Value of Stormont Executive's office in Beijing questioned
The value for money of the Northern Ireland Executive's office in the Chinese capital has been questioned.
The chair of the Assembly's scrutiny committee for the Executive Office suggested it cost around a quarter of a million pounds a year to run the office in Beijing.
The Executive also has offices in Washington DC and Brussels.
It has had a presence in Beijing since 2014, before then-first minister Arlene Foster opened an Executive bureau in December 2016.
Executive Committee chair Paula Bradshaw said she had concerns around its value for money, after the committee heard from the three bureaux during a meeting last month.
Executive Office official Brenda Henderson said she appreciated there is frustration around transparency and accounting for what they do.
'One of the things that I want to do is to get that coherency across all three bureaux and with the international relations team in Belfast to make sure that we have a clear narrative, that our communications plans can let you see, and let our ministers see, exactly who we're meeting, what is the outcome of that, what does it mean, the 'so what' question in terms of the Programme For Government,' she told MLAs.
'Work is already under way on that.'
Ms Bradshaw followed up by asking at what point would they conclude it is not value for money, and that they could be doing other things with that money.
Ms Henderson said there are different ways to measure value for money.
'One of the things that I know that the overseas offices do is that they build relationships, you have to build those relationships before you utilise them, but there are things about companies, investment, increased student places they bring,' she said.
'I think what we need to do is be more absolutely transparent about that and be clear about the metrics, what we can measure and that we stand in front of those.'
Permanent Secretary David Malcolm said he can 'see behind the curtain', and knows what the Beijing office is doing, He expressed frustration it was not communicated.
He said last month the vice minister for education in China visited Northern Ireland and signed an agreement with the Confucious Institute in Belfast and the Department for the Economy for a £34 million programme over the next 10 years.
He also said in Beijing this St Patrick's Day, there were two community organisations led by Chris Hazzard, including young people who had never left Ireland before.
'There is significant work we're doing,' he said.
'We are also talking to the Chinese Consul about a mini conference here later on,' he said.
'The Chinese have agreed to fund three placements in Beijing through the Arts Council to give people the opportunity to break into the Chinese market. There is a tremendous amount we're doing.'
He added: 'Not just in Beijing, in Washington, we punch miles above our weight in the representational role we get, and indeed in Brussels.'
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