Mr. John Trethowan:

Approximately half of our budget goes on advertising. We advertise extensively on the radio and in the media to ensure there is awareness. Knowledge of the Credit Review Office was at 67% in the most recent Department of Finance half yearly survey. Having stated this, it had reduced by 6% from the previous six months. The survey also found 64% of SMEs responded they were not made aware of the Credit Review Office by the banks, so we still have work to do to get the message through to SMEs that we are here and about what we do. The banks also have more work to do to ensure when they decline an application that the Credit Review Office is prominent. Recently we became aware that on the first refusal one of the banks advises customers of the microfinance scheme but not the Credit Review Office and we have sought a meeting to try to address this.