Civil service must do better to deliver major capital projects, says Brady

Senior civil servants must do better to tackle delays and overspends in delivering major capital projects in Northern Ireland, Jayne Brady has said.

But the head of Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) warned there was no quick fix to address concerns that have previously been identified by auditors.

Last year, the NI Audit Office reported that Northern Ireland’s major capital projects portfolio will cost £2.45 billion more to complete than originally estimated.

The report by Comptroller and Auditor General Dorinnia Carville provided an overview of progress on 11 projects previously covered in a 2019 report, including seven flagship infrastructure projects identified by the Northern Ireland Executive in 2015 as highest priority.

The seven flagship projects are the A5 road, the A6 road, Belfast rapid transit, Belfast transport hub, the Maternity and Children’s Hospital, regional and sub-regional stadia, and the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Learning and Development Centre in Cookstown.

The Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is undertaking an inquiry into the delivery of major capital projects across Northern Ireland.

Ms Brady gave evidence to members of the committee on Thursday.

She noted that the particular constitutional arrangements in Northern Ireland – where she does not have direct accountability for the permanent secretaries in each Stormont department – meant there were limitations in her ability to direct actions in regard to the delivery of the projects.

However, she said a series of improvements to processes and structures were seeking to enhance collaboration among senior civil servants on projects, including a reconstituted NI Civil Service Board.

“I absolutely accept that we must, we have to do better,” Ms Brady told the committee.

“I’m very clear that it’s not just the overspends, which are majorly significant, it is the lost opportunity. It is the deaths on our roads. It is the schools that are deteriorating.

“So it is not sufficient for me to come here and say there is a governance structure in Northern Ireland which doesn’t allow me to direct. I, and we as leaders, need to find a way to address those issues.”

The head of the NICS added: “Major capital projects have a major timeline to progress in some of those areas, so these are not things that you can quickly fix in terms of delivery.”