Business group in plea to reduce NI public bodies

Northern Ireland has too many public bodies soaking up valuable resources, employers claimed today.

The Confederation of British Industry has told the review of public administration the “excessive number of public bodies” in the province was too expensive, inefficient and bureaucratic.

In its submission to the review, the CBI called for fewer government departments, and the number of local councils to be reduced to around eight and less public bodies.

CBI Northern Ireland director Nigel Smyth said: “We have dozens of quangos in this province which need to be addressed.

“In nearly every one there is a finance department, a procurement department, a human resources department. There is too much duplication, too much waste, too much is being spent on administration and management.

“There needs to be streamlining. So what we are saying is the four health boards should be combined into one executive agency and the number of trusts reduced.

“The five education and library boards should be combined into one executive agency.

“We also believe a reduction in the number of central government departments would create efficiency savings and better joined up government. Debate among our members has centred around there being between six and eight departments.

“Local government should be rationalised to create a smaller number of local authorities – somewhere in the region of six, seven or eight – with enhanced powers.”

The CBI said Northern Ireland was over-administered compared to other parts of the United Kingdom and often the customer was not put first.

The confederation said the use of private-public partnerships to fund vital infrastructural projects had been inadequate.

Its members argued political leaders and those in public service management had a role to play in creating an environment which encouraged innovation and sensible risk taking.

“In the United States, they have a culture where they are prepared to take risks and if they fail, as some inevitably do, they dust themselves down and start all over again,” Mr Smyth said.

“In Northern Ireland there is a greater fear of failure but we are not going to get innovation unless we are prepared to take risks and accept failure.

“We need to break away from the current blame culture and public servants should have the support of the Assembly and other scrutiny bodies in taking risks.

“Cultures are set by leaders. A clear commitment by local political and managerial leaders at all levels would do more than anything else to initiate change.”