Concise Minutes - Public Accounts Committee

Meeting Venue:

Committee Room 3 - Senedd

Meeting date: Monday, 3 October 2016

Meeting time: 14.01 - 16.05
This meeting can be viewed
on Senedd TV at:
http://senedd.tv/en/3735

Attendance

Category	Names
Assembly Members:	Nick Ramsay AM (Chair) Rhun ap Iorwerth AM Neil Hamilton AM Mike Hedges AM Rhianon Passmore AM Lee Waters AM Paul Davies AM (In place of Mohammad Asghar (Oscar) AM)
Witnesses:	Sir Derek Jones, Welsh Government Gawain Evans, Welsh Government Peter Kennedy, Welsh Government
Wales Audit Office:	Huw Vaughan Thomas, Auditor General for Wales Mark Jones
Committee Staff:	Fay Buckle (Clerk) Meriel Singleton (Second Clerk) Claire Griffiths (Deputy Clerk)

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Transcript

View the meeting transcript (PDF 1MB) View as HTML (259KB)

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1 Introductions, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest

1.1 The Chair welcomed Members of the Committee.

1.2 Apologies were received from Mohammad Asghar. Paul Davies substituted.

1.3 The Chair also welcomed a delegation from the Botswana Parliament who observed part of the meeting from the public gallery.

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2 Paper(s) to note

2.1 The minutes were agreed.

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3 Scrutiny of Accounts 2015-16: Welsh Government

3.1 The Committee scrutinised Sir Derek Jones, Permanent Secretary,

Gawain Evans, Director of Finance and Peter Kennedy, Director of Human Resources, at the Welsh Government on the Welsh Government’s Consolidated Accounts 2015-16.

3.2 Sir Derek Jones agreed to send further information on:

· The extent to which local authorities are recruiting people externally with appropriate procurement expertise

· Figures capturing Welsh Government and public sector procurement in Wales

· Clarification on the variances for the Health and Social Services Group underspend of £153m as detailed in the Summary of Outturn table and the impact on the HSS Ambit underspend had two of the health bodies not overspent.  (together with the effect of the Welsh Government providing additional money to two health boards who had overspent and the effect this had on provisions of cash requirement)

· Direct the Committee to links for further information (previous correspondence) on the Welsh risk pool

· Keep the Committee informed on possible disciplinary taken that might need to be taken regarding the fruitless payment of £1.25m

· How restricted and unquantified potential liabilities are accounted for in terms of clarity

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4 Motion under Standing Order 17.42 to resolve to exclude the public from the meeting for the following business:

4.1 The motion was agreed.

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5 Scrutiny of Accounts 2015-16: Consideration of evidence received

5.1 Members discussed the evidence received during the course of the accounts scrutiny work for 2015-16.

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Closing Remarks

Due to the unavailability of the witness scheduled to attend the meeting on 10 October, the Committee agreed to defer the business until the witness can attend on 14 November.

The Chair is away on Assembly Business on 17 October and called for nominations for a temporary Chair for the meeting on 17 October under Standing Orders 17.22 and 18.6. Rhiannon Passmore nominated Rhun ap Iorwerth who was duly elected.

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