Ulster Unionist leader, Mike Nesbitt MLA has slammed the Department of the Office of the First and deputy First Minister for their failure to bring forward the annual child poverty report to the OFMdFM Committee for scrutiny, as scheduled.
Mike, who is also Chair of the OFMdFM Committee, said:
“It says it all about this Department that they waited until ten minutes before the Committee met to inform us they were not coming to brief us on child poverty. Two weeks ago, they filed papers on the Programme for Government two hours before the Committee met, way too late for members to study, and last week the second batch of PfG papers arrived days after they were supposed to be delivered.
“The Department has a statutory duty to make an annual report on progress in delivering its Child Poverty Strategy. Last year, the equivalent report was over two months late, which makes it simply incredible they should fail to meet their commitment to brief the Committee today on this year’s progress report.
“The whole point of replacing Direct Rule with a Devolved Government at Stormont was a more responsive, accountable form of administration. The Stormont Committees have a key role in scrutinising the work of each Executive Department, criticising where necessary and supporting where appropriate. You can do neither when the Department refuses to hand over information in a timely manner.
“OFMDFM should be setting an example. The only example they are setting currently is that this devolved government is not working.”