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Civil servants and RHI

Fiona Hepper was the director of DETI's renewable energy team during the development of the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme
Fiona Hepper was the director of DETI's renewable energy team during the development of the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme Fiona Hepper was the director of DETI's renewable energy team during the development of the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme

WHEN first questioned about her oversight of the flawed RHI scheme, Arlene Foster laid the blame squarely at civil servants.

"It was developed by officials in a way that shouldn't have been developed by officials," she told the Irish News in October.

Two months later she also spoke of "omissions by officials" and said there were "fundamental flaws" in the energy scheme.

At the time RHI was being developed Fiona Hepper was the director of DETI's renewable energy team, with responsibility for "a number of economic development policy and operational areas."

These included "policy and legislative responsibilities in relation to the electricity, gas and renewable energy issues in Northern Ireland," according to the department's website.

From June 2010 to November 2013 she was also co-chair of the All Island Joint Steering Group overseeing energy markets in Ireland and served on a wide range of UK economic and energy related steering groups.

Working at a senior level in the Northern Ireland Civil Service since 2004 she has been employed as deputy permanent secretary at the Department of Education since 2013.

Department of Finance permanent secretary David Sterling was head of the DETI for much of the time the renewable energy scheme operated and in his evidence to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in December said he “can’t satisfactorily explain” why RHI was never reviewed.

“I accept that a review did not take place in my time – I accept that in the business case it was said a review would take place in early 2014,” he told MLAs.

“I can’t satisfactorily explain why the review didn’t take place.”

The most senior civil servant in the Department for Economy Andrew McCormick told the PAC that department officials were not to blame for a delay in cost controls being implemented and alleged insider information may have played a role in the 2015 spike in applications

When pressed to name who was exerting pressure to delay the imposition of controls Mr McCormick said he understood the person to be special adviser Andrew Crawford. Former Enterprise minister Jonathan Bell also accused Andrew Crawford of preventing the closure of the scheme in late 2015.

Department officials fielded RHI concerns from a whistleblower first in September 2013 and were in situ during a spike in non-domestic applications from September to November 2015, so their role in the crisis is inevitably under scrutiny.

Recent revelations though, appear to show that officials were concerned about the lucrative tariffs and wanted to implement cost controls.

These are contained within a July 2013 consultation document seen by Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster.

It has also been suggested to the Irish News that civil servants directly encouraged farmers, due to lose out on their NIRO (Northern Ireland Renewables Obligation) payments, to apply for RHI and that officials were lobbied by the agriculture community.

If true, it would be another contributory factor to the 2015 spike.

The Department for Economy said last month a "core team of nine staff are involved with the direct management of the Renewable Heat Incentive schemes" and it is likely that more were employed to oversee RHI when it was open to applications.