Debate contribution: Waste and Inefficiency in Government

Debate contribution by Mr Jon Burrows on 23 March 2026.

MLA

Mr Jon Burrows

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

23 March 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Waste and Inefficiency in Government

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5465953

Read the official Assembly record

Text

It seems to me that this is a giant exercise of the pot calling the kettle black because the waste that is caused and role-modelled by this place is the cause of the waste throughout the public sector. The past 20 years have not been good. The Executive and Assembly have overpromised and under-delivered. I will run through some examples, but, before I do, the Sinn Féin Member talked about welcoming the open-book exercise by the British Treasury. Open book? Special measures are what the Executive are in because of the waste and the continued blame being placed on the Exchequer in the United Kingdom. Of course, we should lobby for more money, but we get more than £18 billion to divide between two million citizens. That is a significant amount of money, but we waste it. One example is £40 million being spent on taxis to schools. Some special educational needs children need support to get to school, but I asked questions about that. The taxi companies very quickly said to the Education Minister, "Take £1 million back". That is how rubbish the contract was. I was in the back of a taxi coming back from Belfast one night. The man recognised me, and he said, "Mr Burrows, we waited for somebody to ask the question. I did not even have to do night work any more. I just worked nine-to-five". They were charging up to £83 a mile, yet we lecture others. It is totally unacceptable. There is also staggering waste elsewhere. It is the same with procurement. I go to schools all the time, and the same happens throughout the public sector. If you ask how much it costs to paint a wall, the school principal will say that it could be done for £1,000, but they have to pay £4,000 because they have to go through procurement. Big projects would cost £20,000, but they pay £80,000 because they have to go through procurement. A simple trusted trader scheme could be set up, but we waste money because we do not treat it as our own. There is no role-modelling in here, except from our Health Minister, who achieved unprecedented in-year savings of £300 million by properly stewarding money. I will tell you where that comes from. It comes from a culture of valuing taxpayers' money. When the Health Minister went to Washington, he got on the plane and turned right, like every other taxpayer, and got an economy seat. When we were out there, I stayed with him, and we stayed out of town. One day, I got on a bike, and I rode to Capitol Hill in an Uber, or whatever it is called. We used the cheapest transport that we could get because we treat public money well. I asked the Minister of Finance, "Who is responsible for the performance management of the head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service?", but he did not know. It seems to me that no one is responsible for the person at the very top who gets paid as much as the Prime Minister. Then, we wonder why there is no accountability throughout the Civil Service. I asked "How many members of the Civil Service — and it is not a dig at the hardworking men and women in the Civil Service — have been classified as underperforming?". Wait for it, for an organisation that has performance issues, it is 20 out of 24,000. It is 0·09%. The rest of them are highly competent, yet the organisation is not. It does not make sense. We see it again with agency contracts. They are up by 76%. The cost for the past two years has doubled from £65 million to £135 million. This entire place should be put in special measures, yet we bring a motion. It shows that we are bringing a non-binding motion to deal with waste. No matter how we vote tonight, nothing will change. How many people are we keeping here this evening to work in Hansard and to keep the lights running? It is just a waste of money. It is like a sixth-form debating society tonight. Look at the amount of legislation that we pass — virtually none. When we do pass legislation, it is often not very good, as we have seen with the A5 or free hospital car parking. We talk about wasting money, but we are role-modelling the greatest waste of money going. We sit and debate, for days at a time, the use of a word in the Chamber or a Committee while women are getting killed on our streets. I look at the collective performance of the Executive, the attitude towards public money, the failure to grip performance issues in the Northern Ireland Civil Service and the fact that procurement is lacking any common sense. Then I look at the Health Minister, who was able to find £300 million, and I see that it is leadership that is missing, as well as competence. I will go back to the nub of the story. When we went to Washington, we flew economy and we used the cheapest way to get into town. That is where you set the example.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:08 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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