Mr. Tony O'Brien:

I will ask Ms McGuinness to share the detail of agency costs. It is important to stress that the use of agency-type personnel or flexible employment is an inherent feature of any health care system. In view of the statistical process control variations and demand, it is necessary to be able to flex up and flex down. As the Minister referenced, we do, as a result of budget 2014, have a procedure in place to effectively take back some of the costs that are currently resulting from using classic agency employment approaches in both VAT and agency margin. We will operate, as it were, in-house nurse bank arrangements. This does require a small piece of legislation under the 2004 Act to empower health authorities to set up subsidiary undertakings to take the place of agency services. That will have an important impact both on the costs I have mentioned but also on our ability to leverage the provisions of the Haddington Road agreement. Ms McGuinness has the detail on agency expenditure for the first 11 months of 2013.