Mr. Tom Geraghty:

Let me come back to a point the Deputy made which probably bears repeating. He made reference to the prison service and the annualised hours agreement. I am not an expert on that particular agreement, but if one talks to those in the management - I know the committee members have met them - they will tell one that not only did it save them money in overall terms, but it actually gave them much greater flexibility in ensuring attendance when they needed it and so on. In a way, that illustrates the point that sometimes there is a very good reason for allowances to be in place. To describe them - as I have seen them described - as perks is absolutely inaccurate. In fact, there are good operational reasons for having that system as opposed to perhaps consolidating all of those allowances into pay. As Mr. Cody has said, it just will not be possible in every single instance to consolidate the allowances into pay, and it would not necessarily be desirable.