Northern Ireland Office

The Secretary of State, Rt Hon Peter Hain MP, has announced the establishment of the Public Service Commission to advise on the transfer of staff to new organisations being created by the Review of Public Administration.

Speaking today, Mr Hain said: “Implementing the Review of Public Administration will be the greatest single challenge to the public sector here in more than 30 years.

“We need to ensure that members of staff affected by the changes are treated in a fair and coherent manner across all the areas involved.

“The need for an independent body to advise on this was stressed by a number of bodies consulted by Government, particularly the trade unions, and I am pleased to announce that the Commission is in place and ready for business.”

The new body is to be led by Sid McDowell. A former Deputy General Secretary of the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance, he has wide experience of the public sector, including Chairmanship of the local Government Staff Commission.  

Speaking about the role of the new body, he said: “I am privileged to have been asked to chair the Public Service Commission and look forward to a productive working relationship with my fellow Commissioners.

"The challenge facing the Commission will be to work to safeguard the interests of staff to ensure they are treated with dignity and respect so that their transfer to new organisations is a smooth one.

“The Commission looks forward to co-operation from a variety of partners, in particular, employers, existing sectoral Commissions and relevant trade unions, so that its recommendations are applied, consistently, across the public sector."

Membership of the body reflects a broad range of experience in the sectors affected by the review and the trade unions representing staff working in these areas.

The Secretary of State highlighted the crucial nature of the work being taken forward: “I cannot understate the programme ahead of us over the next three years as we shift the emphasis from back office to front-line services.

“This is vital to carrying through one of the key objectives of the Government’s Reform agenda. The Commission will play a vital role in ensuring that the changes facing public sector staff take place as smoothly as possible.”

Notes to Editors

1.The Secretary of State made a written statement to Parliament announcing the establishment of the Commission.

2.The Chair and Membership of the Commission are as follows:

Sid McDowell (Chair)

Sid McDowell was Deputy General Secretary of the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance from 1976 to 1994 and Chairman of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive from 1995 to 2004.  He was also Chairman of the Local Government Staff Commission for Northern Ireland, stepping down in November 2005.  Mr McDowell was appointed to the Northern Ireland Civil Service Commission in 1999. He is President of the Northern Ireland Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, Vice-President of the Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (NI) and a member of the Management Board of Threshold, the mental health charity and Habinteg Housing Association.  Mr McDowell is also a non-executive Director of the Northern Ireland Prison Service.

Full text of Mr McDowell’s statement attached.

Professor Bernard Cullen (Member)

Bernard Cullen is Professor of Philosophy at Queen’s University Belfast. Educated at Queen’s, the Sorbonne, and the University of Michigan, he is a graduate of the Cabinet Office Top Management Programme. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Psychoanalysis. A former Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at Queen’s, he has also been Vice-President of the Belfast & District Trades Union Council, President of the Irish Philosophical Society, President of the Irish Association for Cultural, Economic and Social Relations, and the inaugural Chair of the Ethics Committee of the British Confederation of Psychotherapists. He is currently Chair of the Staff Commission for Education & Library Boards, Vice-Chair of the Council for Education in World Citizenship, and Chair of the Board of Trustees of Parkanaur College.

Judith M Eve CBE (Member)

Judith Eve is Chairperson of the Civil Service Commissioners for Northern Ireland and has served as a Commissioner since 1993.  She also is a part-time Legal Chairman with The Appeals Service and is a Board member of BIH Housing Association and of the Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency.  She has previously served as an Equal Opportunities Commissioner and as a Mental Health Commissioner for Northern Ireland, and was a Non-Executive Director of North & West Belfast Health and Social Services Trust.

Brian Hanna CBE (Member)

Brian Hanna is an Environmental Health Practitioner who was, from 1984-94, Belfast City Council's Director of Environmental Health Services.  In 1994 he was appointed as the Council's Chief Executive and Town Clerk, a position in which he served until his retirement in 2002. He was President of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health from 2002 to 2004 and a member of the UK's Sustainable Development Commission from 1999 to 2004.  In November 2004 he was appointed as Chair of the British Council's Northern Ireland Advisory Committee.  He is a Companion of the Chartered Institute of Management, a member of Queen's University Senate and a governor of the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He is also currently the Chair of the Northern Ireland Local Government Staff Commission and a non-executive director on the Board of Titanic Quarter Limited, a private sector company with a remit to regenerate lands within the Belfast harbour estate.

Desmond Mitchell (Member)

Desmond Mitchell is currently a part-time Consultant and Advisor on Public Sector Policy. He is recently retired from the position of Clerk and Chief Executive of Armagh City and District Council, a post he held from 1988 - 2000. Previous to this he was the Clerk and Chief Executive of Omagh District Council from 1973 – 1988. He has also undertaken many International Consultancy Assignments including a Scoping visit for Regional Development in Romania and assisting Regional Local Government Governance programme in Russia. Mr Mitchell has also held numerous other positions, current include Trustee of Navan at Armagh Management Ltd, Director of Armagh Business Centre Ltd, Governor of Armagh Royal School and Advisor to Institute of Governance, Queens University, Belfast.

Dr Collim Patton (Member)

Dr.Collim Patton worked as a Consultant Psychiatrist for 27 years and in addition held the posts of Lecturer at Queen’s University, Medical Director at St.Brendans Hospital, Bermuda and Chief Executive of the Down Lisburn Trust.  Since retiring from full time practice in 2001 Dr Patton has variously worked in management consultancy, the provision of medico-legal opinion and on the Board of a private sector company.

Jim McCusker (Member)

Jim McCusker has over 40 years’ experience of industrial relations.  Most of his working life has been spent with NIPSA (Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance), where he held the position of General Secretary from 1977 until his retirement in 2003.  In addition to being a Board member of the Labour Relations Agency, he holds a number of other appointments including membership of the European Economic and Social Committee, Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence, Economic Development Forum and Concordia.

3.The Commission can be contacted as follows;

Public Service Commission
Goodwood House
44 – 58 May Street
Belfast
BT1 4 NN

Telephone: 028 9025 6017