Written Ministerial The content of this written ministerial statement is as received at the time from the Minister. It has not been subject to the official reporting (Hansard) process. Regional Development NI Water: Independent Review Team Report into Procurement Governance Published at 9am on Friday 12 March 2010 The Minister for Regional Development (Mr Murphy): I have recently received the report of an Independent Review Team which was examining procurement governance failures in NI Water. The report finds that there has been a serious breakdown in the governance and control framework of NIW in relation to contract approvals, and that this is a serious matter for those responsible, namely the NIW Board and Executives responsible for ensuring compliance. I will take firm action to implement the recommendations in the report. As part of this, I want to inform the Assembly that I am today dismissing four non-executive directors from the Board [Chris Mellor – the chairman, John Ballard, Ruth Thompson and Declan Gormley]. I have taken this step after a great deal of consideration of all the evidence in order to provide a firm basis for the company to establish governance arrangements, and to move forward with the confidence of the community. |