Ms Laverne McGuinness:

It has not been with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for all that time. Around 2006, when PPARS was being examined, there was a financial information system under consideration as well, but because of the PPARS issue it was stepped down. Correctly, an entire approval process was put in place for procurement as well as for project management in respect of the financial systems. We are looking to put in place a significant system. It is with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for approval at the moment.

Reference was made to the amount of money that we pay over to each of the individual agencies. Each year we publish an annual report and financial statements. At the back is a list of every agency that we provide funding for. I have some of the documents with me and we can provide them to the committee. We know every agency to which we pay funding. Some of these are small payments when seen in context - for example, €150,000 or €196,000. There are also larger payments, and often these relate to hospitals. We should remember that many voluntary hospitals are included among these section 38 arrangements. There was a question about whether we tender. There is no market to tender with for hospitals. We have the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Beaumont Hospital and St. Vincent's University Hospital. They are the agents we contract for services under a service management agreement. We have key performance indicators regarding the type and volume of services to be provided for the given budget. The hospitals must abide by regulations with regard to hospital-acquired infections and all the quality and patient safety indicators that we have. It is somewhat different in the disability sector because there are different key performance indicators. Certainly, for a residential facility we would stipulate the number of residents and the associated care planning, the number of day places and the number of personal assistant hours to be provided. All of this is set out in the service level arrangements.

Reference was made to our ability to tender with other agencies.

The hospitals are there and provide a very good service.

We tendered this year for the provision of home help and care services. Where we can tender we will. The disability sector has arrangements in place, and the facilities to provide the service. There is no choice there. As part of the value for money study we have examined where there are opportunities to amalgamate those services, particularly in the back office or whole shared service arrangements, be that administration, finance or human resources. The forums we have put in place come together under the umbrella organisations and the federation of voluntary organisations. Working through that forum with the national director of social care we examine all opportunities to consolidate services.

I was asked if there were some agencies that we had ceased trading with or that had gone off our books. Several agencies over the past few years have, for whatever reason, wished to exit the market and we have adopted several approaches, depending on what was most appropriate at the time. One of the latest examples is the Wisdom Services for people with a disability in Sligo, which we now provide. It is and was a fantastic service when the Daughters of Wisdom provided it. The same is true of several other agencies. I can give Deputy Byrne specific detail on that.

The pay to senior managers is part of the service level arrangement. We ask that all salaries are disclosed. One of the recommendations in the CRC report is that all senior manager salaries be disclosed.