Minutes of the Twenty Second Meeting of the Public Accounts Committee held on Thursday 13th June in The Senate Chamber, Parliament Buildings, at 11:30am
Members Present:
Mr B Bell (Chairman)
Mr R BeggsMr M Carric
Mr S Close
Mr J Dallat
Mr D Hilditch
Mr D McClelland
Ms J Morrice
In Attendance:
Mr M Rickard (Clerk to the Committee)
Mr J Campbell (Assistant Clerk)
Ms C Campbell
Ms J Dickson
Apologies:
Ms S Ramsey
Ms P Armitage
Mr D O'Connor
Open Session
1. Introduction
The Chairman commenced proceedings by welcoming Mr John Dowdall, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), Mr Leo O'Reilly, Treasury Officer of Accounts (TOA), and their teams to the meeting. He also welcomed Mr David Thompson, who will be the TOA for future meetings.
Following this introduction, the Chairman turned to the order of business.
2. Apologies
Apologies were received from Ms Ramsey, Ms Armitage and Mr O'Connor.
3. Presentation by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr John Dowdall, and his team on the Sharman Report, Westminster's Response to Sharman and its implications for Northern Ireland
The C&AG gave a brief outline on what he considered to be the main conclusions drawn from the Report. Following the C&AG's introduction, Mr Savage (NIAO Assistant Auditor General) gave a presentation, which detailed the main issues in the Report. Following the presentation he addressed a number of queries raised by the members.
Closed Session
4. Approval of Draft PAC Report on "Water Service: Leakage Management and Water Efficiency"
Mr John Dowdall, Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) was further examined
Draft Report (Water Service: Leakage Management and Water Efficiency) proposed by the Chairman, brought up and read.
Ordered, That the draft Report be read a second time, paragraph by paragraph.
Introduction read and agreed to
Para 1 read and agreed to
Para 2 read and agreed subject to amendment
Para 3 read and agreed to
Paras 4.1 to 5.2 postponed
Paras 6 to 22 read and agreed to
Paras 23 to 25 read and agreed subject to amendment
Paras 4.1 to 5.2 read and agreed subject to changes to be made to reflect amendments agreed in paras 6-27
Agreed
The Report will be published on the 25th June 2002.
5. Approval of Draft Press Release on the PAC Report on "Water Service: Leakage Management and Water Efficiency
Agreed.
No changes were required to the proposed draft press release.
6. Minutes of Meetings of 22nd May 2002 and 29th May 2002
Agreed
The minutes accurately represented the business of the meeting.
7. Northern Ireland Tourist Board
The Chairman drew members' attention to correspondence recently received by the Committee Office relating to the print contract awarded on behalf of NITB by GPA.
On reviewing the additional information the Committee concluded that the evidence given was inconsistent with the correspondence received.
Agreed
The Committee should write to the C&AG requesting him:
- to obtain copies of original documentation relating to NITB discussions with GPA concerning this contract;
- to produce a timetable sequencing the events; and
- to report back to the Committee as soon as possible.
8. PAC Visits
The Chairman informed members that the visit to Welsh Assembly had been cancelled due to the unavailability of members.
He also informed members that the dates offered from the Speaker's Office for the proposed Committee Visit to Washington were unsuitable since the host, Professor Weinstein, was not available on those dates.
He indicated that Professor Weinstein has proposed September/early October as a suitable date.
Agreed
The Chairman will keep members informed of developments.
Agreed
Members should be given at least six weeks notice of any visit.
9. Safe Custody of Assets
Agreed
The Committee should write to DFP highlighting concerns raised re: DFP's response
10. Into the West
The members were updated by the Comptroller and Auditor General on the issue of the "Into the West" project which had been gaining significant press coverage.
The meeting was drawn to a close at 1:25pm.
B Bell
Committee Chairman
19th June 2002
