The Ministry of Labour and Social Security has embarked on a number of initiatives aimed at improving its services.

“We are aware that as a service ministry we need to ensure that our clients are at the heart of what we do. Many of the initiatives being pursued will bear fruit in the 2019/2020 financial year,” portfolio minister Shahine Robinson said at the ministry’s quarterly press briefing recently.

Among the initiatives are the construction and improvement of several parish offices, including a new office in Hanover, which will be opened on February 28; and construction of a parish office in St Ann, which should be completed in the first quarter of 2019/2020.

Robinson said the St James office is to be completely renovated, and that drawings for the renovation of the ministry’s Ripon Road offices in Kingston are being finalised and will be put to tender by June.

She also said the ministry’s wide-area network will be upgraded, using fibre-optic cable.

“This might seem like a simple thing, but this upgrade will enable us to move more of our services online, expand the digitisation of files in parishes and reduce the use of paper. The removal of paper files will enable us to become more efficient as a ministry,” she said.

Robinson also said digitisation of National Insurance Scheme files commenced in June 2018, and, to date, more than 50,000 files have been digitised.