Debate contribution: Northern Ireland Civil Service: Reform

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Frew on 3 February 2026.

MLA

Mr Paul Frew

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

3 February 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Northern Ireland Civil Service: Reform

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5363124

Read the official Assembly record

Text

The DUP motion:

"recognises the dedication of civil servants in delivering public services under increasing strain".

As the third-largest employer in Northern Ireland after the Departments of Health and Education, all of which are funded from the public purse, there must be ongoing close scrutiny and review of the Civil Service to ensure good value for money and to increase funding for front-line public services. Time and again, reviews of the Northern Ireland Civil Service have highlighted problems with efficiency and the slow pace of reform that need attention. We welcome the publication last week of the Audit Office report, 'Leading and Resourcing the Northern Ireland Civil Service'. The report assesses progress against the 23 recommendations from a 2020 Audit Office report and concludes that just five have been achieved, 13 have been partially achieved and five have not been achieved. The report also assessed progress against the 12 recommendations in the Public Accounts Committee's report on the Civil Service, which was published in 2021. Again, the trends are similar: of those 12 recommendations, the Audit Office report concluded, just five had been achieved, five had been partially achieved and two had not been achieved. Progress has been limited. Our motion calls on the Minister of Finance to:

"bring forward a time-bound plan to reform workforce planning within the Northern Ireland Civil Service, reduce reliance on agency staffing and improve efficiency."

Nearly 5,500 vacant posts have been declared by the Civil Service since 31 March 2025. There is a greater reliance on temporary staff: nearly 5,000 agency workers were employed as of 1 April 2025, which was more than double the number recorded in April 2019. There is something going wrong there. I know that having temporary staff can sometimes mean that there is more flexibility and mobility not only for the Civil Service but for those staff. However, there are also real weaknesses for people who are on temporary contracts. It is important that those hard-working people get the resilience and support that they need. In order to pay for mortgages and other things, you need a well-grounded job or place of employment. That is really important. The other issue is sickness levels. No one here would begrudge people time off for sickness — of course not. However, the difference between the public sector and the private sector is stark. That cannot be by chance. There has to be a look at why more people take more sickness days off in the public sector than in the private sector. Most politicians do not want to grapple with that; of course they do not. It is not a popular message. We do not want people to be going off sick, but we also need to look at it. I asked this question, which was answered by the Minister on 21 January 2025:

"To ask the Minister of Finance, in relation to the figures in the NISRA Annual Report 2023-24, why the percentage of working days lost due to sickness absence was 4.8 days for not temporary promoted staff, whilst only 1.8 days for temporary promoted staff."

I am not suggesting for one moment that we temporarily promote everybody working in the public sector and that that will solve the issue of sickness or bring reform. However, my question looks at the role that the Finance Minister has in fixing that problem because, in his answer to me, when I asked about any analysis that had been carried out, he said:

"To date, there has been no analysis carried out to this level of detail into absence levels of staff on temporary promotion compared to staff not on temporary promotion."

It goes to the heart of the matter. What is the Finance Minister doing to resolve the issue, to lead the Civil Service and to reform it into something that is much more effective and much more efficient for our people?

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:30 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification