The Northern Ireland Executive is “festering in a culture of waste and inefficiency”, according to NI Conservatives spokesman, Mark Brotherston.
“There’s barely a week goes by without a new report highlighting how Stormont is wasting taxpayers’ money”, Mark said. “This week the Public Accounts Committee pointed out that government departments still aren’t coordinating effectively the way they buy goods and services, despite the fact that they’ve been pouring away cash in this way for more than a decade. Last week the Audit Office found that the Executive is wasting money by failing to get a good deal when it borrows for infrastructure projects. Meanwhile, failure to implement reform to the welfare system is likely to cost up to £200 million a year. The Welfare Bill is ready to go, but irresponsible ministers have failed to get it through the Assembly.”
“This litany of waste is completely outrageous. The Executive needs to be clear and accountable in the way it spends public money. That means openness about where cash comes from, a clear accounting trail which shows how and why it is spent and procedures to make sure that government departments are getting the best deal they can for the taxpayer. The DUP’s Sammy Wilson was the ‘minister for waste’, when he was at the department of finance. So far Simon Hamilton hasn’t got to grips with the problem and, unless change happens quickly, he risks emulating his predecessor. There is no excuse for spending taxpayers’ money in an extravagant, unaccountable fashion and the Executive needs a complete change in culture to curb its wasteful ways.”