Leadership Required To Improve Public Services

A former head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service has called for elected representatives to make difficult decisions about public services when the current political impasse at Stormont ends.

Sir Malcolm McKibbin retired last year and has since contributed to a Deloitte report on the state of the public sector.

The paper, entitled The State of the State, examines how other countries have used technology or introduced charges for some public services to cut costs.

It includes a range of suggestions to streamline and improve the sector in Northern Ireland, which is under huge financial strain.

There has been a "gradual deterioration" across public services, with a number approaching a "cliff edge," according to Sir Malcolm McKibbin.

He said problems caused by ongoing Treasury constraints on public spending were amplified by the near two-year absence of a functioning government.

Sir Malcolm called on ministers to take the lead with "tough and brave" decisions, to secure the sustainability of key services in the future.

"If you look at where it's been successful elsewhere in the world, it has required some quite determined, courageous leadership to implement these initiatives because many of them are not particularly publicly popular or politically acceptable.

"They're going to have to ask themselves some serious questions about what they're prepared to do when everyone considers the benefits that might be accrued if they are implemented."

(JG)