Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to detail any actions being taken to address the 35 per cent staff vacancy rate in his Department across Northern Ireland.
Minister for Infrastructure: There are some 3000 people on my Departmental headcount and as of Monday 20 January 2025, there are 506 declared vacancies. My Department has been operating in a difficult financial environment for a number of years due to underfunding and austerity by the British Government. This has had a significant impact on my department’s ability to deliver essential services, and to fill vacant posts.
NICS HR has responsibility for recruitment for the NICS. Currently there is supply at most general service grades and we are availing of these, however we continue to experience significant gaps in supply at Professional & Technical (P&T) Specialist grades. DfI have currently registered circa 28 P&T competitions with NICS HR which are at various levels of development and progression. The DfI People Development & Workforce Planning Directorate (PD&WPD) has been working closely with NICS HR to prioritise recruitment competitions for those grades which are having the most impact on the organisation. This work includes progressing innovative recruitment models like the recent DfI Skills Academy for Trainee Civil Engineering Assistants, and Apprenticeship and Graduate Programmes.
There has been some recent improvements in recruitment to the Department, however the Department is not able to recruit at a fast enough pace to keep up with attrition rates and the legacy of historical underfunding.
All measures that we have taken to date to recruit and retain professional people into our organisation are still heavily impacted by external challenges, the most significant issue being rates of pay. As many of our team are professionally qualified, we are competing with the highly competitive private industry to attract and retain professional colleagues. NICS HR are responsible for the pay strategy and are currently leading and developing a pay strategy for NICS.
ENDS
Your MLA 