PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITEE
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
Thursday, 12 February 2009
SENATE CHAMBER, PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS
Present:
Mr Roy Beggs (Deputy Chairperson)
Mr Trevor Lunn
Ms Dawn Purvis
Mr Jim Shannon
Mr Jim Wells
In Attendance:
Ms Alison Ross (Assembly Clerk)
Mrs Gillian Lewis (Assistant Assembly Clerk)
Mr John Lunny (Clerical Supervisor)
Mr Darren Weir (Clerical Officer)
Apologies:
Mr Thomas Burns
Mr Jonathan Craig
Mr John Dallat
Mr Paul Maskey (Chairperson)
Mr Mitchel McLaughlin
Mr George Robinson
The meeting opened at 2.10pm in public session, the Deputy Chairperson in the Chair.
The Deputy Chairperson welcomed Mr Kieran Donnelly, Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General to the meeting, and Mr David Thomson, Treasury Officer of Accounts (TOA) to the meeting.
1. Apologies.
Apologies are listed above.
2. Matters arising.
The Deputy Chairperson informed members that the Accounting Officer, Department for Regional Development (DRD), had provided a response to the Committee’s request for further information in relation to the evidence session on the NIAO report ‘Road Openings by Utilities: Follow-up to Recommendations of the Public Accounts Committee’. However, some of the statistics requested had been grouped and need to be separated to provide clarity.
Agreed: Members agreed to write to the Accounting Officer, DRD, for further clarification.
The Deputy Chairperson informed members that he would take agenda items 4 and 5 before the evidence session.
3. Minutes of the meeting on 5 February 2009.
Agreed: The minutes were agreed.
4. Press release.
Members considered the draft press release to launch the Committee Report on Brangam, Bagnall & Co: Legal Practitioner Fraud Perpetrated against the Health and Personal Social Services.
Agreed: Members agreed the press release.
5. Evidence on the NIAO Report ‘The PFI contract for Northern Ireland’s New Vehicle Testing Facilities’.
The Committee took oral evidence on the NIAO report ‘The PFI Contract for Northern Ireland’s New Vehicle Testing Facilities’ from Mr Stephen Peover, Accounting Officer, Department of the Environment (DOE), Mr Brendan Magee, Chief Executive, Driver and Vehicle Agency, DOE, and Mr Stanley Duncan, Director of Road Safety Division, DOE. The witnesses answered a number of questions put by the Committee.
Members requested that the witnesses should provide additional information to the Clerk on some issues raised as a result of the evidence session.
3.50pm The evidence session finished and the witnesses left the meeting.
6. Any other business.
None.
7. Date, time and place of next meeting.
The next meeting will be held on Thursday, 26 February 2009 at 2.00pm in Room 144, Parliament Buildings. The Deputy Chairperson reminded members that the Committee was travelling to Dublin for an informal meeting with the Committee of Public Accounts in the Dail on Wednesday, 18 February 2009.
The Chairperson adjourned the meeting at 3.51pm.