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Wed 1st February
Concerns have been raised that the NICS Live event could be interpreted as a ‘cash for access’ forum. Businesses are required to pay up to 12 thousand pounds in order to attend. The NICS have presented the event as an opportunity for Northern businesses to build partnerships and generate relationships.
Mr Eastwood commented: ‘I would call on the First Minister and deputy Minister to make public their attitude towards the NICS Live event. It is they who have the responsibility of holding the head of the civil service to account. In light of the controversy this event has caused they have a duty to make their perspectives known.
‘Do they support the event as it presently stands, were they consulted on its format, do they intend to intervene if the ethics of its proposed layout are clarified as being, at best, irregular? Up to this point their silence has deafening.
‘In an economy in which the public purse contributes more than 60% of GNP, access to the civil service is vital for many northern businesses. Placing such a fee on the attendance of an event like this automatically excludes those in our hard pressed small and medium sized enterprises. It is these firms, the lifeblood of our underdeveloped indigenous industries, who are suffering most from the continuing fragility of financial markets and its subsequent translation into the real economy.
‘Exclusion from the halls of administrative government will only serve to exacerbate these problems.
‘In order to restore confidence, it is essential that the First and Deputy First Ministers clarify the proposed methodologies of this event. If a practice of exclusion is seen to be in operation it is essential that they act with haste to remedy it and ensure that a similar practice and culture is not pursued in future.’
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