Minutes of Proceedings of the twenty third meeting of the Public Accounts Committee held in Room 152 Parliament Buildings on Wednesday 19th June 2002
Members Present:
Mr B Bell (Chairman)
Ms Armitage
Mr Beggs
Mr Carrick
Mr Close
Mr Hilditch
Ms Morrice
Ms Ramsey
Apologies:
Mr Dallat
Mr McClelland
Mr O'Connor
In Attendance:
Mr M Rickard (Committee Clerk)
Mr J Campbell (Assistant Committee Clerk)
Ms C Campbell
Ms J Dickson
1. Introduction
The Chairman commenced proceedings by welcoming Mr John Dowdall, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) and his staff to the meeting.
Following this introduction, the Chairman turned to the order of business.
2. Apologies
Apologies were received from Mr Dallat, Mr McClelland and Mr O'Connor.
3. Minutes of Meeting of 13th June 2002
Agreed.
The minutes accurately represented the business of the Committee.
4. Briefing by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr John Dowdall, and his team on the NIAO Reports "Repayment of Community Regeneration Loans" (NIA 59/01) and "Belfast Action Teams: Investigations into Suspected Fraud within the Former Suffolk Action Team" (NIA 72/00)
The C&AG gave a brief outline on what he considered to be the main conclusions drawn from the Reports. Following the C&AG's introduction, Mr Jones (Assistant Auditor General) gave a presentation, which detailed the main issues in the Reports. Following the presentation he addressed a number of queries raised by the members.
5. Clearance of PAC Draft Report and Press Release on Indicators of Educational Performance and Provision"
Mr John Dowdall, Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) was further examined
Draft Report (Indicators of Educational Performance and Provision) proposed by the Chairman, brought up and read.
Ordered, that the draft Report be read a second time, paragraph by paragraph.
Paras 1 to 3 read and agreed to
Paras 4 to 5.14 postponed
Paras 6 to 15 read and agreed to
Para 16 read and agreed subject to amendment
Paras 17 to 22 read and agreed to
Paras 4 to 5.14 read and agreed subject to changes to be made to reflect amendments agreed in paras 6 to 22.
Agreed.
The press release should be issued in the form submitted, subject to amendments in keeping with the report.
6. Events Company Report
Mr Carrick and Mr Hilditch declared an interest.
The C&AG informed the committee that although the report had not been laid formally in the Assembly, it had Assembly Privilege as a document laid before the Committee.
Agreed
A copy of the report should be laid in the Assembly library in order to ensure access for all MLAs.
Following the C&AG's introduction, Mr Barry Edgar (NIAO Director of VFM) gave a presentation, detailing the main issues from the Report. He then addressed a number of queries raised by the Committee.
Agreed
The Committee will write to the Events Company seeking further information.
7. NITB: Breakaways Contract
The C&AG gave a brief outline of the papers submitted to the Committee relating to the Breakaways contract.
Members discussed and amended the contents of a draft letter to be issued to the Accounting Officer.
Agreed.
The amended letter should be issued to the Accounting Officer.
8. Draft Correspondence to DARD re: Brucellosis Compensation
The Chairman read the draft letter and outlined a number of issues that the Committee wanted to address.
Agreed
The draft letter should be issued to the Accounting Officer.
The meeting was drawn to a close at 12.30pm.
B Bell
Committee Chairman
4th July 2002
