​​​​On 29th February 2024, the Inspections Coordination Office (ICO) held a conference to inform high authorities within the Public Sector about the journey of this Office.  The Principal Permanent Secretary and the Director General (Coordination and Implementation), within the office of the Prime Minister, each gave a brief speech.  There were also two panel discussions – the first panel went through the challenges faced, what this Office has achieved until now and the way forward.  In the second panel, some of the entities involved in this reform shared their experiences. 

For a number of years, different government entities used to conduct their own inspections, resulting in several inspections in the same business outlet.  Such system was creating an inconvenience to the business owners.  This led to the reform in inspections.    The aim was to reduce the burden on the business outlets while making inspections more transparent and effective.  The Coordination of Government Inspections Act (Cap. 568) was enacted in 2017 and the Office that coordinates inspections was set up. Today, an inspection in an establishment by one entity provides data for various entities that are responsible to see that the said establishment is adhering to laws and regulations.

Through the reform the number of inspections has been reduced significantly.  The Inspections Coordination Office continues to expand and add more business types in this coordinated system of routine Inspections in order to assist in raising the standards in business outlets for the benefit of the public.