Permanent bureaucracy of the Northern Ireland Executive
The
Northern Ireland Civil Service
(
NICS
;
Irish
:
Statseirbhis Thuaisceart Eireann
;
[1]
Ulster-Scots
:
Norlin Airlann Civil Sarvice
)
[2]
is the permanent
bureaucracy
of employees that supports the
Northern Ireland Executive
, the devolved government of Northern Ireland.
The NICS is one of three civil services in the United Kingdom, the others being the
Home Civil Service
and
HM Diplomatic Service
. The heads of these services are members of the Permanent Secretaries Management Group.
[
citation needed
]
[3]
[4]
History
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(
November 2011
)
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1921?1972
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Northern Ireland
was established by the
Government of Ireland Act 1920
and the first devolved
Parliament of Northern Ireland
took office on 7 June 1921. The first civil servants were transferred from the
Irish civil service
headquartered at
Dublin Castle
. The departments of the
Northern Ireland Government
were initially the following:
An additional
Ministry of Health and Local Government
was formed in 1944, in preparation for the
National Health Service
and other aspects of the welfare state. In 1965, that department was split between the
Ministry of Health and Social Services
and the new
Ministry of Development
. A further
Ministry of Community Relations
was established in 1969, in response to the early stages of
the Troubles
.
1972?1999
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The
Parliament of Northern Ireland
was dissolved on 30 March 1972, when direct rule was imposed by the
United Kingdom Government
. The
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
assumed responsibility for government and was assisted by a new
Northern Ireland Office
. The NIO absorbed the
Ministry of Home Affairs
and took direct responsibility for security, justice and constitutional policy.
Following the
Sunningdale Agreement
, a power-sharing
Northern Ireland Executive
briefly held office between 1 January 1974 and 28 May 1974. The following departments were accountable to the Executive:
- Department of Agriculture
- Department of Commerce
- Department of Education
- Department of the Environment
- Department of Finance
- Department of Health and Social Services
- Department of Housing, Local Government and Planning
- Office of Law Reform
The Executive collapsed due to the loyalist
Ulster Workers' Council Strike
and direct rule resumed.
The Troubles
continued in the absence of a political settlement.
Between May 1974 and December 1999, departments were led politically by junior ministers in the
Northern Ireland Office
. UK Governments alternated between the
Conservative
and
Labour
parties, neither of which included Members of Parliament from Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Civil Service, uniquely in the
British Isles
and Western Europe, was not accountable to locally elected political representatives during this time.
From 1982 to 1999, there were six departments:
[5]
[6]
- Department of Agriculture
- Department of Economic Development
- Department of Education
- Department of the Environment
- Department of Finance and Personnel
- Department of Health and Social Services
1999-2016
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The
Good Friday Agreement
(April 1998) led to the formation of the
Northern Ireland Executive
(accountable to the
Northern Ireland Assembly
) on 2 December 1999, which ended 25 years of direct rule. The Executive was suspended several times due to political disputes (notably from October 2002 to May 2007) and each suspension resulted in the return of direct rule. Devolution was restored on 8 May 2007 and was partially interrupted in late 2015, due to the resignation of
Democratic Unionist Party
(DUP) ministers due to alleged
Provisional IRA
activity.
[7]
Devolution resulted in an increase in the number of Civil Service departments, accountable to a cross-community Executive of 11 ministers. The Executive initially had 10 departments, which were often described by the Northern Ireland Civil Service and the media through abbreviations (see brackets below):
[8]
The number of departments increased to 11 (and ministers to 12) when the
Department of Justice
(abbreviated to DoJ) was created on 12 April 2010. The
Northern Ireland Office
continued in operation, representing the interests of the
United Kingdom Government
in Northern Ireland.
2016 onwards
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Following the Fresh Start Agreement (November 2015),
[9]
the parties of Northern Ireland agreed that the number of Executive departments should be reduced. This took effect following the next
election
to the
Northern Ireland Assembly
in 2016 and reduced the number of Civil Service departments (as three departments were dissolved and its roles amalgamated with other departments). The departments (with official abbreviations) are as follows:
The Northern Ireland Executive ceased to operate in January 2017, following the resignation of
Martin McGuinness
(
Sinn Fein
) as deputy First Minister during a dispute between the DUP and Sinn Fein over the
Renewable Heat Incentive scandal
.
[10]
An early
election
to the
Northern Ireland Assembly
took place in March 2017 but the Northern Ireland Executive was not formed afterwards due to continued disputes between the DUP and Sinn Fein.
Each department is currently led by a
Permanent Secretary
, or the Head of the Civil Service in the case of the Executive Office. The
Permanent Secretaries Group
meets monthly and effectively the highest level of government in Northern Ireland in the absence of the Executive.
[11]
The interim Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service has been has been vacant since August 2020, but Jenny Pyper has been temporary appointed as interim Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service for the term of eight months from 1 December 2020 pending the appointment of a permanent interim Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service. Jayne Brady is now the Head of the Civil Service in Northern Ireland.
Composition
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edit
]
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(
November 2011
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As of June 2011, the Northern Ireland Civil Service employed 25,847 staff (out of a total public sector employment of 218,577). The breakdown by department was as follows:
[12]
Department
|
Employment
|
Office of the First and Deputy First Minister
|
384
|
Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
|
3,040
|
Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure
|
274
|
Department of Education
|
613
|
Department for Employment and Learning
|
2,109
|
Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment
|
583
|
Department of the Environment
|
2,683
|
Department of Finance and Personnel
|
3,589
|
Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety
|
732
|
Department of Justice
|
1,633
|
Department for Infrastructure
|
2,279
|
Department for Social Development
|
7,458
|
Public Prosecution Service
(non-ministerial)
|
470
|
Northern Ireland Civil Service
|
25,847
|
Other major public sector employers included
National Health Service
trusts (68,263), schools, colleges and education and library boards (65,514),
local government
(12,134) and the
Police Service of Northern Ireland
(10,542). The public sector constituted 31.3% of the region's workforce.
[13]
Ethics and accountability
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The
Civil Service Commissioners for Northern Ireland
[14]
are not civil servants and are independent of the Executive. The Commissioners are responsible for ensuring that appointments to the Northern Ireland Civil Service are made on merit on the basis of fair and open competition; they also have a role in hearing appeals made by existing civil servants under the Northern Ireland Civil Service's Code of Ethics.
Under the Code of Ethics,
[15]
each civil servant is expected to carry out his or her role with dedication and a commitment to the Civil Service and its
core values
: integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality, defined as follows.
- Integrity - putting the obligations of public service above your own personal interests
- Honesty - being truthful and open
- Objectivity - basing your advice and decisions on rigorous analysis of the evidence
- Impartiality - acting solely according to the merits of the case and serving equally well ministers of different political persuasions
The code also outlines the standards of behaviour expected in carrying out the role in accordance with each of those values.
Organisation
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There are three staff groups within the Northern Ireland Civil Service: Senior Civil Service, Non Industrial, and Industrial. The
Senior Civil Service
has four grades:
- Grade 5 ? normally the head of a division (possibly managing several different branches)
- Grade 3 ? head of a directorate or executive agency
- Permanent Secretary ? head of the department or Government Legal Services
- Head of Service ? Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service
The
Non Industrial
staff group is split into the following eight grades:
- Administrative Assistant
- Administrative Officer
- Executive Officer II
- Executive Officer I
- Staff Officer
- Deputy Principal
- Grade 7
- Grade 6
Each grade has a number of different disciplines (e.g. General Service, Professional & Technical etc.). Civil servants in the
Industrial
staff group have many different grades that are split into pay groups for undertaking similar types of work e.g. road workers in the Department for Infrastructure or
craft grades
in DAERA.
References
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