In 2014, the Government of Northern Ireland asked the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to provide an assessment of its public-sector reform agenda. The necessity for Northern Ireland to pursue public-administration reform is explained by three factors: first, fiscal pressures on the Northern Ireland budget as a result of reductions in the United Kingdom grants to Northern Ireland that reflect the United Kingdom’s general fiscal consolidation efforts mean that Northern Ireland is designing and delivering public services in a context of diminishing financial resources. Second, because of this, public-administration reform constitutes a key element of the 2011-15 Programme for Government (PfG) and the political agreement between Northern Ireland’s political parties codified in the December 2014 Stormont House Agreement. Third, reform is being designed and delivered against the exigencies of what the Agreement calls a Divided Society – a polity marked by persistent, long-standing community fault-lines.

In 2014, the Government of Northern Ireland asked the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to provide an assessment of its public-sector reform agenda. Public-administration reform was a key commitment in the 2011-15 Programme for Government (PfG). To help the Northern Ireland Executive give effect to this commitment, this Review assesses reforms already undertaken by Northern Ireland and makes recommendations on potential improvements to existing initiatives and provides advice on possible new reform avenues.

In November 2014, Northern Ireland’s Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) commissioned the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to undertake a Public Governance Review (PGR or “the Review”) of Northern Ireland (NI). Its purpose is to provide an assessment of, and recommendations on, public-sector reform in Northern Ireland that will align with the NI government’s own medium-term priorities for public-administration reform. This PGR focuses on analysing factors affecting reform to assist NI in pursuing improvements to public-service delivery and enhancing value for money. As requested by NI, in assessing Northern Ireland’s policy direction and capacity to implement reform, it also identifies areas in need of further reform that could be pursued as a complement to those already launched, and advises on possible courses of action to assist the Government of Northern Ireland in meeting its reform objectives.

This chapter discusses the context for Northern Ireland’s public-sector reforms and the economic, social and political factors which underpin them. The need for reform primarily results from fiscal pressures exerted on Northern Ireland’s budget from reductions in transfers from the national treasury.

This chapter is the first of two chapters to discuss the theme of improving strategic approaches as the first of Northern Ireland’s thematic priorities for this Public Governance Review. This chapter assesses Northern Ireland’s capacity to pursue its strategic objectives for its people and society in key social and economic areas. This chapter notes several factors which contribute to effective public policy and programmes including the ability to co-ordinate across administrative silos and evidence-based decision making and performance monitoring.

This chapter is the second chapter to discuss improving strategic approaches and how “strategic enablers” can be harnessed to pursue the objective of enhancing outcomes for people. This chapter notes that Northern Ireland has in place the prerequisites for strategic human resources management to contribute to public-sector reform, but that this needs to be further developed with a whole-of-government outlook.

This chapter discusses the theme of improving engagement with people as the second of Northern Ireland’s thematic priorities for this Public Governance Review. This chapter notes that citizen engagement is an important contributor to policy and programme development and to their successful implementation. This chapter finds that a number of tools exist to support citizen engagement practice in Northern Ireland, but that these tools need to move beyond traditional public consultation processes to include new approaches such as social media and innovation labs.

This chapter discusses the theme of improving operational delivery of services as the third of Northern Ireland’s thematic priorities for this Public Governance Review. This chapter assesses several areas where Northern Ireland has taken steps to make the public sector more open, collaborative, experimental and innovative.

This chapter discusses the principal findings of this Public Governance Review and proposes a series of considerations for the implementation of its recommendations. Based on experiences of other OECD countries the conclusion proposes for Northern Ireland a process of incremental reform based on dialogue with key stakeholders inside the public sector and beyond. This chapter further proposes that the governance of Northern Ireland public sector reforms, including the implementation of the recommendations of the Review, be assigned to a dedicated project office in order to provide for a whole-ofgovernment approach.