Civil service 'drift' can't continue - DUP leader Gavin Robinson calls for integration with UK service

By The Newsroom
Published 11th May 2024, 00:25 BST
Gavin Robinson's weekly email to DUP members focuses on fundamental reform of the NI Civil Service - including greater integration with the national Home Civil Service.Gavin Robinson's weekly email to DUP members focuses on fundamental reform of the NI Civil Service - including greater integration with the national Home Civil Service.
Gavin Robinson's weekly email to DUP members focuses on fundamental reform of the NI Civil Service - including greater integration with the national Home Civil Service.
Gavin Robinson says that Northern Ireland’s civil service lacks the “requisite expertise” to deliver radical reform – and the DUP will press for greater integration within the UK Civil Service and the recruitment of more external experts as senior leaders.

​It comes after comments in the Covid-19 inquiry, which the DUP leader described as “strikingly similar to those made during the RHI inquiry”. He said that whilst most civil servants are striving to achieve the very best for the public, “comment from some senior figures have not only been contemptuous towards elected representatives but highlight a continued lack of expertise within our local civil service to deliver the ambitious reform that schools, roads and hospitals require”.

In his weekly email to DUP members, the East Belfast MP focused heavily on alleged failings of the NI Civil Service (NICS) – and questioned its ability to deliver key projects such as the York Street Interchange and the A5 road upgrade. He said the regionalised nature of NICS “means the Civil Service in the rest of the UK benefits from economies of scale in terms of the skills present within it. Personnel can move more easily within the system and bring specific expertise to projects where necessary”.

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The DUP boss continued: “I don’t believe that Northern Ireland is lacking in vision or ambition, but too often we have seen a scarcity of expertise within our public sector to make that vision a reality. We sought to tackle this within the Safeguarding the Union command paper. That sets out a programme for skills exchange between the NICS and the UK Home Civil Service. Encouraging those secondments and movement across all parts of the UK may sound like a technical or even inconsequential move, but it not only mainstreams NI more within the UK but can deliver real and meaningful benefits for the people living here.

He said: “It is clear the NICS does not have the requisite expertise to deliver the radical reform or build the infrastructure needed for the next generation to succeed.

“This will not be permitted to drift. We will be pressing for greater integration within the Home Civil Service and the recruitment of more external experts as senior leaders”.

Related topics:DUPCivil ServiceNorthern IrelandCovid-19

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