Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has challenged the Stormont Executive to reform public services while also balancing its budget.
Delivering a speech to mark one year since the return of devolved government to the region, Mr Benn said Stormont’s leaders had made a “great start” but warned that difficult decisions are now unavoidable.
Devolved government was restored at Stormont a year ago after a two-year suspension when the DUP collapsed the institutions in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements.
The return of the powersharing Executive saw Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill become Northern Ireland’s first nationalist First Minister, while the DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly took up the role of deputy First Minster.
The four-party coalition has lobbied for further funding from the UK Government to address pressures in public services, particularly in the health service.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly have called on the UK Government to improve funding for public services (Liam McBurney/PA)
This week First Minister Michelle O’Neill said the case for a “proper funding model” for Northern Ireland will continue to be brought to the UK Government.
But Mr Benn told an audience at Ulster University that a lack of funding from Westminster was not to blame for a crisis in public services in Northern Ireland.
He said: “The challenge for public services is particularly acute in Northern Ireland, and nowhere is this more urgent or obvious than in health.
“The facts are frankly shocking.
“Waiting time performance against cancer care targets continues to deteriorate, corridor care is becoming more frequent and it is striking how many people in Northern Ireland are now going private.
“More than a quarter of people in Northern Ireland are on a waiting list. That is more than double the figure in England.
“53% of people waiting for a first appointment with a consultant are waiting for more than a year in Northern Ireland.
“In England, that figure is 4%. That’s right, 53% compared to just 4%.”
Mr Benn said he agreed with recent comments from Ms O’Neill that the state of the health service in Northern Ireland is “dire and diabolical”.
He added: “And this is despite UK Treasury data showing that spending per head on health is nearly £300 a year higher in Northern Ireland than it is in England.
“It is absolutely not that health and social care staff are somehow not doing all they can.
“On the contrary, they are working really, really hard to treat patients, but they are doing so in a system that clearly isn’t working.
“And why isn’t it working? Because – over many years – the decisions necessary for systemic and not piecemeal reform to the health and social care system in Northern Ireland simply haven’t been taken.”
Hilary Benn urged Stormont’s leaders to take the ‘difficult collective decisions’ (Presseye/PA)
The NI Secretary said the challenge for the Executive was to “take the difficult collective decisions” to enable Health Minister Mike Nesbitt to reform health services.
He said: “Doing so is now unavoidable.”
Mr Benn said Stormont currently receives, through the Barnett formula, the largest amount in real terms in the history of devolution.
He said: “I frequently hear it said, however, that more funding is required from the UK Government and that that is the reason why public services are in such a state.
“But given the needs-based formula that is now in place, and given the increase in funding that the Government has given, a lack of funding is not the impediment to public service transformation.
“The real impediment has been the failure to reform the system.
“The many missed opportunities to take decisions, or to apply lessons, from other parts of the UK where reform has happened.
“Of course, this has at times been down to there being no Executive in place to take those decisions, which is why it’s essential that the institutions do their job every day of the year.
“At other times, there has simply been a lack of agreement among Executive ministers on the steps that need to be taken, or on the allocation of resources, or on the revenue that needs to be raised.”
Mr Benn continued: “It is only right that the Executive makes decisions about its own spending and revenue raising priorities.
“However, it must take responsibility for balancing its budget and living within its means, just as all other governments must.”
He denied he was “telling off” the Stormont parties about public service reform.
“I wouldn’t characterise as telling anyone off, it’s not my style or approach, we are in this together,” he said.