In last week’s Business Insight, my colleague Andrew Webb was spot on in his article on the Programme for Government (or lack of it). But Andrew raises a much more fundamental point about how the Executive does policy.
The first order of business for any coalition government is to agree a Programme for Government, then they must decide who gets what in each department.
In Northern Ireland we, of course, do it the other way around, which straight away leads to a silo-based policy formation, a lack of joined up approach to many of the key challenges and poor collective responsibility. It’s not just a change of policy that is needed, but a change in how the Executive does policy.
You might think that this is a bit of a technical point, but it is at the heart of the inability of the Executive and Assembly to deliver real and meaningful change for our economy and ‘Northern Ireland plc’.
In addition, the lack of a multi-year budget means that it is extremely hard for education, health and other key departments to forward plan other than for very short-term considerations.
The new Programme for Government needs to be more than just an agreement of the four political parties that make up the current Executive or indeed just a wish list document out for consultation. It needs to be a co-design with business and other key stakeholders in civic society if we are to realise and share the full potential of this region. In short, we want to be partners, not just consultees in the implementation of the new Programme for Government.
There is a practical local example of how this co-design approach to policy works. In 2022 (after months of consideration) the main political parties, representatives of the eleven local councils and some 33 business, trade union and community sector groups all agreed the final High Street Taskforce report recommendations.
The High Street Taskforce report shows that we can do joined up and co-designed policy. Ultimately it is our elected representatives and ministers that will have the final say on any on any Programme for Government and budget, but all of us who represent key sectors of our economy are essential for its successful delivery.
Our Executive and Assembly will ultimately be judged on effective delivery, how it can change the lives of working people by helping to provide more and better jobs and make our region an eco-system of innovation.
We need the new Programme for Government to set out a new and bold vision about empowering people and communities to reshape and repurpose their local villages, towns, and cities and above all else reinvigorate the leadership model in Northern Ireland.
Retail NI wants Northern Ireland to be the very best place in the UK to locate, start, scale up a business, and to live and learn.
We are a region of opportunity with so much to offer and we need an ambitious Programme for Government to build this shared vision.
- Glyn Roberts is chief executive of Retail NI
