AQO 2094/22-27 Oral question to the First Minister and deputy First Minister
To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister for an update on the appointment of a Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland.
Asked by Nick Mathison MLA on 29 May 2025
- Answered
- Oral
- Answered in the Chamber
- Tabled
- 29 May 2025
- Answer due by
- 9 June 2025
- Answered
- 9 June 202511 days after tabling
- Department
- The Executive Office
- Priority question
- No
Answer
Answered in the Assembly Chamber on 9 June 2025. Extract from the Official Report (Hansard), including any supplementary questions:
Mrs Little-Pengelly (The deputy First Minister)
We are pleased to report that the competition to appoint a Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland is well progressed. A commissioner will be appointed as soon as possible following the conclusion of that appointment process. The First Minister and I have agreed the person. They have to go through a number of checks before there is a public announcement on that, but that should happen very shortly.
Mr Mathison
I thank the deputy First Minister for her answer. The appointment has taken a staggeringly long time, given that we have known about the vacancy since the restoration of the institutions. Can the deputy First Minister give us any sense of a date for an appointment? I know that, in Committees, including the Education Committee, there have been multiple queries about public appointments, but there has been no mechanism for scrutinising that.
Mrs Little-Pengelly
The person will have to formally accept, and they have a period in which to do so. In addition, once they accept, we have to, understandably, go through a number of checks, including statutory checks. That process normally takes about 10 days after the acceptance, so we hope to be in a position to make that name public in the next number of weeks.
Miss Hargey
Does the deputy First Minister agree that all public appointments should be made on the basis of merit?
Mrs Little-Pengelly
Yes, the approach to public appointments is set out in the legislation and the guidance. We operate many of those appointments in accordance with and in the spirit of that, as opposed to that being a regulated appointment of the commissioner's office. Of course, those people must be suitable for the role for which they have put their name forward.
Mr Harvey
Deputy First Minister, can you provide an update on the current Victims' Commissioner vacancy, please?
Mrs Little-Pengelly
I am pleased to announce that we have selected a person to be the new Commissioner for Victims and Survivors. That person has accepted that position, and they are undergoing the final stages of the statutory checks that I referred to. With this one, we hope to be in a position to make that name public in the next number of days.
Mr Speaker
Question 2 has been withdrawn.