Former permanent secretary alleges he was 'bullied' by education minister, says MLA

Image caption, Mark Browne had been the top civil servant at the Department of Education for a number of yearsByEducation and arts correspondent, BBC News NIA former permanent secretary at the Department of Education (DE) alleged he was "bullied" by the education minister, a Sinn Féin assembly member (MLA) has said.The vice-chair of Stormont's education committee, Pat Sheehan, made the claim during a committee hearing on Wednesday."Everyone knows the accusation was from the permanent secretary at the time, Mark Browne, who alleged that the minister had bullied him or pressurised him into trying to promote another official within the department," Sheehan said.In a statement to the assembly in March 2026, Paul Givan had clarified that allegations of "bullying" had been made against him by an unnamed civil servant.Image source, Press AssociationImage caption, Paul Givan has been the education minister since 2024Givan said that a confidential Civil Service Human Resources (HR) review had been carried out into "the conduct and performance of a civil servant".But he said that he understood that the review had "rejected" their assertions of bullying.An investigation was held into the circumstances in which the former DE permanent secretary Mark Browne was replaced in November 2024.A permanent secretary is the most senior non-political official in a government department, effectively the department's chief executive.But the outcome of that investigation has not been made public.On Wednesday MLAs on the education committee questioned the Head of the Civil Service, Jayne Brady.Brady said that she was the "line-manager" for permanent secretaries in government departments.Sheehan asked Brady when she "first became aware of allegations that the Education Minister had bullied the permanent secretary within the department?"In reply, Brady said that it was not appropriate for her to discuss personal or personnel issues in open committee session."Why the secrecy?" Sheehan said."It's an issue that goes to the heart of governance and transparency within the education department."Image source, Press AssociationImage caption, Jayne Brady being questioned at Stormont's education committee earlier this weekBrady said that there were "protections for confidential processes," including in employment law."Confidentiality is fair enough when we're dealing with personnel issues," Sheehan responded."This wasn't a personnel issue, this is about governance.""This is about how a minister was treating the senior civil servant within his department."Givan has previously told his officials not to attend the education committee due to what he called "unacceptable behaviour" by Sheehan.The action has meant that DE officials have not given evidence to the committee or provided written briefings to it.The committee chair, Alliance MLA Nick Mathison, has called the minister's move "unprecedented and unacceptable".Sheehan, who is the committee's vice-chair had previously rejected "any suggestion that I bullied or harassed officials in any way".Image source, Press AssociationImage caption, Pat Sheehan is the vice-chair of the education committee The minister's direction to his officials came after a committee hearing on 23 September, where there were terse exchanges between Sheehan and a senior DE official, Suzanne Kingon.Sheehan had asked Kingon a number of questions, including about her social media activity.At one point Kingon said she was prepared to withdraw from the hearing during questions by Sheehan.At the committee meeting on Wednesday, Mathison said that the committee was considering using rare legal powers to compel DE witnesses to appear at meetings.Section 44 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 allows a committee to call people to attend its meetings or to produce documents that are in their possession or under their control.