Donald Scott Set To Retire In November
The Cabinet Office today [Oct 11] said that Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of Civil Service, Mr. Donald Scott, is to retire at the end of November 2013.
Mr. Scott was appointed to the post of Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of Civil Service on November 12, 2010. In this dual capacity, Mr. Scott is the chief policy adviser to the Premier of Bermuda and has oversight responsibility for all aspects of government operations and its delivery of public services to the Bermuda community and its international partners.
Mr. Scott has twenty-seven years’ experience as a senior manager and executive in the Bermuda Civil Service. Previously, he held the positions of Financial Secretary – a post that he held from April 2000 to November 2010, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Services, Assistant Financial Secretary [Economics & Finance], and Chief Statistician.
Mr. Scott recalled that he started his career with Government in 1972 as a Statistical Clerk in the Department of Statistics under then Chief Statistician Mr. Calvin Smith. He was awarded a Bermuda Government Bursary in 1973 to study in the areas of economics, finance and statistics. He returned to the Statistics Department in 1979 as a Statistical Officer after obtaining a combined honours degree in Economics and Sociology from Dalhousie University.
Of his career in government, Mr. Scott said: “Serving the public is very rewarding. In public policy work, there is an opportunity to improve the well-being of many people by helping to shape and implement good policy. Good policy depends on having access to factual information. Therefore developing sound statistics is important for good public policy.
“I have helped to develop social and economic indicators for Bermuda, assisted in financial policy, housing policy, health care policy, transport policy and much else besides.
“I have had a full career of some 34 years and I have enjoyed it. One of my personal long term goals was to exercise my retirement option when I reached 60 years old and that time has arrived.
“The public sector is often the butt of harsh jokes in many countries including Bermuda.
“The truth is that there are many honest, talented, dedicated, hard-working and loyal people who choose to work in the public sector because they have a passion for public service.
“I believe that the majority of our public sector workers have these qualities and I consider that they will continue to give excellent service to Bermuda.
“I refer to civil servants, teachers, law enforcement officers, nurses, public transport workers, health care workers, social workers, waste management workers and others in public service.”
Premier of Bermuda, Craig Cannonier said: “Although we’ve worked together for only a short while, I can state that Donald Scott is dedicated and focused on serving the public. He has helped us accomplish our goals and has been a pleasure to work with. On behalf of the Civil Service and Cabinet members, we wish him the very best as he retires from service.”
The process to select the Secretary to the Cabinet is governed by the Bermuda Constitution and is managed by the Public Service Commission. An announcement will be made in due course.
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Thanks for your service, enjoy your retirement.
Any chance of some younger new talent in the Civil Service?
Getting out from the overly laden Civil Service before cuts perhaps?????…. Am I right or wrong in saying he oversaw the expansion ???
This is an opportunity to bring in someone who can re-establish the principle of a neutral and apolitical Civil Service dedicated to advising on policy and then executing the policies of the elected government of the day. Too many appointments under the PLP were political and undermined this principle.
Donald Scott was always too much of a PLP/Paula Cox cheerleader for my liking.
Please bring in some new and fresh talent. NOT the assistant Cabinet Secretary. These folk are washed up.
Right….there are many more from the Civil Service yet to be announced taking retirement.
SAGE is coming very soon.
“Serving the public is very rewarding…”
We all know what your salary is Donald; it is rewarding indeed!
Get out whilst it is good.
60 years old.
Yes indeed. All $205,000 plus a year.
He has his!
Glad to see he is heading to the same wilderness that he has led the Civil Service to!!
Got his money…now his gone!!
goodbye, there is a reasons these poets aren’t all rosy and complementary. this whole cadre of leadership must now hang up their hats, nice people for wine, cocktails and social events but technocrats to the core with no imagination and blind loyalty to this preculiar Berkeleyite Philosophy of intellectual Superiority which sees them stuck in the headlights when the bill gets to $2,000,000,000 after 14 years of “empowerment”
talk, limited substance.
Goodbye Yes Man!’
I have always had the upmost respect for Mr. Scott. He always came across as quiet and humble- he kind of blended into the background and I guess he liked it that way.
HOWEVER, what I have a problem with is top senior civil servants (such as Mr. Scott) that sat back and watched the previous administration dig us into a giant hole. As the ones that had the ear of the (former) Premier(s) and cabinet, they should have had the backbone to stand up and say “enough is enough!” Unfortunately, none of them wanted to risk their bloated salaries and other perks by speaking against what was happening.
Dear OBA and BPSU,
Please work to change the course and culture of our Civil Service, times have changed.
Please lets move away from the diplomacy of friendships, taking the party line and the wait your turn culture to the dynamism and execution required in the Public Sector to get things moving.
The comments above fail to mention that all those senior civil servants at this age level were forced to learn a and survive in an organisational culture that made decision making, or demonstrating leadership, major faux pas which would KILL your career or advancement. So alongside the external societal changes in Bermuda from 1980 – 2013 the civil service stood still and the current mammoth will hinder the OBA’s progress to turn things around, just like how it waltzed to destruction and debt over the past 14 years with Ministers being blindly led, or tacitly encouraged by civil servants who themselves were scared of taking decisions.
Mr Scott had a good innings considering the time in our history when he started his career and his current role, but we cannot simply fill his vacancy at this critical time in our history with one of his students, or the next person in line.
Find a way OBA to inject life, efficiency and accountability into the lethargic albatross that our Civil Service has regrettably become.
Change Course and Culture
Maybe this dude should take a cut in pension for the state he put the country in.
Why don’t we go outside the box and solicit guys from the private sector who have proven track records of leadership, international and local credibility, intelligence, collaboration skills and have a vested interest in this country!
People like Gil Tucker currently at E&Y, Patrick Tannock @ XL, Darren Johnson @ PWC.
Don’t know how much more money they need to make in the private sector…. But boy, anyone of these guys could really make an impact and leave a lasting legacy!
Guys and the powers that be your country needs you atnthis critical point in our history!
Do you really need to make any more money in the private sector? How much can you spend in a lifetime?
You guys need to step up!
Isn’t that what the SAGE commission is? People with some real-world experience offering advice on how to do things better?
@We Care….yeah right, wishful thinking. Like one of those guys would leave their luxurious jobs for public service!!!
We are talking about potential candidates from outside the civil service to replace Donald Scott when he retires!!
The new Cabinet Secretary will be a carbon copy of Scott, a real yes man/woman without a backbone, who will play it safe until he/she gets his/her pension.
Bet your last dollar on it.
@ We care and Change Course and Culture
The Civil Servants are a reflection of the government of the day. Their role is to provide advice and input for policy decisions that are made or contemplated by their respective Ministers. Their ultimate role is to carry out the policy decisions made by government.
In some cases, the government might reject their advice but they are still required to carry out the policy.
The public should also understand that a government almost by definition is more focused on remaining in power than working for the long-term interest of the country (UBP, PLP or OBA).
If you consider any of the outside candidates that you refer to, they will most likely take a pay cut of up to 50% or more. They will also have to adapt to a new culture since the government is not driven by a profit motive. Finally, do you think that each of them are not influenced by those that they must report to?
@ Vote for Me – we are sorry that all the posts above are an accurate reflection of, the reality, and how the public view the large cadre of senior civil servants who earn $170,000+ and travelled extensively wasting taxpayer dollars during the past 14+ years.
Yes you are right, the potential candidates mentioned from the private sector are influenced by those they report to – shareholders – and if these candidates do not perform they are fired, or they resign and try to get a new position in an industry that is highly competitive with solid competition from other professionals from the US and UK employment market
stop making excuses for individuals like Mr Scott and his many Permanent Secretary clones who have no backbone or ability to be successful anywhere else, if they were that incensed with Governments not taking their ADVICE as you call it they have an option, RESIGN and go into the PRIVATE SECTOR to get paid twice as much (using your 50% comparison), face the facts, most people want people like Mr Scott gone, maybe it is more acute due to our economic mess but dont even start to go down the road of politicians dont listen as politicians are only proxy’s for the constituents who like shareholders VOTE , or dont vote, every few years to HIRE o FIRE their rep
You are clearly one of those who has quickly changed their spots to ensure you are invited to every $500+ luncheon with your new Minister. Permanent Secretaries need to be scrapped they bring no value hopefully SAGE gets this all done by March next year and moves the other time wasting senior civil servants into the wilderness they dug us into
Congrats Donald Scott; you were a super civil servant; but even through you probably had it in mind to go at sixty. I don’t blame you for going now. I am sure you would not want to be a part of the Anti-Bermudian one Term OBA government who along with it’s Sage trojan horse is about to take
a hacksaw to government workers and their families livelihood and standard
of living.