Minutes of Proceedings of the nineteenth meeting
of the Public Accounts Committee
held in Room 152, Parliament Buildings
on Wednesday 22^nd May 2002

1. Introduction
2. Apologies
3. Minutes of Meeting of 17^th April 2002
4. Briefing by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr John Dowdall
5. General Correspondence
6. Any Other Business

Members Present:
Mr B Bell (Chairman)
Mr Carrick
Mr Close
Mr Dallat
Mr Hilditch
Mr McClellant
Ms Ramsey
Ms Morrice

Apologies:
Mr Beggs
Ms Armitage

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). He then proceeded to outline the main issues to be dealt with during the meeting.

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

2. Apologies

An apology was received from Mr Beggs and Ms Armitage.

3. Minutes of Meeting of 17^th April 2002

Agreed.

The minutes accurately represented the business of the Committee.

4. Briefing by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr John Dowdall, and his tem on the NIAO Reports on Northern Ireland Tourist Board: Grant to the Malone Lodge Hotel (NIA 83/01), Northern Ireland Tourist Board Accounts 2000-01 (NIA 45/01) and extracts from the Northern Ireland Appropriation Accounts 1999-2000 and the PAC Composite Report on Issues Dealt with by Correspondence by the Committee

Following a brief introduction by the C&AG, Mr Hutcheson and Mr Donnelly gave presentations detailing the main issues to be dealt with in the forthcoming evidence session on the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.

Following the presentations, they addressed a number of queries raised by the members

5. General Correspondence

Response from Department for Social Development re: C&AG's report on Vote C 2000-01

Agreed

The C&AG will review the response and report back to the Committee.

6. Any Other Business

PAC Visits

Agreed

The visit to Scotland should be postponed.

Agreed

The Clerk should liaise with the National Assembly of Wales with a view to visiting the Audit Committee on 19^th June.

The meeting was then drawn to a close at 12:40pm.

17 April 2001 / Menu / 29 May 2001