Former JobsPlus CEO is Robert Abela’s chief of staff

Updated at 6.38pm with government statement

Robert Abela’s first decision has been to appoint economist Clyde Caruana as chief of staff in the office of the prime minister.

Caruana captained JobsPlus, the government jobs agency, in the outgoing administration.

Caruana, a former Labour mayor of Zabbar, will be strong on policy having been the mastermind behind the youth guarantee drawn up by the UHM before the 2013 election and which was taken on board by the incoming Labour government.

Caruana was also the architect of the free childcare system introduced by the government in 2014.

He is a lecturer at the University of Malta and was active in Abela's campaign team.

A statement released by the Department of Information on Monday evening confirmed that Caruana was appointed head of secretariat in the Office of the Prime Minister.