Securing budget ‘remains important objective’, civil servant tells committee

Securing a budget at Stormont “remains an important objective”, the senior civil servant in the Executive Office has said.

Moira Doherty took up the role of permanent secretary in the Executive Office, which supports the work of First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, as well as junior ministers Aisling Reilly and Joanne Bunting, in February.

She said her first weeks have been spent engaging with ministers, colleagues and partners, and looking at the pressures on the department’s budget.

Ms Doherty appeared before a meeting of the Executive Office scrutiny committee on Wednesday while political agreement on a new multi-year budget remains outstanding.

“As committee members will be aware, the department has entered the new financial year without an agreed budget, a multi-year settlement would provide greater stability and support longer-term planning, and that remains an important objective,” she said.

“In the meantime, my focus is on managing the resources carefully, maintaining delivery against ministers’ agreed priorities while being realistic about that wider funding envelope.”

Committee chairwoman Paula Bradshaw was critical that the only paper brought for Ms Doherty’s appearance was “a old business plan” and claimed there is a “mismatch” between the work the committee is asked to do, and what it is given to scrutinise.

She said: “My problem is we are a scrutiny committee, we are meant to hold you (the Executive Office) to account … but if we don’t have those strategies, how do we hold you to account?

“You’re in receipt of public money, you have a large staff, team and responsibilities, and if we don’t have all this stuff in front of us, how can we ensure that accountability and oversight of those functions?”

Ms Doherty said she fully understand the role of committees, having worked in several Stormont departments prior to this role.

“I suppose the distinction of the work of the Executive Office, which I’m fairly new to, is the fact that it is a joint office, that brings a different dynamic,” she said.

“The thing that I would say, very importantly, is that many of the issues that sit within the Executive Office are some of the most complex and sensitive within the Executive, and where you are dealing with the joint office, obviously there are issues there around alignment that require additional time.

“So, while I hear your frustration, chair, that is also a feature of the system that we operate within.”