Ms Geraldine Tallon:

As far as the Department is concerned, moneys flow from the Department to local authorities in a range of ways. We provide a general purpose grant from the local government fund alongside a range of separate budget lines in housing, water and community across the Department. It is a complex situation. The funding flows through a variety of mechanisms and programmes which operate their own controls in terms of allocation, spending and accounting for spend. In examining individual authorities, the local government audit service will make a judgment on the approach to be taken on the audit. Generally it devises an audit plan for the authority. The auditor will make an assessment on the scale of particular programmes and projects and the materiality of expenditure relative to the total budget of a local authority to determine the basis on which to take an overview or drill down into particular areas. That is a function for the auditor individually and a code of practice governs his or her operations.