Mr. William Carlos:

On the broader issue of audit, while Irish Aid is not directly supporting the national audit office in Mozambique, it provides a high level of support at the provincial and local levels, where we feel it is extremely important. A lot of work has been done in Inhambane, which the delegation visited, and also in Niassa, where the offices are being supported at a local level.

As regards the audit issue, when the audit reports come out they are examined by the internal auditor and the programme team at the country level. They detail the exact implications and if there are qualified opinions they detail them as to what the exact issue is. A detailed action plan is written out, including actions taken by the team.

This information is gathered in a quarterly report that is sent off to the audit office in Ireland and there is analysis done in terms of the action that is taken.

All audit opinions that are expressed within the national audit, and, indeed, from the other audits that we undertake, are followed up very actively by the team at the country level. These audit opinions are also tracked when the audit team goes to the country and examines what is happening to follow-up. Indeed, the Comptroller and Auditor General's office follows up on what actions are being taken.

The table maps out a benchmark of where the opinion is at at this time. We categorise, because the audit opinion can vary. We detail what priority actions need to be taken and follow that then with the subsequent action plan that will address it. If there are serious issues, then the funding of a programme is stopped until such time as these issues are resolved.