Conor Murphy: Most of 500 new civil service jobs under fresh recruitment will be in Derry and Belfast

Foyle MLA Karen Mullan raised the recruitment of the executive officer positions in and asked whether any of the posts will be based in Derry.

Mr. Murphy said: “The recruitment process has just started, and it is part of a much wider programme of reform in the Civil Service. We also want to push forward with an apprenticeship scheme, which, I think, will also be beneficial. I do not have the precise figures, but I am told that most of the jobs will be located between Belfast and the north-west. That will then be complemented by the regional hubs that we are promoting, which means that people who are considering jobs in the Civil Service, particularly those jobs that are headquartered in Belfast, do not have the same consideration of having to travel five days a week from more peripheral areas around the border in and out of Belfast every day.”