{"id":196047,"date":"2025-06-19T03:04:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T03:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/196047\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T03:04:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T03:04:12","slug":"ni-politics-watchdog-complaints-double-since-stormont-restored","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/196047\/","title":{"rendered":"NI Politics: Watchdog complaints double since Stormont restored"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The details were contained in the <a href=\"https:\/\/standardscommissionerniassembly.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Commissioner-for-Standards-Annual-Report-2024-25.pdf\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">latest annual report, external<\/a> by the standards commissioner Dr Melissa McCullough.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It is her last annual report before her five-year term as commissioner ends in September.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The commissioner said the &#8220;exceptional circumstances&#8221; of the Covid-19 pandemic and a two-year Stormont hiatus &#8220;made for an unusual five-year term&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">She added that &#8220;while I am very proud of what has been accomplished, I believe that in different conditions more could have been achieved&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In her &#8220;final reflections&#8221; in the report, she said the ministerial code of conduct should be &#8220;updated, as it has not been revised since 1998&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;This remains an urgent and unresolved matter,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Dr McCullough said the commissioner&#8217;s office needed more staffing resources &#8220;to do the work effectively&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Unfortunately, despite formal requests for such dedicated support, none has been provided,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Dr McCullough also said the terms of the commissioner&#8217;s employment should be reviewed, as benefits such as holiday pay and sick pay are currently not provided.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">She said it &#8220;risks sending the wrong message&#8221; and could &#8220;deter experienced and capable individuals from putting themselves forward&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The details were contained in the latest annual report, external by the standards commissioner Dr Melissa McCullough. It&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-196047","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-northern-ireland","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114707815684013423","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}