Minutes of Proceedings of the first meetingof the Public Accounts Committee held in Room 21, Parliament Buildings on Thursday 5th September 2002

Members Present:
Mr B Bell (Chairman)
Ms Armitage
Mr Beggs
Mr Close
Mr Dallat
Mr Hilditch
Ms Morrice
Mr O'Connor

Apologies:
Mr Carrick
Mr McClelland

In Attendance:
Mr P Carlisle (Clerk)
Mr J Campbell (Assistant Clerk)
Mr J Dowdall (Comptroller and Auditor General)
Mr R Jones (Assistant Auditor General)
Ms C Campbell (Admin Support)
Ms J Dickson (Admin Support)

1. Introduction

The Chairman commenced proceedings by welcoming members, Mr John Dowdall, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), and Mr Raymond Jones, Assistant Auditor General (AAG), to the meeting. He introduced Mr Paul Carlisle to the Committee as the new Clerk to the Public Accounts Committee.

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

2. Apologies

Apologies were received from Mr Carrick and Mr McClelland.

3. Proposed Move of Committee Clerk

The Chairman briefed members on the meeting of 3rd September with Senior Secretariat staff regarding the transfer of the Committee Clerk. Following the briefing, the Committee members discussed in detail the options available to them.

Agreed

The following motion should be lodged with the Business Office

"This Assembly calls on the Commission to initiate an independent review of the management of administrative support provided by the Secretariat to elected representatives and to examine the extent to which the personnel management of Assembly staff conforms with best practice elsewhere in the public sector.

In the meantime where the work of some committees has been undermined by recent moves which took place without proper consultation, these moves should be revoked."

Agreed

The draft letter submitted before the Committee should be issued to the Speaker, as Head of the Assembly Commission.

Agreed

The Chairman and Deputy Chairman should meet the Clerk of the Assembly and the Speaker in order to further discuss the issue.

The Chairman thanked the C&AG, the AAG and Paul Carlisle for their attendance at the meeting.

The meeting was drawn to a close at 11:55am.

B Bell
Committee Chairman
2002