No ‘hatchet job’ on civil service in wake of RHI scandal

The future of the civil service cannot be defined by the past failings of the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme, the head of the organisation has insisted.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Jayne Brady said she was committed to following through with reforms recommended by a public inquiry into the green energy scandal, but she made clear she was not going to “dismantle” or a do a “hatchet job” on the service.

Ms Brady told members of the Assembly’s Finance Committee that a “culture change” she was determined to deliver would not be achieved by only reacting to the past but also required “positive” actions to equip it for the future.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The RHI scheme, set up in 2012, incentivised businesses and farmers to switch to eco-friendly boilers by paying them a subsidy for the wood pellet fuel required to run them.

Dr Jayne BradyDr Jayne Brady
Dr Jayne Brady

But mistakes in its designs saw the subsidy rates set higher than the actual cost of the wood pellets with applicants finding themselves able to burn to earn.

A public inquiry identified a multiplicity of civil service mistakes in the running of the scheme. The probe, chaired by retired judge Sir Patrick Coghlin, produced a 656-page, three volume report containing 319 findings and making 44 recommendations aimed at addressing the litany of failures identified by the investigation. However, many of the recommendations remain unimplemented and only one civil servant was formally disciplined.

External appointee Ms Brady said she had joined an organisation that was “up for change”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I am conscious that we must give serious attention to those areas where our performance has not always been what we or the public would wish,” she told committee members.

“In particular, we need to act on the findings of the RHI Inquiry and deliver against its recommendations.”

Ms Brady said it was also important to deliver on the recommendations of a report by the Public Accounts Committee that raised concerns about capability and capacity within the civil service.

“I give you my assurance that I am committed to doing this, but I equally do not want the process of growing and developing our civil service to be wholly defined by these things,” she added.

“Change cannot simply come through reacting to the past, it must also come through positive action to face the future.”