Writing for Belfast Live, Robert Murtagh, National Officer for the FDA in NI, argues that the impartiality of the civil service must not become collateral damage in a rising political temperature.
On Monday, the Assembly returns after summer recess. The summer is often used as a time to recharge and reset, a time when politics goes a bit quiet, while the government machine ticks over quietly in the background.
However, it’s fair to say that there has been no let-up in politics this Summer, from a new Prime Minister in Westminster, a new Health Minister, the re-emergence of the Drumcree dispute, a cattle cull at Fivemiletown, and discussions without outcomes on the budget and subsequent limits on NI department spending, leading to questions on whether Stormont will even last.
If this summer is anything to go by, we are in for a difficult eight months until the election in May.
Rising political tensions between parties ahead of an election is nothing new nor is it specific to NI. However, the impact in NI is much starker; we all know our system of government is very different, with parties ideologically opposed to each other forced to work together as a result of our power-sharing arrangements.
With a list of issues as long as Lough Neagh, from agreement on a budget and public sector pay awards, A5, Casement Park, SEN reform or the Good Jobs Bill, there is limited time and bandwidth to deliver on the programme for government commitments before the election.
Political point scoring between parties, particularly between those in the Executive, will make resolving these thorny issues even harder, and while parties will scramble to attribute blame when delivery falls short, it is as inevitable as rain in winter that a finger will be pointed at civil servants. There is already regular commentary that the civil service is ‘bloated’ and that it suffers from a ‘silo-mentality’. Criticisms that are often repeated, yet never really hold up under scrutiny.
It’s an immutable fact that civil servants in NI operate in a system that was never designed to deliver the most effective form of government, yet this is precisely what is asked of them.
Giving the civil service a kicking has become a favoured pastime for some commentators and even some politicians. There have been occasions recently where MLAs have engaged in criticism of officials that is both personal and insulting. We’ve seen an MLA baselessly accuse officials of “lying” to a Stormont committee and, disgracefully, a few MLAs backing a call from a lobby organisation for officials to resign within the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not arguing that MLAs shouldn’t scrutinise civil servants.
Civil servants aren’t perfect, and things can go wrong. However, as the political heat begins to boil and MLAs do their best to secure their seats, it is incumbent that mudslinging and vilification aren’t conveniently packaged as ‘scrutiny or accountability’. Officials who appear before the Assembly do so to answer serious questions about policy, operational delivery, and to account for use of public money; they are not there to be political spokespeople for their Minister – that’s what party press officers are for.
I don’t believe that most MLAs necessarily set out to do this, and politics must allow for open debate and discussion. This can sometimes be emotional; after all, government affects almost every facet of people’s lives. But we must never allow emotion or political point-scoring to undermine the fundamental principle that underpins the civil service, impartiality.
Officials serve the government of the day, whatever party/parties that comes from, without fear or favour. It is this principle that means officials cannot defend themselves publicly, nor can they (or should they) express a political view. But it isn’t just civil servants who have a responsibility to uphold that; there is also an obligation on Ministers and MLAs, and this starts by respecting the role of civil servants and ensuring scrutiny and accountability is proportionate, evidence-based and balanced.
I am concerned that the febrile political atmosphere that is likely to continue or get worse will see officials caught in the middle. For this reason, I have written to the Speaker of the Assembly, Edwin Poots, to ask him to remind MLAs that when officials appear before the Assembly, they do so as part of their professional duties, and the right to respect and dignity in the workplace still applies, and impartiality must not be brought into question.
A former senior civil servant told me recently, ‘Government is hard, government in NI is harder’. Officials are not naïve to the political environment we operate in, but if we want government to even have a chance of succeeding between now and May, we must keep civil servants out of the political crossfire.
The impartiality of the civil service must not become collateral damage in a rising political temperature.
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