Mr. Peter Tyndall:

Yes, that deals with that particular matter. On the issue of medical cards, I think I underplayed the number of complaints received. When I got back to the office and checked, the number was rather more than I had suggested when I was at the committee. I will prepare a note on that. We found we had achieved resolution on the issue of the people who had complaints outstanding to us. Their cards were restored so we had a satisfactory outcome on that issue. The number of complaints coming in now, because the review has been suspended, is quite small. As the Deputy said, this has become a matter for legislators rather than for the Ombudsman. When the new arrangements are in place and are implemented, I expect we will start to see complaints again because in all of these things there tend to be winners and losers. We shall see.

I share members' concerns about the failure to introduce legislation. There are people with disabilities who would have qualified for assistance with transport but who, since the scheme was suspended, have been denied access to a scheme. That is a very unfortunate consequence of the report. I wish the committee well in its endeavours to encourage the introduction of a replacement scheme. When the report was issued and the scheme was suspended, I do not think anybody thought it would take this long to have a replacement scheme put in place. That is unfortunate.