Questions raised over quango fees

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The chair of the Public Accounts Committee has raised questions about payments made by a quango to the company of one of its own directors.

It comes after the BBC revealed that the Strategic Investment Board made payments of more than £2m to the firm of its director James Stewart.

He is also chief executive of a public private partnership company.

Committee chair John O'Dowd has asked the Department of Finance's permanent secretary to address the issue.

He has asked for details of how "any perceived conflict of interest" is dealt with in regards to the SIB.

Mr O'Dowd has also questioned the use of consultancy firms of which SIB directors are also members.

Mr Stewart is the chief executive of Partnerships UK plc (PUK), which provides public and private sector commercial expertise for public private partnerships.

'Demanding answers'

In the financial year 2006/07, the board paid PUK £677,943 for the "extensive advice and support" it had received from Mr Stewart.

In the previous year, it paid PUK almost £500,000 for Mr Stewart's services.

In the financial year 2004/5, the SIB paid PUK £917,720 "for the services of the chief executive and James Stewart".

Mr O'Dowd said: "I am demanding answers into what could be perceived as a conflict of interest.

"To this end, I took the opportunity at the Public Accounts Committee, which was dealing with the use of consultants, to quiz the permanent secretary of the Department of Finance and Personnel on the perceived conflict of interests at the SIB and I await a full written response."

SDLP leader Mark Durkan, who as former finance minister helped set up the SIB, said the fees paid to PUK were "clearly open to question".

Speaking on BBC NI's Politics Show on Sunday, he said: "The Strategic Investment Board has a role.

John O'Dowd is chair of the Public Accounts Committee

"When we envisaged it, we saw it being set up on a social partnership model. It wasn't. We still want to see that model.

"We also saw it as a way of housing expert advice within the government system, available to government, without us having to pay massive fees to all sorts of external consultants to advise on capital programmes.

"That needs to be corrected as well."

SIB is a company owned by the first and deputy first minister's office (OFDFM).

It said: "James Stewart's fee is paid to PUK in partial recompense for the time he devotes to the SIB board. He does not personally receive any additional payment from PUK or SIB for this work."