Public Affairs

Red Sky inquiry reports

Peter Cheney summarises the findings of the Assembly inquiry into Nelson McCausland and Stephen Brimstone.

A critical report into the conduct of former Social Development Minister Nelson McCausland and his then special advisor, Stephen Brimstone, has been dismissed by the DUP. In response, Lisburn councillor Jenni Palmer – the main source for the allegations – has resigned from the party along with her husband.

This is the third and final report of the Social Development Committee’s inquiry into alleged malpractice in the awarding of Housing Executive contracts, highlighted by BBC Spotlight in July 2013. It covers decision-making relating to the contracts and the pressure reportedly placed on a Housing Executive board member – and DUP councillor – Jenni Palmer by special advisor Brimstone to change her vote.

The previous two reports dealt with an alleged breach of the ministerial code (July 2014) and failings in procurement and contract management (February 2015). McCausland refused to provide details of the outcome of a fact-finding exercise conducted into allegations made against Brimstone. A redacted version of the report was released under a Section 44 order – a formal notice by the Assembly to demand a document – and the committee has called on his successor, Mervyn Storey, to publish the report in full.

Departmental officials had advised Nelson McCausland against meeting the former Managing Director of Red Sky, Norman Hayes, in June 2011 as his company was involved in an ongoing contractual dispute with the Housing Executive.
In the committee’s view, the Minister’s subsequent decision to seek to extend the Red Sky contracts affected arrangements to transfer contracts to other contractors and “potentially provided commercial advantage” to a newly reconstituted successor company to Red Sky (Newco).

Brimstone had claimed that he was unable to recollect certain details from his phone call to Palmer on 1 July 2011. However, the committee found that Palmer’s evidence was “consistent, convincing and compelling” and she had also provided five redacted drafts of an apology from Brimstone. The advisor refuted Palmer’s evidence but did not provide any further supporting material, saying that this related to internal party matters.

The report concludes that Brimstone was inappropriately attempting to influence the board’s discussions on behalf of McCausland. No evidence was found of impropriety or irregularity by the Minister’s two predecessors, Margaret Ritchie and Alex Attwood.

A minority report, by DUP committee members, claims that every other party had concluded that Palmer’s account was correct before the inquiry began and dismisses the main report as “one-sided”. It maintains that it was legitimate for Nelson McCausland to meet Norman Hayes and claims that any conclusions about the phone call are “little more than speculation”.

The most immediate outcome of the inquiry is the resignation of Jenni Palmer – and her husband John – from the DUP. Both will remain as independent members of Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council. Stephen Brimstone has been promoted to be a special advisor in OFMDFM.

As for governance in general, the committee questioned why a Minister has the discretion to (a) start a formal disciplinary investigation into his or her special adviser and to (b) authorise the release of evidence when his or her own actions are being investigated. Processes for civil servants to challenge a Minister on his or her involvement in operational or contractual matters are “not sufficiently robust”. There is also no formal independent process to investigate breaches of Northern Ireland’s ministerial code. By comparison, the UK Government and Scottish Government have independent advisers to whom allegations against ministers can be referred.

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