Minutes of Proceedings of the tenth meeting of the Public Accounts Committee held in the Room 152 Parliament Buildings on Wednesday 23rd January 2002

Members Present:
Mr B Bell (Chairperson)
Ms Armitage
Mr Beggs
Mr Close
Mr Dallat
Mr McClelland
Ms Morrice
Ms Ramsey

Apologies
Ms Carrick
Mr Hilditch Mr O'Connor

In Attendance: Mr M Rickard (Committee Clerk)
Mr J Campbell (Assistant Committee Clerk)
Ms C Angelone

• Introduction

The Chairman commenced proceedings by welcoming Mr Leo O'Reilly, the new Treasury Officer of Accounts, and Mr John Dowdall, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), and his staff.

He congratulated Mr O'Reilly on his new appointment and expressed his hope that the relationship struck up with his predecessor, Dr McCormick, could be maintained and developed.

He then proceeded to outline the objectives of the meeting as:

• To agree the Minutes of the Meetings of 09.01.02

• To receive a brief presentation from Mr Leo O'Reilly, on the latest DFP correspondence to Accounting Officers on issues raised by PAC

• To receive a presentation from the C&AG and his staff on the NIAO Report on Ledu Fraud

• To approve the PAC Draft Press Release on the Committee Report on the Outbreak of Brucellosis at the Agricultural Research Institute

• To decide which NIAO Reports should be dealt with by correspondence by the Committee

Following this introduction, the Chairman turned to the order of business.

• Apologies

Apologies were received from Ms M Carrick, Mr D Hilditch and Mr D O'Connor

• Minutes from Meeting of 9 January 2002

Agreed

The minutes accurately represented the business of the Committee.

• Guidance issued to Accounting Officers in response to issues raised by PAC

Mr Leo O'Reilly was invited by the Chairman to give a brief presentation on guidance issued to Accounting Officers in response to issues raised by PAC. Following his presentation, he addressed a number of queries raised by members.

Agreed

C&AG will provide the Committee with a short, non-technical briefing on Resource Accounts by 28 February 2002

Agreed

Mr O'Reilly will provide a report on Departments' progress in preparing Resource Accounts by 28 February 2002.

• Presentation by Mr. John Dowdall, Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) and his staff on the NIAO Report on the recent frauds in LEDU

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 Donnelly (NIAO Director) gave a talk which detailed the main issues in the Reports. During the presentation he addressed a number of queries raised by the members.

He also outlined the type of questions to be asked in order to draw out conclusions and recommendations for the subsequent PAC Report.

• Clearance of PAC Draft Press Release on The Brucellosis Outbreak at the Agricultural Research Institute

Following the meeting of 09.02.01, a draft press release was produced incorporating all issues which the members wished to be included.

Agreed

The press release should be issued with the report in the form submitted, subject to minor amendment.

• The Public Audit Forum

At the invitation of the Chairman, the C&AG gave a brief outline of the Public Audit Forum. He explained that the Public Audit Forum had been established in 1998 by the National Audit Office, NI Audit Office, the Audit Commission and the Accounts Commission for Scotland in order to provide a focus for developmental thinking about public audit.

He drew to members' attention that the specific remit of the forum was to build on co-operation between the different public sector audit agencies in order to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of public audit, to provide a strategic focus for issues arising and to develop a consistent approach to public audit.

Agreed

The Committee fully supported the role of the Public Audit Forum.

• Issues arising from NIAO Reports to be dealt with by correspondence by the Committee

The Chairman proposed a number of reports which he felt would best be dealt with by correspondence, rather than holding an Evidence Session.

Agreed

The following reports should be dealt with by correspondence. If the replies are not acceptable to the Committee, a future Evidence Session may be considered.

The meeting was then drawn to a close at 12:30pm.

B Bell
Committee Chairman
2002