PAC to examine HSE Financial Statements

The agenda for the meeting is:

(ii) HSE Financial Statements 2015 & 2016 and
(iii) Clarification on Matters relating to the Meeting of 2 February 2016 [Officials from the Health Service Executive]

Committee Chairman Seán Fleming said: “Tomorrow, the Committee will deal with a number of issues in relation to the Health Service Executive financial statements for 2015 and 2016. The Committee will also receive a statement from HSE Director General Tony O’Brien in relation to the ‘Grace’ case.

“In relation to the HSE financial statements, we are looking for an up-to-date report on section 38 and 39 agencies because of the €4 billion paid out by the HSE in relation to these organisations.  Section 38 Agencies and the largest of the Section 39 Agencies managed by a Service Arrangement represent over 98% of the overall grants paid by the HSE. These agencies are allocated annual budgets and are required to submit regular management accounts to the HSE. We will be keen to hear the details of the review carried out by the HSE on these accounts.

“Another area of interest to the Committee is non-competitive Procurement. It seems that this is a problem which the HSE has been grappling with for a number of years with little success. Again the 2016 audit identified a significant level of non-competitive procurement which was even greater than that noted in 2015. There was a lack of evidence of competitive procurement in relation to 49% by value of the sample of payments examined at five locations in the HSE visited by the C&AG audit. The total value of the same was €30.8 million. We will want to know what steps are being taken by the HSE to address non-compliance with procurement rules and why the actions outlined in the 2015 annual report did not reduce the level of non-compliance in 2016.”

This meeting will start in Committee room 3 at 9am on Thursday, 15 June 2017.

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