Concerns over ‘scandalous’ secrecy at Stormont

Concerns have been raised over the level of secrecy in devolved government, after claims some meetings between ministers and civil servants were not minuted as it was “safer”.

Head of Northern Ireland’s Civil Service David Sterling said the two main Stormont parties, the DUP and Sinn Féin, had been sensitive to criticism.

“I think it is in that context that, as senior Civil Service, we got into the habit of not recording all meetings on the basis that it is safer sometimes not to have a record that, for example, might be released under Freedom of Information,” he added.

Mr Sterling made the remarks as he answered questions at the Renewable Heat Incentive public inquiry on Tuesday.

The issue was raised over a meeting between Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment official Fiona Hepper and former minister Arlene Foster about whether to proceed with RHI without cost controls introduced in Great Britain.

There was a difference of opinion between the two about the meeting and no minute was taken.

Any minister who is too sensitive to have their decisions scrutinised by the public has no business being in government.

Mr Sterling said, as a general rule, engagement between ministers and officials had become more “fluid”, with more use of emails.

He added: “One of the consequences of that is it becomes much more difficult to apply the rigid disciplines of minuting every meeting.”

He said he was “pretty confident” every other major decision taken during his period in DETI would have had a clear audit trail.

However, SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan said not minuting meetings in case of FOI requests was “a scandalous contortion of standard practice that was designed to keep the work of ministers secret from the people they are supposed to represent”.

He further said that every minister in the “secretive” Stormont Executive had questions to answer.

“Did they instruct or intimate that senior civil servants should not take notes of meetings to protect them from public scrutiny?” Mr McCrossan asked.

“Did they have any knowledge that notes were not being taken of key meetings and decisions?”

He added: “This goes to the heart of the character of those two parties.

“They negotiate in secret, they govern in secret, they are terrified of scrutiny.”