NORTHERN IRELAND
The UK’s Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham (pictured) is to undertake an audit of the Northern Ireland Public Service after its head, David Sterling admitted some meetings were not minuted to avoid Freedom of Information (FoI) disclosures.
Mr Sterling sparked controversy after saying the main political parties, the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin, were sensitive to criticism and it was safer not to have a record that might be released through FoI requests.
His comments to the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) inquiry in March were branded as “scandalous”, and the Information Commissioner’s Office said it would carry out an audit of the Public Service to assess its compliance with FoI legislation.
In a letter to Mr Sterling, Ms Denham expressed deep concern over his comments and said FoI laws already included exemptions to give public bodies a safe space for internal discussions.
“To purposefully avoid taking minutes of meetings or recording decisions to provide that safe space is both unnecessary and frustrates the principles of openness, accountability and transparency, which lie behind the Act,” Ms Denham said.
“Effective records creation and management is the cornerstone of the legislation and I am concerned that practices in the Northern Ireland Civil Service could be falling short of what is expected of the codes of practice.”
Responding to the letter, Mr Sterling said he would welcome discussion on the issues.
had told the RHI inquiry the practice of taking minutes had lapsed after Devolution, when engagement between PS staff and Executive Ministers became more regular and the pace of life increased.
“The two main parties have been sensitive to criticism and 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,” Mr Sterling said at the inquiry.
Later, in response to correspondence from Vice President of Sinn Féin, Michelle O’Neill, Mr Sterling said he was never asked not to take minutes of meetings by any of the Ministers for whom he worked.
Belfast, 4 July 2018
