The assembly’s public accounts committee has written to the Department of Finance voicing concerns that governance reforms recommended in the aftermath of the RHI scandal will not be implemented.
A report earlier this month by auditor general Dorinnia Carville found that little over half the recommendations made by the public inquiry into the botched renewable heat scheme had been put in place and that overall pace was slow. It concluded that proposed measures are unlikely to meet the inquiry’s recommendations in full across five areas.
The auditor also revealed that Department of Finance officials failed to give government auditors “timely access to adequate records” that would support the claim that civil servants are implementing the £13m inquiry’s raft of recommendations.
It led to a delay in the report’s publication of more than three months.
The department, headed by Sinn Féin minister Caoimhe Archibald, has insisted “considerable work” has been undertaken on the reforms civil service governance reforms.
Public accounts committee chair Daniel McCrossan said MLAs were “concerned” by the audit office findings and that the committee was now “seeking clarification from the department on a number of points”.
“Having considered the NI Audit Office report, we note that the ‘overall pace of implementation has been slow’ and so we have written to the finance department to express our concern at the lack of progress,” he said.
“It is also worrying to discover that the audit office experienced delays in its work because of difficulties in getting timely access to records. We look forward to receiving a prompt response to our correspondence.”
