Mr John Kelpie Chief Executive Derry City and Strabane District Council Our Ref: COR179/2019 C/O Council Offices 98 Strand Road 9 August 2019 DERRY BT48 7NN

David Sterling Head of the Civil Service Room FD.34, Stormont Castle Stormont Estate, Belfast BT4 3TT, Northern Ireland Tel: 028 9037 8133 E-mail: [email protected] Mr John Kelpie Chief Executive Derry City and Strabane District Council Our ref: COR179/2019 C/o Council Offices 98 Strand Road 9 August 2019 DERRY BT48 7NN

By email [email protected]

Dear John

Thank you for your letter of 9 July 2019, notifying me of the Council’s motion relating to Ulster University’s proposal to establish a Graduate Entry Medical School (GEMS) at the Magee campus. You sent a similar letter directly to the Department of Health. Please consider this response as a reply to both of those letters.

Firstly, can I restate the fact that we very much welcome Ulster University’s proposal to establish a Graduate Entry Medical School at its Magee Campus and, as you are aware, the Department of Health has been assisting the University’s team to develop the business case for their GEMS proposal, by providing a detailed critique on each iteration of their document. I understand that the University has found this input to be helpful and that good progress has been made.

The personal information (e.g., name, personal email/home postal address) included in your correspondence, which the Executive Office now holds, will be handled in accordance with data protection legislation. It will be kept secure and only shared with relevant officials for the purpose of providing a response. This information will be retained for no longer than is necessary, and in line with the Department’s retention and disposal schedule.

This has been an intensive process which is now approaching a conclusion. However, the Department has always been clear that this is just one piece of the jigsaw. While the UU proposal seeks to address the specific question of how an expansion of medical education could be achieved at Magee, it is the job of Government Departments – led by Health but also involving Finance and Economy – to determine whether we should undertake such an expansion, and if so, how we should do so. We must also consider how to pay for it, and ensure value for money for the taxpayer.

I must emphasise the importance of this point. The University is not proposing to finance the Magee medical school from within its own resources, and significant ongoing funding will be required from Government if this is to proceed. As you are aware, all public services are under severe budgetary pressure and we simply cannot spend money we do not have. That is one of the reasons we have always encouraged the University to be realistic about the timescales for the project.

It is also important to reflect, in this context, on the previous UU Springvale Campus project. That project was to have three components, costing a total of £71 million. In the end, only one component – costing £6 million – was delivered. The cross-party Assembly Public Accounts Committee published a report in 2007 which stated: “Funding Departments must, in all cases, comprehensively review and, where necessary, challenge the findings of the Outline Business Case”.

The PAC also stated that the failure to formally and comprehensively review the Springvale Outline Business Case and challenge the assertions in it was “an astounding omission”. The PAC concluded that Departments “must ensure that the viability of projects is fully assessed at an early stage, with detailed updates carried out as circumstances develop. The aim of a rigorous assessment of viability is not to ‘trip up’ a project; rather, it is a mechanism to ensure that potential weaknesses are identified at an early stage and can be addressed.”

In this regard, the Department of Health is currently progressing a business case to address future medical training need as identified in the Northern Ireland Medical Student Places Review which it commissioned from Professor Keith Gardiner. This work includes the identification and assessment of measures to maximise benefits from current spending on undergraduate medical education.

Ultimately, it will be for a future Health Minister and Executive to decide on key spending priorities. However, pending restoration of the devolved institutions, we are working hard to prepare the ground for these decisions, and will continue to co- operate closely with the UU to ensure the Magee proposal is given every opportunity to secure approval.

Yours sincerely

DAVID STERLING Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service