Legislators return to Parliament next month with a new Cabinet position under Lovitta Foggo designed to steer Government reforms.

The ministry, Ms Foggo’s first portfolio after ten years as an MP, will involve fresh scrutiny of good governance measures brought in by the last Progressive Labour Party government, as well as suggestions brought by the Spending and Government Efficiency Commission.

“I’ve been busy, busy, busy,” Ms Foggo told The Royal Gazette. “I will say this: I certainly appreciate the confidence that has been placed in me by the Premier. I find it very interesting and exciting in terms of how this ministry can develop going forward.”

As Minister for the Cabinet Office with Responsibility for Government Reform, she will examine best practices in “various departments that by design have oversight of the infrastructure of the Government”.

Her reach is significant: human resources, statistics, communications, information and digital technologies, management consulting, the office of procurement and project management, the Public Service Commission, Post Offices, and the policy and strategy section.

Upcoming priorities include reviewing the Ministerial code of conduct, the rules for members of the legislature, a code of practice for project management and procurement, and the implementation of the parliamentary oversight committees that were highlighted in the Sage report.

Three oversight committees were pledged in the PLP’s first 100 days.

Ms Foggo said her promotion to Cabinet offered “an opportunity to see what makes the wheels spin”.

She added that her decade as a backbencher left her in “good stead in terms of understanding the rules that govern MPs and dictate how they should operate” and she stressed her background in public policy.

The Office of Project Management and Procurement was set up under former premier Paula Cox in 2012 — but the “slow rate of progress” in getting it fully operational was lamented earlier this year in the report of the Commission of Inquiry.

The OPMP is “up and running”, Ms Foggo said, and as minister she would build on its best practices and “the good works already put in place” to better what it does, including a stronger code of practice. Having served on the Public Accounts Committee, Ms Foggo also noted the priority given in the PLP’s 100-day agenda to strengthening the PAC’s “good work”.

Asked about the Sustainable Development Department, which has been merged into Cabinet, Ms Foggo said it was “early days”, and any decisions would be made in consultation with its director.

Campaign finance reform, similarly, will be approached in conjunction with the Parliamentary Registrar.

“After having done whatever research and having consulted with the parliamentary registrar on best practices, only at that point will a more definitive decision be made on the direction taken in respect of campaign financing.”

Reforms will also be influenced by the distinctive characteristics of different departments, Ms Foggo said.

“The workings within various departments will help shape and decide the types of reforms that are necessary — one, to build on the successes of the public service and two, to ensure that the Government runs more efficiently, more effectively, in response to both the internal dictates of Government and to the dictates of the wider community.”