Debate contribution: Public Appointments

Debate contribution by Mr Stewart Dickson on 22 June 2026.

MLA: Mr Stewart Dickson
Party at the time: Alliance Party
Date: 22 June 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Opposition Business
Heading: Public Appointments
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5638032

Text

Methinks that the Member protests too much.
I rise on behalf of the Alliance Party, and as Deputy Chair of the Committee for the Executive Office. I have followed this issue closely, and raised it on a number of occasions at the Committee and in the House. The concerns in the motion are real and well founded. Let me start with the vacancy. The post of Commissioner for Public Appointments sat vacant for more than four years between May 2021 and August 2025. During that time, Ministers continued to make appointments to boards and other public bodies. They did so without an independent regulator in post to oversee the process. Therefore, although I welcomed Claire Keatinge's appointment when it came, because it was the right appointment, I was clear that it was long overdue, and I make no apology for saying that again today. The recruitment competition was not even launched until March 2025. What happened during the four-year period before that? The public deserve answers to that question. The second issue is that it is not enough to simply have a commissioner in post; the system needs to allow them to deliver. Claire Keatinge has already said that the data on who sits on the boards of our public bodies is "poor" — not inadequate or incomplete but "poor" — and we need an explanation of that description. That is the commissioner herself, the person whose entire role is to oversee the process, telling us that she cannot say with total confidence who sits at the table in those bodies and boardrooms. Fewer than half of the applicants complete monitoring forms. We like to talk a great deal in the Chamber about equality, diversity and inclusion, but if we measure only half, we are basically flying blind, or, worse, doing so deliberately. That is a real and fundamental weakness in the system, and it requires immediate attention. There is a pattern that many Members will recognise, which is the same profiles appearing on boards. That is not a criticism of the individuals involved, many of whom bring considerable experience and a genuine commitment to public service, but it raises the questions of why we keep seeing the same people, who is not getting through and what information is needed to widen the pool. People in business, community organisations and the voluntary sector describe the process as not feeling accessible to them. Many do not know how to apply; others do not even realise that the opportunities exist. If the process itself is a barrier to participation, it is really not open to all. I urge the Executive Office and the commissioner to make public a profile of all the vacancies and to encourage the widest range of people to apply and be considered for the posts. I make it clear, however, that this is not a blanket criticism of all appointments that were made while the commissioner's post was empty. The concern is that the independent check was not there. We simply have no way of knowing whether appointments were made well or badly during that period, because there was nobody independent to tell people. Ministers who ran open competitions on merit did the right thing, but the public could not verify that, and that is the central problem. We know better than most what happens when public confidence in institutions breaks down. The last thing that any of us wants is to give people another reason to disengage from politics here. Every time there is a reasonable question about whether an appointment was made on merit or connection, public trust takes a hit. We cannot ask people to have faith in the institutions and then hand them reasons not to. The Alliance Party will support the motion. We will keep a keen eye out to make sure that the post does not become another box-ticking exercise.

648 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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