Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/911593
8 News maltatoday SUNDAY 3 DECEMBER 2017 Traffic authorities still owed €15.7 million in fees YANNICK PACE TRANSPORT Malta (TM) and the Local Enforcement System Agency (LESA) are still owed €1.7 million and €14 million respectively in un- paid fees in 2016. The National Audit Office as- sessed the systems in place at TM for the collection of annual circu- lation licence fees, and the pro- cedures for the collection of dues from traffic contraventions by LESA. In both cases, the respective agencies' systems for chasing owed money were lacking. According to the NAO's findings, out of a total of over 370,000 reg- istered vehicles, 28,933 had unpaid licence fees, which in turn account- ed for 86% of the total €14 million due to LESA from contraventions. €1.9 million was owed by drivers who had paid their car's licence, of which €483,930 was owed on vehi- cles that have been scrapped. The NAO noted in its findings that there was "no formal system in place between TM and LESA to follow-up on, and collect" pending contraventions in such cases. Simi- larly, it said there was no trace of any efforts made to chase unpaid contraventions on garaged cars. In its reply, LESA said it had recently introduced "an incentive, of a Debt Collection Agreement" which is still currently at the pilot project scale. On the other hand, the audi- tor general's office was satisfied with procedures in place for the accounting of revenue, which it said, "were in place and correctly followed by TM and accordingly reflected in the Departmental Ac- counting System". Moreover, the NAO noted that all relevant documentation at the authority was held in an "organised manner" and had been made avail- able for the audit upon request. Among the key issues flagged was the that once a contravention is logged into the Local Enforce- ment System provider – a third party contractor – a restriction on the renewal of the vehicles circula- tion licence is meant to be gener- ated within Transport Malta's own register. This was problematic, said the NAO, since "the fact that the LES is not in a position to extract this report itself but has to rely on its service provider poses a significant risk that unauthorised lifting of contravention tickets may go un- noticed". The fact is that a copy of the agreement outlining the relation- ship between LESA and the LES provider was requested but not provided. Another issue was with tickets given to the driver rather than the vehicle, such as those handed out for running a red light or using a phone while driving. The NAO said that when sampling a num- ber these contraventions, it could find no trace of the car registra- tion number on Transport Malta's systems meaning that the money owed was "neither chased nor col- lected". Similarly, it said that while the transfer of a vehicle from one own- er to the other required all pend- ing contraventions to be paid, the audit uncovered many occasions where vehicles had pending fines from previous owners. Exception for vehicle owner The audit found that in Febru- ary 2016, 43 tickets, amounting to €1,979, racked up by a particular vehicle were lifted and reapplied five days later, allowing the driver to renew the licence in between. "Testing also revealed that ad- ditional contravention tickets of €3,482 were obtained by the ve- hicle owner since the licence re- newal, and that up to the date of writing of this report, the total con- travention tickets of €5,461 remain unpaid," noted the NAO. In its reply, LESA said that the driver had signed a repayment agreement in July 2017, "where he deposited €1,000 and would con- tinue to deposit the same amount every month with the aim of paying the amount due within six months. In most cases, TM pointed out that it was operating according to legal requirements and that the responsibility for collection of con- traventions lay solely with LESA. On its part, the local enforcement agency pointed to a lack of human resources in a number of its replies while also stating that it was work- ing together with TM to put formal procedures in place for the collec- tion of dues, which had previously not been in place. ypace@mediatoday.com.mt Single vehicle allowed not to pay up to €5,461 in contraventions and licence renewal fees TIA RELJIC MALTA'S psychology profes- sionals are feuding over a new law that could outlaw which mental health workers can prac- tise psychotherapy as profes- sionals. The proposed law will regulate which professionals can actually practise psychotherapy, and has divided the various bodies repre- senting the profession: on the one hand, the Chamber of Psycholo- gists and the Malta Association of Psychiatry – who are unhappy about the extent of the regulation – and on the other, the Malta Association of Psychotherapists which welcomes the law. 'Psychotherapy' employs vari- ous methods falling in the field of psychology, and practitioners of the techniques include mental health professionals such as psy- chiatrists, psychologists, clini- cal social workers, marriage and family therapists, or professional counsellors. The proposed law will effec- tively only allow warranted psy- chotherapists to practise psycho- therapy, but not psychologists. While Dr Etienne Muscat, presi- dent of the Association of Psychi- atry, says psychotherapy does not belong to any one group, the Mal- ta Association of Psychotherapists disagrees. It says professionals in the psychological and psychiatric fields have their own rules which do not automatically license them to do psychotherapy. "In order to understand the es- sence of this law, it is important to bring history in here," said Dr Charles Cassar, President of the Malta Association of Psychother- apists, who is also president-elect of the European Association for Psychotherapy. "I speak here in the name of all those psychotherapists and insti- tutes, in Malta and abroad, who have suffered in their struggle to be acknowledged and recognised as established practitioners in the field of psycho-social, medical and mental health sectors." Cassar said psychotherapists have long been brushed aside as being less experienced than other professionals. Since then psychotherapists have gradu- ally branched out and contin- ued specialising in such fields as psychodynamic psychotherapy, systemic psychotherapy, gestalt psychotherapy, cognitive behav- iour therapy and others – now various accredited post-graduate programmes specialities in these modalities. "One has to acknowledge that psychotherapy has emerged. It is effective and it is grounded in many hours of training and is doubtlessly needed in today's so- ciety. Psychotherapy as a profes- sion is not there to compete, or to take other's jobs," Cassar said. Cassar added that psychother- apy is a profession practised un- der the title of 'psychotherapist', something regulated since 2005 by the Council for the Profes- sions Complementary to Medi- cine (CPCM), and is not merely a technique – contrary to what Etienne Muscat contends. He also objected to claims made by the Chamber of Psy- chologists which said that laws should not regulate the job of a psychologist. "Laws do regulate both the ti- tle and the profession and this is what laws usually do," he said. "This doesn't mean that pro- fessionals cannot practise what they are warranted to do," Cas- sar said, saying his objection is to people practising something not regulated by their warrant. "Claiming that one is a 'prac- titioner of psychotherapy' af- ter having done a few modules on various specific therapeutic techniques, is against the exist- ing regulations set by the cur- rent CPCM's legal framework," he said. He added that recognised practitioners of psychotherapy must register through the CPCM and undergo a vetting process. "If I am a client or a stakeholder, I need to know what specific ser- vice I am being offered and how this is different to other services as established by the European Commission (ESCO Handbook) and the regulations of other pro- fessions." The Psychology Profession Act, which regulates the psychological profession, speaks of the "use of therapeutic interventions" with regards to the competencies of psychologists – which is in line with what the Psychotherapy Bill is proposing. In its guidelines for vetting war- rants, the Malta Psychology Pro- fession Board (MPPB) also uses the terms psychological therapy', 'use of therapeutic techniques', 'implement psychological ther- apy' and 'psychological inter- ventions'. In this context Cas- sar insists that the "practice" of psychotherapy is not mentioned anywhere. "So why do psychologists now claim that they are entitled to practise psychotherapy when even their own regulatory bod- ies do not specify that this is part of their competencies?" Cassar asked. On his part, psychiatrists and psychologists' bodies argued that counsellors, therapists, psycholo- gists and social workers all need to be on the same page for the benefit of patients and mental health in the country. "We want an exception in the law to state that psychologists can practise according to their warrant, ideally through a discus- sion involving psychotherapists and the people pushing for this law," Chamber president Roberta Farrugia Debono said. "We are only asking for a minor amendment, which would keep psychotherapists happy without restricting our conduct and prac- tice." Muscat also said patients might suffer as a result of the law, since it does not take into considera- tion how more complex cases might require more specialised methods of care. "When it comes to mental ill- ness, different layers of expertise are required, whereas the focus of the new law is limited to one type of professional," Muscat said. tia.reljic@mediatoday.com.mt Psychotherapists demand unique recognition with new law