From now on the Xunta de Galicia has decided to extreme the security measures that surround the Exams of Public Job Offers that I summon. To do this, among other measures, the tests will be printed by the Xunta de Galicia itself. In addition, the only ones authorized to manipulate the evidence will be officials of the Xuntaintegrated into highly controlled internal procedures and subject to strict confidentiality protocols.
These measures are taken due to the recent scandals which had caused the knowledge that the questions for some of the Public Job Offers that the Xunta de Galicia had organized had been leaked to some opponents. The last leak occurred in the opposition for the C1 and C2 groups of the XuntaThis led to a thorough review of all selection processes, the custody of exams, and the relationship with the examining boards.
Global strengthening of legal certainty in the Galician government's public employment offers
The current policy of the Xunta regarding security of the OPEA It is not limited to the physical control of exams. It is integrated into a broader framework of legal security and reduction of the temporary employment in the public sector, in accordance with state regulations on job stabilization. The selection processes of the Galician Administration must comply with the principles of equality, merit, ability and free competitionwhile ensuring that each call for applications is legally protected against challenges due to procedural defects or leaks.
To this end, the Xunta structures its job offers and stabilization processes under the basic legislation of the State, the regional regulations on public employment and the specific laws that regulate the reduction of temporalityOrdinary and extraordinary public employment offers are conceived as instruments of human resources planningreducing the abuse of temporary contracts and consolidating structural positions through systems of competition-opposition or, exceptionally and only once, processes of merit contest.
In this context, security is no longer understood solely as preventing leaks, but as ensuring that each phase of the process—from determining available positions to assigning destinations—respects the principles of advertising, transparency, objectivity and efficiencyThis implies clear foundations, scales negotiated with trade union organizations, a precise definition of the merits that can be counted, and detailed regulations for the competitive examination and selection process.
Types of processes: stabilization, open access, and internal promotion
Security measures in the Galician Regional Government's Public Employment Offers They apply to all types of selection processes convened by the Galician Administration:
- Temporary employment stabilization processes, aimed at positions occupied for years by temporary staff. In these cases, systems are used competition-opposition (with exams) or, exceptionally, merit-based competitions in which only services rendered and other merits are valued.
- ordinary open access competitive examinations, in which anyone who meets the requirements of nationality, age, qualifications and functional compatibility can participate, provided that they are not disqualified or separated from service.
- Internal promotion processes, both for civil servants and for permanent staff who will be made civil servants, with separate calls for applications and specific positions, guaranteeing a professional career within the Administration.
In stabilization processes, the regulations distinguish between occupied positions temporarily for a long period (subject to open competition) and positions temporarily occupied for at least three years within a specific timeframe (accessible by competition-oppositionIn both cases, the need to preserve the equal opportunities between external applicants and temporary staff, preventing the assessment of services rendered from de facto excluding those who have not previously worked in the Administration.
Principles of transparency and objectivity in calls for proposals
Galician public employment regulations and the laws that develop the extraordinary stabilization processes set out in detail the principles applicable to OPEs of the Xunta. All calls for applications must respect:
- Advertising of the rules in the Official Gazette of Galicia and on the official portals, including syllabi, selection system, number of places and application deadlines.
- Transparency in test design, publication of answer templates in test-type processes and dissemination of correction and grading criteria.
- Impartiality and professionalism of the selection tribunals, which must be gender-balanced, technically independent, and required to act with austerity, objectivity, and agility.
- Adequacy between the content of the tests and the real functions of each body, scale or professional category, avoiding generic syllabi disconnected from the position.
To guarantee the legal certainty of the processes, the terms of the calls for proposals are adjusted to common bases which the Xunta can approve as a general administrative act, negotiated with the trade unions. These common bases establish uniform criteria regarding requirements, merit assessment, the functioning of selection panels, merit self-assessment systems, and possible reductions in deadlines when the regulations require a decision to be made within a limited time.
Furthermore, sensitive issues such as validity of the selection processes in the event of any procedural defects, the principle of preservation of acts and the protection of the legitimate trust of applicants acting in good faith, preventing isolated incidents from forcing the complete cancellation of processes that are already well advanced when there are established legal situations.
Physical custody of exams and prevention of leaks
The experience of leaks in certain competitive examinations led the Xunta to specifically reinforce the chain of custody of the exams. Among the measures that have been consolidated, the following stand out:
- Internal printing of the exam booklets in controlled facilities of the Administration itself, avoiding external companies and limiting the number of people with access to the material.
- Exclusive handling by authorized officials, with restricted access protocols, entry and exit logs and reinforced confidentiality obligation.
- Transport and custody under control to the examination venues, following pre-established routes and schedules, with clear responsibility of the convening bodies.
- Incident control in the examination rooms (simultaneous opening of envelopes, counting of copies, incident reports and protocols for booklet replacement if necessary).
These measures are combined with the legal obligation to ensure that the exams are objective and homogeneousWhen tests are used, the Xunta publishes the answer templates on its official civil service website, allowing applicants to quickly check for possible errors or contestable questions, which strengthens social control and reduces suspicions of favoritism.
Security also extends to the post-test management: preservation of exams, custody of minutes and correction criteria, so that any appeal or claim can be resolved with a solid documentary basis and complete traceability of the court's decisions.
Merit assessment, competitions and competitive examinations
A key element for understanding the security measures in the Galician government's public employment offers This is how it is structured merit assessmentThe regional regulations stipulate that:
- In competitive examination processesThe competitive examination phase should represent a very significant part of the total grade, and its exercises are eliminatory. The merit-based assessment phase primarily evaluates the services provided and other objective merits, but without these being able to monopolize the final result.
- In competitive merit-based processes —exceptional and one-time— prior experience and other professional merits carry significant weight, but always respecting the principles of merit and ability. Preference is given to service within the same body, scale, or category, both in the Xunta and in other administrations.
Only services provided with temporary link within the scale or category of the process or in equivalent categories, expressly determined in each call for applications. Services such as temporary staff and, in certain cases, not those performed in equivalent categories when it comes to permanent staff who are already in the process of becoming civil servants at a specific level.
To gain agility in processes with thousands of applicants, the rules can establish a self-assessment system Regarding merits: candidates submit a declaration of responsibility with the score they believe they deserve, and only those applications that meet the required criteria are evaluated in detail. real possibilities of obtaining a placeThe Administration reserves the right to exclude anyone who substantially falsifies their self-assessment, which acts as an additional security measure against attempts at fraud in the competition phase.
Access, equality and reserved places for people with disabilities
The participation requirements in the Xunta's public employment offers are designed to guarantee a broad access without sacrificing legal certainty. Among the most relevant aspects are:
- NationalityApplicants may be Spanish nationals, nationals of other European Union member states, nationals of countries with free movement of workers, and, in certain cases, their spouses and descendants. In processes for labor staffForeigners legally residing in Spain and authorized to work may also participate.
- Age: be 16 years of age or older and not have reached the mandatory retirement age or the specific maximum age that, where applicable, is established by the call for applications.
- Degree: the qualifications required by the program (ESO, Bachillerato, Vocational Training Cycle, Degree, etc.). For foreign qualifications, the following is required: homologation or equivalent document within the established timeframe.
- Functional compatibility: not to suffer from any illness or limitation incompatible with the functions of the position, which can be verified through health surveillance.
- Qualification: not having been dismissed from service through disciplinary proceedings nor being disqualified from public functions, and not already belonging to the same body or scale to which one is applying.
The Galician government is strengthening security and equality with a specific reservation of places for people with disabilities, above the legal minimum of 7% of the vacancies offered. This quota is divided into places for intellectual disabilities and to other disabilities, which can be convened in separate shifts or together with the open shift, but always respecting the individuality of each process.
Applicants with disabilities have the right to time and media adaptations in all phases (including selection courses and internship periods), in accordance with state criteria on the adaptation of selection processes. If any applicant from the reserved quota passes the exercises without obtaining a place within their quota, but has a higher score than applicants from the general quota, they may to join the open shiftensuring that demonstrated effort and ability are recognized.
Internal promotion, civil service appointment, and internal stabilization
Another essential part of the Galician government's public employment offers is the Internal promotion, which allows permanent civil servants and employees progress to higher bodies and scalesThe Galician Administration reserves a significant number of places for these processes, which are carried out in separate calls for applications from open access and, in many cases, with competition-opposition adapted to the prior experience of internal staff.
In parallel, processes are being deployed civil service of permanent staff whose positions are being integrated into civil service scales. These processes are regulated by the regional public employment law and by specific decrees that establish the equivalencies between job categories and civil service bodies or scales. For example, the following positions are detailed:
- Upper body y management bodies of the General Administration.
- Optional scales (psychology, medicine, pedagogy, nursing, social work, early childhood education, etc.).
- Technical and auxiliary scales (kitchen, maintenance, natural and forestry resources, driving, clinic, caregivers, laboratory, archives and libraries, guards, forest firefighters, among others).
- Professional group (subordinate staff, cleaning and kitchen, maintenance, natural resources).
The correct definition of these equivalencies is an essential safety measure, as it determines which services rendered can be counted as merits in stabilization and promotion processes. The regulations stipulate that these equivalencies may update through a resolution of the General Directorate of Public Service, following union negotiations, to adapt to the evolution of staffing levels and the functions performed.
In addition, specific rules are introduced to avoid situations of accumulation of places by the same person in different extraordinary stabilization processes: it is not possible to simultaneously acquire the status of career civil servant or permanent employee in more than one scale, body or category, and a minimum period of permanence in the position obtained is required before being able to request certain leaves of absence.
Occupational risk prevention plan in the Xunta and safety in exams
Safety in the Galician government's public employment offers is also linked to the Occupational Risk Prevention Plan of the General AdministrationThis plan, conceived as a management system that integrates prevention at all hierarchical levels, was developed by the Occupational Risk Prevention Service. It is based on the Prevention Law and aims to achieve... integrated security, applicable both to ordinary activity and to the organization of large selection processes.
Within the framework of this plan, specific procedures have been implemented that indirectly influence the safety of the OPEs:
- Health surveillance: allows verification of the aptitude of the staff involved in the organization of the exams, as well as ensuring safe conditions for candidates at the venues (temperature, capacity limits, emergencies, etc.).
- Risks evaluation: Identify hazards in workplaces where tests are carried out (classrooms, pavilions, administrative buildings) and plan control measures.
- Emergency managementIt establishes evacuation protocols, first aid and coordination with external services, which are essential when hundreds or thousands of people are concentrated in an exam.
- Consultation and participation In prevention: through specific bodies and agreements on participation rights, proposals are collected and the conditions under which the selection processes are carried out are reviewed.
- Coordination of business activitiesIt regulates the relationship between the Xunta and external companies that may intervene (cleaning, private security, maintenance) in the centers where the tests are held, in order to avoid added risks.
The conjunction between exam security, prevention of occupational hazards y legal security It establishes a competitive examination model in the Xunta de Galicia that is increasingly protective of applicants, internal staff and the Administration itself, which seeks agile but solid processes in the face of appeals, claims and possible irregularities.
Source: News | Image: David silverline