In the absence of the Chairman, Mr Alan Williams was called to the Chair.

Sir John Bourn, KCB, Comptroller and Auditor General, was further examined.

The Committee deliberated.

Mr Glenn Hull, Second Treasury Officer of Accounts, was further examined.

The Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the National Insurance Fund Account 1998-99 and issues of Fraud and Error in DSS Benefits (HC 146) was considered.

Mr Nick Montagu, CB, Chairman, and Mr John Yard, Director, Business and Management Services Division, the Inland Revenue; Ms Rachel Lomax, Permanent Secretary, the Department of Social Security; Mr George Bertram, CB, Director, the National Insurance Contributions Office; and Ms Elisabeth Astall, Partner, Andersen Consulting, were examined (HC 350-i).

Mr Jim Rickleton, Director, the National Audit Office, was examined (HC 350-i).

[Adjourned until Monday 20 March at half past Four o'clock.

Sir John Bourn, KCB, Comptroller and Auditor General, was further examined.

The Committee deliberated.

Draft Report (National Insurance Fund 1998-99 and Wider Issues of Fraud and Error in Benefits Paid by the Department of Social Security), proposed by the Chairman, brought up and read.

Ordered, That the draft Report be read a second time, paragraph by paragraph.

Paragraphs 1 to 5 read and agreed to.

Paragraph 6 postponed

Paragraphs 7 to 57 read and agreed to.

Postponed paragraph 6 read and agreed to.

Resolved, That the Report be the Thirty-first Report of the Committee to the House.

Ordered, That the Chairman do make the Report to the House.

Ordered, That the provisions of Standing Order No. 134 (Select Committees (Reports) be applied to the Report.

[Adjourned until Monday 30 October at half past Four o'clock.