majority ? who have no regard for the rules and no regard for the general orders by talking to the Press.

?They?re not supposed to do it and it shows no regard for the systems in place. This points to how some civil servants are completely out of control and they need to be properly managed. They resist change and it?s an example of why change is necessary.?

Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell said: ?What is happening with the director is a classic reason why we need a Tourism Authority to stop the ministerial meddling and put it up on a plane.

?We?ve had three Directors of Tourism in five years which is outrageous and it is clearly due to ministerial meddling.

?David Allen and Renee Webb have driven the Department of Tourism staff crazy. It?s a known fact, everybody talks about it and someone should stand up an acknowledge it and the tell the PLP government to tell their ministers to stop managing civil servants like this.

?Whether they are foreigner or local, we should go out there and get the very best person possible to run tourism in this crisis and we go and and do this quickly.?