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Patsy McGlone
10th November 2010
Action needed to Restore
Confidence in Civil Service - McGlone
SDLP Deputy Leader, Patsy McGlone, has
warned that the head of the Civil Service must take action to restore public
confidence in its senior management. The warning came as the Assembly
debated a number of reports from the Public Accounts Committee.
Speaking after the debate the Mid Ulster MLA said, “As it has for all other
members of the Public Accounts Committee, this year has been a learning
curve for me. Along with the Civil Service and the Comptroller and Auditor
General, I have learned lessons through the Committee. We usually witness
the regular pattern of accounting officers being shifted before the
principal offenders can come before the Committee. We see the usual things,
such as poor management and, usually, overspending. We see a Civil Service
characterised as a body in which reasons are given for not doing things.
“Scepticism has been heightened by the actions of some senior civil
servants. Actions that I have never witnessed before, nor could have
believed possible in the Assembly in times of devolution. However, you could
argue that, had it not been for devolution, those antics — at least those
that have been discovered so far — would not have been uncovered. It would
have been easy for those senior civil servants to fly to London, sit in
front of a few Tory and Labour MPs, give them the spin and jump on a flight
back home and forget all about it. Therefore, one positive is that
accountable democracy has shone the spotlight on those nefarious dark
corners where it needed to be shone.
“The credibility and standing of the Civil Service has to be rescued by the
clear actions of the head of the Civil Service. At certain senior levels,
the integrity of its work has been brought into serious question, as was
highlighted by the NI Water debacle and the issues with the Department for
Regional Development. Public confidence can be restored in the senior
management of the Civil Service only if the head of the Civil Service takes
clear, transparent and effective action.”
ENDS
Notes:
Assembly debate
http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/record/reports2010/101102.htm#e
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