A total of 117 government employees were suspended in Bahrain last year as a result of disciplinary action, a report said.

The Education Ministry was responsible for the overwhelming majority, suspending 110 of its staff last year and issuing 170 written warnings and 20 oral reprimands, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

The figures were revealed in a Civil Service Bureau (CSB) report for last year, which does not document the nature of staff offences.

However, it states that disciplinary action was taken a total of 324 times against government workers last year.

The Works Ministry issued written warning to 10 employees; the Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Ministry issued verbal and written warnings to two of its staff; the Electricity and Water Authority (EWA) suspended six employees and gave written warnings to two; and the Municipalities and Urban Planning Affairs Ministry suspended one member of staff, issued written warnings to two and gave a verbal warning to another.

Meanwhile, the report states 116 administrative offences related to training programmes and scholarships were uncovered in different ministries last year - including civil servants not completing minimum training hours.

This was discovered during 30 field visits by the Administrative Audit Directorate (AAD), which focused on promotions, attendance, proper use of allowances and training, overtime, annual leave and grievance committees.

"Due to these audit field visits, (116) administrative offences have been revealed, the most prominent of them were related to training programmes and scholarships in governmental bodies," stated the CSB annual report.

The CSB said it developed "radical solutions" to address shortcomings in government bodies, which included preparing audit reports about AAD field visits and ensuring recommendations are implemented through official channels.

Meanwhile, it said 114 complaints were made to the AAD via its hotline (17364815), through e-mail and regular mail.

"Only 51 complaints have been studied as they met the administrative complaint condition," it stated, without giving any further details.

The CSB report also highlights that more than half of the 1,566 government staff recruited last year were women.

It states that 906 women were hired, accounting for 58 per cent of last year's intake, compared to 660 men - continuing a trend from 2012 when 1,810 men and 1,497 women were hired.

The number of non-Bahrainis employed stood at 235 last year.

In addition, a total of 4,890 civil servants took part in 7,888 training programmes last year.

"The bureau completed during this year (2013) more than 15,166 recruitment and promotion actions and completed 1,364 organisational studies and granted 7,822 incentives and awards to civil service employees," said CSB president Ahmed Zayed.

According to the report, a CSB review of manpower contracts and services resulted in savings of more than BD2.1 million ($5.5 million) last year. – TradeArabia News Service