Debate contribution: Waste and Inefficiency in Government

Debate contribution by Mr Brian Kingston on 23 March 2026.

MLA

Mr Brian Kingston

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

23 March 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Waste and Inefficiency in Government

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5466049

Read the official Assembly record

Text

No, let me make some headway. I thank those who have contributed to a debate that Diane Forsythe, Harry Harvey and I brought as DUP members of the Finance Committee. We want every pound spent on public services in Northern Ireland to be well spent, and we will continue to challenge where that is not the case. At the same time, I hope that all of us will campaign for a block grant settlement from His Majesty's Treasury in Whitehall that is larger than the £19 billion that we receive annually. We must also examine our own finances and see where we can make savings. We have referenced the Northern Ireland Audit Office report, 'Leading and Resourcing the Northern Ireland Civil Service', which was published in January. That report sets out a range of serious concerns. We have addressed our motion to the Finance Minister, and his Department has to take the lead in getting a grip on the issues that were identified: weak workforce planning; a growing over-reliance on temporary and agency staff; rising costs; and a lack of strategic clarity about what skills are needed to deliver public services effectively. As others have said, there is no point in having such reports if we do not take action to follow up on them. The report shows that, as of April 2025, almost 5,000 agency workers were employed across the Northern Ireland Civil Service. I will return to the Minister's comment about that. That figure is more than double that in 2019, at a cost over five years exceeding half a billion pounds. Posts that come at a higher cost to the public purse through paying an agency to employ people do not represent best value for money. That cannot continue.

No. Let me make some progress. A culture of efficiency must be led from the top. That is why we have called on the Minister of Finance to take the lead. I point out to him that our motion speaks of the need:

"to agree mandatory rolling efficiency targets for day-to-day spending by every Executive Department".

The word "agree" is important. Collaboration on the Executive will be needed, but the Department of Finance is the Department that holds the purse strings, so it must take the lead on the matter. If Members around the Chamber were asked to name all the arm's-length bodies in Northern Ireland, I wonder how many we would be able to name and what total we would get to. At the Finance Committee, we recently received a report telling us that there are 140 arm's-length bodies across the nine Departments. I do not think that we would have got to that number. In various Bills that are brought to the Assembly, we see proposals to create more arm's-length bodies with, typically, a million-pound budget for each new commissioner or public body.

Let me finish my point. A new public body typically means extra costs for administration, staffing, public relations, human resources, publicity, office and IT costs and so on. We must therefore ask whether all public bodies are really necessary. Could some of them be combined? Could some of their functions be brought in-house by sponsoring Departments? Instead of creating a new one, could some new requests be tagged on to an existing public body ? That is why our motion calls for:

"a presumption against the creation of new public bodies."

That is not a moratorium, if a strong case can be made, but we should push back against the creation of new public bodies and challenge why some of them cannot be merged or brought in-house. I will give way briefly to the leader of the Opposition.

As I said, we have not called for a moratorium; we have asked for the case to be made. That education sector does not have the support that other education sectors receive. Rightly, in the interests of equality, the sector needs a supporting body to champion its case. We stand by that proposal from the Minister of Education. I will respond to some of the comments that were made. Diane Forsythe pointed out how the deputy leader of the Alliance Party seemed to spend his time attacking the DUP. I wonder whether it is a smokescreen and that, in fact, his party likes to have all the public bodies and to see money going to lots of its pet projects. The Alliance Party likes to see money going to net zero proposals that have damaged our economy and prevented much-needed roads, such as the A4 and A5, being built. The DUP will very much continue to champion efficiency. We will not be put off by the Alliance Party's attempts to distract us from the need for efficiencies and savings to be made in how we deliver for Northern Ireland by turning the debate into a party political matter. Colm Gildernew and Pat Sheehan from Sinn Féin also decided to turn the debate into a party political matter and attack our party. As I have already mentioned, that party's Finance Minister has called for cooperation on the matter. It is a task for us all and one on which we should all focus. I could talk about the £13 million that was spent on a new state-of-the-art kitchen and cafe at Magilligan prison, but that did not make it on to the Alliance Party's list. Mr Tennyson focused only on DUP Ministers.

I come to Members from the Ulster Unionist Party. Again, Jon Burrows came up with a DUP-related list. He did not mention the maternity hospital at the Royal Victoria Hospital, which successive Health Ministers from his party have mismanaged. Its costs have doubled, and it will be at least four years behind date.

Briefly.

We have stood against puberty blockers being prescribed to children in Northern Ireland.

The focus should be on psychological support. That is where it is needed.

I will give way if another Member who has the detail wishes to respond.

Time is moving on, so —. Matthew O'Toole made the point that the debate was like getting into a taxi when a taxi driver is mid rant. It is not just taxi drivers who like to rant, in fairness to them; there are plenty in here who do. Jemma Dolan spoke about how multi-year budgets and five-year plans can help with greater financial planning, which is true. Harry Harvey spoke of the need to tackle duplication and bureaucracy for bureaucracy's sake. Timothy Gaston agreed with our concerns about funding being allocated to ideologically driven pet projects, such as trying to change common sense when it comes to how people speak and live their lives. He rightly raised the issue of the toilets in Parliament Buildings, which is a matter for the Assembly Commission that needs to be addressed.

No, my time is running out. I will finish with the Minister of Finance's remarks. He said that such a drive for efficiency and cutting out waste needs to be applied across the Executive, and he is right. I have already pointed out that our motion:

"calls on the Minister of Finance to agree ... rolling efficiency targets".

However, that needs to come from his Department, which should take the lead and be a champion. We in the DUP will be a champion for the people's money. It is taxpayers' money, and it needs to be well spent in Northern Ireland. We need to challenge where it is not being well spent.

1,250 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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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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