Dr Steve Aiken OBE MLA, the Ulster Unionist party’s Finance spokesperson, has called for immediate and radical reform of the NICS, following the news that only one person from within the NI Civil Service has received any form of discipline as a result of the RHI debacle.

Dr Steve Aiken said:

“Anyone familiar with the RHI debacle will note with incredulity, that only one person from within the NI Civil Service has received any form of discipline.

“It is totally unacceptable that in essence, no one is accountable, responsible or even contrite in spite of that fact that the RHI investigation noted serious shortcomings, not just in the political oversight of the scheme, but also the abject failure of the senior levels of our civil service to manage, what was in effect, a simple heating subsidy.

“The only conclusion any of us can reasonably reach is that the NICS was allowed to mark its own homework, and to carry on regardless. That there needs to be a root and branch cultural change in the Senior Civil Service is beyond self-evident. Radical reform is needed and it is needed now.”