The Department of Finance has insisted “considerable work” has been undertaken on civil service governance reforms recommended by the RHI Inquiry.
The department’s statement, which is provided by a spokesperson rather than Sinn Féin minister Caoimhe Archibald, is in response to a critical Audit Office report which found slow progress in implementing the inquiry’s raft of reform recommendations.
The watchdog said it was unlikely that 42 recommendations made in the £13m public inquiry’s final report will be fully implemented.
Auditor general Dorinna Carville described the lack of progress four years after the inquiry reported as “concerning”.
She took the unusual step of highlighting how auditors “encountered difficulty in securing timely access to adequate records” from Department of Finance officials.
Ulster Unionist Steve Aiken, a member of Stormont’s finance committee, said the watchdog’s findings were “no surprise”.
“Recently when in front of finance committee, NI Civil Service head Jayne Brady obfuscated about delays in implementing recommendations,” he said.
“This was particularly galling in light of recent evidence from Covid Inquiry, which basically showed that no changes in the culture of secrecy had occurred.”
The department’s response said the “considerable work” undertaken on reforms was “reflected in 26 recommendations having been implemented with a further 11 to be implemented in the near future”.
It referenced the update published on the Department of Finance website in March, which Ms Carville had argued largely lacked “relevant documentation to support this assessment”.
In relation to record keeping, the department said an internal review had led to a “strengthening” of information governance.
