CIVIL servants at Health and Social Services should take responsibility for the childcare fiasco, according to a former board member.

Mike Hadley (pictured) said politicians often took the blame for the actions of their officials.

And it was probable that Health minister Hunter Adam had no say in the circumstances that led to his department spending £100,000 a year on childcare provision for staff that was never used.

‘The minister has little power over the civil service,’ he said.

‘The vast majority of civil servants are hard-working people who do a good job, but there are problems with a small minority.

‘One long-serving civil servant said he had never had an appraisal, which is very worrying. People are not held to account.’

At his first meeting as an HSSD board member, Deputy Hadley, who has since resigned , said a senior civil servant told politicians that it was not their job to get involved with management.

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