Mission of the Directorate

The main objective of the monitoring and support Directorate is to ensure the effective administration and adherence of both Local and Regional Councils to the relevant legislation. This involves oversight, support, and guidance to facilitate and help Local Councils adhere to regulatory frameworks.

Objectives of the Directorate

The Directorate (monitoring and support) within the Local Government Division:

• Monitors the functions and operations of the Councils and identifies areas where statutory procedures and regulations are not being adhered to;
• Offers managerial and administrative support to help Local Councils run efficiently and effectively as well as professionally.
• Allocates public funds to Councils.
• Propose policies and legislative amendments on Local Government where necessary.
• Offers support to the public in the field of Local Government.
• Manages digital projects together with IMU.

Monitoring of Local Councils

The Department monitoring Unit ensures that Local and Regional Councils operate in accordance with applicable law, regulations and procedures. The main aim of this Unit is to ensure that Local authorities adhere to the Laws of Malta, primarily and among others to the Local Government Act and subsidiary legislation, the Local Government Regulation, Finance, Audit, Human resources and Procurement procedures and guides.

The monitoring Unit investigates cases of allegations of irregularities received by the Unit from individuals or members of Local Councils themselves as well as cases observed by officers within the Unit during the monitoring work. Where it has been found that a Local Council has committed an irregularity, it is requested to regularise its position. Furthermore, if those Local Councils that are not adhering to the regulations have any difficulty in doing so, the Unit will give them the necessary assistance and support.

Support to local councils

The Directorate supports local councils through the Human resources, Procurement and customer care Sections.

The Human resources Section has worked on human resources management both within the Local Government Division as well as within Local and Regional Councils, among others on:

• matters related to pay and leave and other matters related to human resources management;
• matters relating to the human resources of Executive Secretaries and Council employees including their language.
• retention of data concerning human resources both on employees within the Local Government Division, Councils and elected members of Councils.

The Procurement Section supports and assists Local Councils on procurement by, when requested, examining the documents of calls for quotations or tenders prior to their publication in order to ensure that the documents are drawn up in the best and uniform manner possible. The Procurement Unit also scrutinised requests from the direct Orders Councils or procurement related requests requiring approval by the Directorate. The Procurement Unit oversaw the process including the preparation of procurement documents and requests requiring a tendering process.

The Directorate also manages the administration of the Local Government Division, including the Registry, maintenance of the Division’s premises, messengers and drivers as well as collects general information that needs to be collected from all Councils.

Service to the citizen

The customer support Unit continued its work to receive complaints from citizens concerning Local Councils as well as to provide support and generic information to the public. This unit also welcomes members of the public who visit the Directorate, as well as complaints received by email or ordinary mail, as well as by telephone. From public complaints the DGL was able to evaluate what matters are within the responsibility of Local Councils that there are still difficulties in carrying them out to the satisfaction of residents and how the DGL could assist in carrying them out more effectively and efficiently, including through schemes and other initiatives.

Digital services and continuous support to Councils

This Directorates co-ordinates continuously with the Ministry’s IMU as well as with the managers within the Regional Councils so that Local Councils will have continuous support on ICT so that ultimately the citizen will have the best possible service offered by the Local Councils. This support includes guides on how to keep technology safe and up-to-date as well as financial assistance on digital platforms and devices through a dedicated vote.

The Directorate together with IMU worked to address the Auditor General’s recommendations on the state of technology and information in Local Councils. The Directorate has done a lot of work on this report and is working hard to continue implementing any recommendations it has been given. In addition, in May 2023, the National Strategy for Local Government 2023-2030 was launched identifying areas that need to be addressed so that Local and Regional Councils adapt to the times, operate in strong structures and with the necessary tools to continue playing their role in our communities.

The last theme of the strategic vision called “Digital priority in Local Government” is aimed at continuing to give digital priority in Local Government to ensure “good and effective Governance”, “Regional Resource for Local Councils” and “Local Councils close to the people”. This theme therefore combines the strategic vision based on a modern and digital plan. Furthermore, this digital strategic vision is intended to complement the work to equip the Public Service with the digital tools it needs and which will be the priority of the public administration in the coming years.

This Directorate, together with IMU, has therefore started preparing a strategic plan on how to implement this digital vision, including the implementation of an accounting and payroll system for local councils, a customer care system as well as a chatbot system.

Digital projects implemented and which the Directorate is financing and managing are as follows:

• Contract with MITA for services offered to Local Councils. This service includes Corp connection, Microsoft services, internet, email per user and generics, data security and much more.
• An online system for citizens and contractors who require permits for activities by Local Councils.
• Laptops and new hardware to replace the old ones and thus ensure that work is done on secure data protection systems.
• Internet service and maintenance for the EU funded project giving access to free Wifi to all citizens in deserted areas known as Wifi4EU.
• Modern IT equipment and infrastructure at the Local Council.
• New and modern websites for Local Councils.