Public Accounts Committee

End of Session Report: 3 February 2024 to 31 August 2025

Public Accounts Committee - End of Session Report 2024-25.pdf (795.02 kb)

Remit and Powers

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is a Standing Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly established in accordance with Section 60 (3) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and under Assembly Standing Order 56.

PAC has a statutory remit to:

• consider the accounts, and reports on accounts, of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) laid before the Assembly;
• call for persons and papers;
• initiate inquiries and issue reports.

PAC also considers value for money reports which follow an examination on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which a public sector body has used its resources. These examinations take place under Article 8 of the Audit (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 (‘the 1987 Order’).

 In effect, this means that PAC will examine public spending with the benefit of hindsight, to highlight good practice and poor value for money, and to recommend improvements to the stewardship of taxpayers’ money.

Membership

The Committee has 9 members including a Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson, with a quorum of 5 members.

The membership of the Committee since 3 February 2024 has been as follows:

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Mr Daniel McCrossan MLA (Chairperson)

Democratic Unionist Party                   

Ms Cheryl Brownlee MLA (Deputy Chairperson)

Mr Tom Buchanan MLA

Ms Diane Forsythe MLA

Sinn Fein

Mr Cathal Boylan MLA

Mr Colm Gildernew MLA

Mr Pádraig Delargy MLA

Alliance

Mr David Honeyford MLA

Ulster Unionist Party

Mr Colin Crawford MLA^i,ii

ⁱ _{With effect from 5 March 2024 Mr John Stewart replaced Mr Robbie Butler}

ⁱⁱ_{With effect from 21 October 2024 Mr Colin Crawford replaced Mr John Stewart}

Committee Priorities

The Committee has examined practice across Government Departments, reporting on various issues such as the need for collaboration across Departments, strong lines of accountability and the need for early intervention to address identified issues.   The Committee has completed 8 inquiries and currently has two live inquiries. 

The Committee reiterated in its recommendations the need for:

• the need to work across Departments and for collaboration;        
• clearly defined responsibilities and accountability lines for spending decisions;
• the application of value for money principles to ensure public spending can be seen to be beyond reproach.

The Committee takes a strategic approach to its work by selecting and prioritising inquiries based on the significance of the issues involved and the potential for wider learning across the public sector. This approach reflects the Committee’s role in identifying key themes that can improve how public resources are managed and the systems that support their effective use.

The Committee is mindful of the need to represent the work of all departments in scrutiny, and the benefit its inquiries could accrue for the taxpayer as catalysts for reform. This will inform its strategic priorities for the remainder of the mandate.

Committee Activities, Outputs and Achievements

This report covers the work of the Committee from 3 February 2024 to 31 August 2025.

Meetings

The Committee has held 49 meetings during this period. 19 meetings were evidence sessions, 48 meetings were partly closed or closed to enable members to consider their approach to specific reports, enabling members to explore the facts and increase their understanding of the more complex findings in the reports to inform the Committee’s inquiries and programme of work.  

Reports

The Committee held 8 inquiries during this period. In chronological order, they were reported on as follows:

Live Inquiries

The Committee have commenced 2 further inquiries during this period to be reported on in Autumn 2025:

• Access to General Practice in Northern Ireland
• Managing the School's Estate

2017-22 Mandate Inquiries – Memoranda of Reply

Since February 2023 the Committee has considered Memoranda of Reply on the following reports from the 2017-22 mandate:

At the start of this mandate, Members expressed dissatisfaction with Departmental responses to a number of Memoranda of Reply (MORs), including those on Closing the Gap and Planning in Northern Ireland (both published in April 2024). Although these inquiries were completed during the previous mandate, the issues remained of significant relevance. Members also followed up on the implementation of recommendations from the Generating Electricity from Renewable Energy report (NIA123/17-22, published 23 September 2021), which arose from the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) Inquiry. As part of the Committee’s scrutiny role, this work forms a crucial element of monitoring and follow-up to ensure that recommendations are implemented and that progress is properly tracked. In response to these ongoing concerns, Accounting Officers and senior officials from the Department of Education, the Department for Infrastructure, and other relevant Departments were called to give evidence.

In addition, Members have sought further clarification on several other MORs, which remain under active review. These include reports on Child Poverty, Mental Health, and Public Procurement.

Disclaimed Audit Opinion of Department for the Economy Accounts

In addition to its inquiries, the Committee also took evidence from the Accounting Officer for the Department for the Economy (DfE) and the Treasury of Accounts on the Disclaimed Audit Opinion of DfE’s accounts. A disclaimed audit opinion on the financial statements of a government department is an extremely unusual occurrence and was therefore a matter of significant concern for the Committee. The disclaimer was issued by C&AG, due to her inability to obtain sufficient, relevant and reliable audit evidence to support the information in the financial statements. The Committee continues to keep this issue under review.

Ministerial Directions

When a Minister wishes to proceed with a course of expenditure against the advice of their Accounting Officer, a Ministerial Direction is notified to PAC.  This means that the accountability line for this expenditure will be to the Minister rather than the Accounting Officer.  For each of these Ministerial Directions, the Committee agreed that the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) would monitor the expenditure in line with current audit practices and report any significant issues as required.

The Committee has considered a number of Ministerial Directions from the last mandate. Whilst there have been no issues identified with the individual Ministerial Directions, the Committee remain concerned that their use in Northern Ireland has become significantly more prevalent than in other UK Government Departments. The Treasury Officer of Accounts briefed the Committee recently and the use of Ministerial Directions remains under review by the Committee.

Engagement

The Committee has engaged with a range of stakeholders during the course of this session including taking evidence from the Northern Ireland Mental Health Champion, the Northern Ireland Children’s Commissioner, voluntary and community sector organisations and the Northern Ireland Youth Assembly.

The Committee used Citizen Space for the first time to gather evidence from the public, as service users, for its inquiry into access to General Practice in Northern Ireland. The survey was launched in March 2024 for a period of 4 weeks and garnered the largest response to a Northern Ireland Assembly Citizen Space survey, which received over 15,000 responses received.  A more targeted survey, using Citizen Space, was also used to gather the views of children and young people to inform its inquiry into Developing Skills for the Future.

Visits and Events

The Committee held its first launch event on 6 June 2024 for the launch of Mental Health Services in Northern Ireland report. Invited guests from across mental health services in Northern Ireland heard from the Chair and the Northern Ireland Mental Health Champion Siobhan O’Neill.

L-R: Cheryl Brownlee, MLA (Deputy Chair PAC), Daniel McCrossan, MLA (Chairperson, PAC), Siobhan O’Neill, Northern Ireland Mental Health Champion.

On 15 October 2024, Committee Chairperson, Daniel McCrossan, MLA addressed the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Public Finance Live conference in Belfast, outlining the Committee’s priorities in ensuring effective scrutiny and accountability in Northern Ireland.

On 7 November 2024, the Committee held a launch event for its report into Child Poverty in Northern Ireland The event was attended by around seventy guests including Departmental Officials, inquiry witnesses and key stakeholders from the statutory and community and voluntary sectors as well as members of the Northern Ireland Youth Assembly.

Panel members at the ‘Child Poverty in Northern Ireland Launch’ L-R: Colm Gildernew, MLA, Goretti Horgan (Northern Ireland Anti Poverty Network), Daniel McCrossan, MLA (Chairperson), Trasa Canavan (Barnardos), Alex Tennant (NICCY)

L-R: The launch event, the report, Northern Ireland Youth Assembly Member speaking to panellists.

Five members attended the British Islands and Mediterranean Regional PAC Network Meeting and Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) PAC Network Meeting hosted by the Parliament of Malta in Valetta, Malta. Members participated in and Chaired discussions on the disadvantages and advantages of small PAC’s, the use of digitalisation and AI to assist PAC Members, and the role of PAC’s and national audit officers in reviewing the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Delegates at the British Islands and Mediterranean Regional PAC Network Meeting in the Maltese Parliament Chamber.

In February 2025, Daniel McCrossan, MLA addressed the NIAO staff conference on the theme of improving outcomes and the role the NIAO play.

Deputy Chairperson Cheryl Brownlee, MLA and Committee Clerk Lucia Wilson represented the PAC at the Northern Ireland Leadership and Governance Conference and Exhibition on 2 April 2025, participating in a Café Conversations event alongside the NIAO to help the leaders of public sector bodies in Northern Ireland to better understand the role of the PAC in scrutinising Accounting Officers and Departments.

Café Conversations Event      

Member Development

Members participated in a Member Development session on Effective Questioning from Guest Speaker Brian Whalley on 14 March 2024, with further training on Effective Questioning provided by Guest Speaker John Sturrock KC though the NI Assembly Commission in September 2024.

PAC Members attending Effective questioning training session with Brian Whalley.

Priorities for the 2025-26 Session

Work will continue towards the conclusion and reporting of the inquiries into Access to General Practice in Northern Ireland and Managing the School’s Estate. The Committee has also agreed that its next inquiry will examine Homelessness in Northern Ireland.

The committee’s forward work programme will continue to be underpinned by its commitment to deliver work that makes a tangible impact, is carried out with pace, and continues to add value to public service delivery. The Committee remains outward-facing and will actively engage with stakeholders to ensure that its scrutiny is well-informed, relevant, and aligned with the needs of citizens. These principles will continue to shape the Committee’s approach throughout the 2025–26 session.