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Legacy Report 2011-2016

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Legacy Report 2011-2016 Public Accounts Committee Legacy Report 2011-2016 Ordered by the Public Accounts Committee to be printed on 9 March 2016 This report is the property of the Public Accounts Committee. Neither the report nor its contents should be disclosed to any person unless such disclosure is authorised by the Committee. Mandate 2011/16 Thirty-Eighth Report NIA 334/11-16 REMIT AND POWERS The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is a Standing Committee established in accordance with Section 60(3) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and under Assembly Standing Order 56. “to consider accounts, and reports on accounts laid before the Assembly”. The Committee has the power to: . consider accounts and reports on accounts laid before the Assembly; . call for persons and papers; and . initiate inquiries and issue reports. THE PAC PROCESS The Committee’s work focuses primarily on the consideration of reports produced by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) and his organisation, the Northern Ireland Audit Office. These can be annual financial reports on public accounts or reports on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of public spending. The Committee selects and examines Audit Office reports that are material to its remit, and can assist in developing lessons to improve accountability and financial governance mechanisms in the public sector. It calls the Accounting Officers responsible for expenditure examined in each report to give oral evidence. Members scrutinise the report and the evidence, and produce recommendations for improved financial systems and controls in a Committee report. The Treasury Officer of Accounts (TOA) attends all evidence sessions on behalf of the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP), answering Members’ questions and supporting Accounting Officers. Through the Minister for Finance and Personnel, the Executive member with central authority for financial matters, the relevant Department responds to the Committee’s recommendations two months after publication of the report. This is called a Memorandum of Reply. The TOA co-ordinates this response and promotes good practice across Departments. MEMBERSHIP The Committee has 11 members, including a Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson, with a quorum of 5 members. The membership of the Committee since 23 May 2011 has been as follows1: Democratic Unionist Party Mr Trevor Clarke 8 Mr Paul Girvan Mr Edwin Poots 18 Mr Jim Wells 15 Sinn Fein Ms Michaela Boyle (Chairperson) 3 Mr Phil Flanagan 13 Mr Conor Murphy 17 Social Democratic and Labour Party Mr John Dallat (Deputy Chairperson) 5 16 Ms Claire Hanna 14 Ulster Unionist Party Mr Roy Beggs Mr Ross Hussey 1 The changes to membership which occurred throughout the mandate are included at Appendix 1. Key outputs and achievements Since May 2011, the Public Accounts Committee has produced 34 inquiry reports and 6 other reports including end of session reports and Excess Votes. Value for Money/Efficiency and Effectiveness Reports The bulk of the Committee’s work is its inquiries into case studies into value for money and or efficiency and effectiveness of public spending. The C&AG’s case study reports demonstrate audit findings and the Committee then assesses the impact of these before prioritising them for its forward work plan. In the 2011-2016 Assembly Mandate, the Committee has examined practice in many Government departments, reporting on various issues such as the use of agency staff and external consultants; Public Private Partnerships (PPP); major capital projects; fraud; whistleblower complaints; and conflicts of interest. The Committee took a strategic approach to its work, prioritising the inquiries it chose to conduct according to the significance of spending decisions, the impact and wide application of lessons learned in the public sector as a whole, the need to represent the work of all departments in the scrutiny material of the Committee, and the benefit its inquiries could accrue for the taxpayer. The Committee reiterated in its recommendations the need for: clearly defined responsibilities and accountability lines for spending decisions; good guidance that is regularly refreshed and actively circulated; adherence to control processes even when time and other pressures militate against it; regard to expert advice in tendering and specification to balance public/private sector risk; high ethical standards, with particular regard to conflicts of interest, so that public spending can be seen to be beyond reproach; the need to promote good practice in respect of whistleblowers in public service (which has been highlighted in DFP guidance issued to Accounting Officers); and the need to strengthen the investigative skills within the public sector with regard to public sector fraud and in particular the establishment of single public sector fraud investigation service which has now been established by DFP. Inquiries to note: Report on the NIFRS: An Organisational Assessment and Review of Departmental Oversight and Report on Accounts 2011-2012 The Committee’s inquiry examined a series of investigations by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety into whistleblower allegations of financial irregularities in the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service. The whistleblower, who was first suspended by the NIFRS, received both an apology from the Department and financial compensation after taking a case through the Industrial Tribunal. The Committee concluded that the decision to suspend the whistleblower caused both reputational damage and financial loss to NIFRS, as well as injury to an individual who had properly raised her concerns. The Committee commended the whistleblower for bringing serious failings in the NIFRS to light, at great personal cost and was left in no doubt that her suspension from the NIFRS was directly related to her whistleblowing, and that it was clearly wrong. Report on PSNI: Use of Agency Staff This report examined the use of agency staff in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), which cost approximately £106 million since 2004. It examined the procurement of agency workers and highlighted concerns about the way procurement was carried out in order to ensure value for money was achieved. The Committee’s report found that the PSNI’s oversight of the use of agency workers was not robust and that excessive numbers of agency staff were employed for lengthy periods of time. Report on DCAL: Management of Major Capital Projects In the period 2008-11 the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure had an unprecedented target to deliver £229 million capital investment which resulted in the delivery of a number of capital projects. These major capital project had cost 32% more than the original estimated cost of £78.5 million (84% of which provided by the public purse). The Department acknowledged that the projects were based on completely unrealistic cost estimates that resulted in projects being re-scoped, contributing to the significant cost increases and delays. Report on DSD: Advanced Land Purchases This report highlights the Committee’s continued work on whistleblower cases and promotes the good practice in respect of whistleblowers in the public service. The Committee’s report looked at the way the Department for Social Development (DSD) provided monies to groups within the Housing Association sector. Prior to 2012, rules set by DSD for Advanced Land Purchases (ALP) were open to abuse. Grants of a combined total of £8.9 million were awarded to two housing schemes, Helm and Trinity Housing Associations, however no houses were ever built. The Committee was also concerned to hear about a potential conflict of interest with respect to the Chief Executive of Trinity Housing. Report on The Cross-border broadband initiative: the Bytel project Another particular highlight of the mandate included the Committee’s inquiry into a cross-border broadband initiative. It was highly critical of the handling of this cross- border project delivered by a private company, Bytel Networks Ltd. The project was funded by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) and supervised by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) in Northern Ireland and by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (DCENR) in the Republic of Ireland. A report by the Committee of Public Accounts of Dáil Éireann into its examination of the Bytel project was published on the same day as Northern Ireland Assembly Public Accounts Committee. Both committees were jointly briefed by the C&AGs in both jurisdictions during a visit by the Oireachtas Committee of Public Accounts to the NI Assembly on 4th March 2015. The two committees jointly discussed the issues arising from this project before undertaking their separate inquiries. This was the first time the two committees had worked and reported simultaneously on the same topic. Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly Public Accounts Committee are pictured with Members of the Oireachtas Committee for Public Accounts at Parliament Buildings on 4 March 2015 End-of-Year reports: The Committee completed an end-of-year report at the conclusion of each session throughout the 5 year mandate, summarising the inquiries undertaken, reports published and the uptake of all recommendations made. They also contain statistics on the number of meetings, reports published and committee spending on visits, publications, refreshments and hospitality. Session 2011/2012 Session 2012/2013 Session 2013/2014 Session 2014/2015 Approaches/changes in approach The Committee takes
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