NICS reform can only be delivered with political leadership, says FDA

The FDA has called for strong political leadership to address the structural issues facing the Northern Ireland Civil Service, in response to the NI Audit Office report, ‘Capacity and Capability: Follow Up Report’.

As quoted in BBC News, Belfast Live, and Civil Service World, the FDA’s National Officer for Northern Ireland Robert Murtagh outlined that the report failed to recognise the full extent of the challenges facing the NICS, saying:

“The size and shape of the civil service should be determined by a coherent and consistent vision from Ministers. Civil servants need clear objectives and proper resources to deliver better outcomes for the people of Northern Ireland.

“While there are aspects of this report that highlight significant issues facing the NICS, including sickness absence, vacancy levels and overreliance on temporary staffing solutions, the report fails to sufficiently analyse the difficult context within which the NICS is operating.”

Murtagh continued:

“It is simply an unavoidable fact that the NICS and its leaders have faced significant challenges in recent years, stemming from the pandemic, Windsor Framework implementation, collapse of the Executive and ongoing budgetary and resource challenges. Despite these challenges, progress has been made. While the pace of change may be less than hoped, it is vital that time is taken to ensure transformation is done in tandem with the civil service workforce, not imposed on them.”

Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster, Murtagh added that the “siloed” structure of the NICS creates further barriers to transformation, saying:

“One of the problems here, is that you’ve got nine government departments, each their own legal entities, and that is a challenge when you’re trying to deliver transformation.

“There is a role here… for ministers across the Executive, to make sure that resources are available to deliver on transformation within their departments. There is only so much that can be done from the centre, but we need to make sure that if we want to deliver transformation, resources are there.”

He continued:

“If we look at the last five years, why have we not been able to deliver? Well, we’ve had the pandemic… We’ve had Executive collapse. We’ve had huge resources needed to implement the Windsor Framework. So, there are issues here around why we haven’t been able to deliver transformation as fast as people would like. But the idea that it’s not happening, I think is simply for the birds. And it is recognised in the report that progress is being made.”