Mr. Seamus Coffey:

Given that the calculations those figures are based on were published last October, there is likely to be movement, but it is hard to know how significant it is. There are different elements that feed into it. There have been improvements in how the calculation is done. Previously, it was done on the basis of averages of numbers that were not available until August or September, particularly in respect of the deflator impacting on the nominal amount that could be increased. Now it is set on the spring forecast which is available rather than having to wait for a figure produced much later in the year. The summer economic statement may differ from what was published in the budget. There has not been a huge variability in any of the variables that feed into it, so the calculation should not be very different and it should be relatively stable from the time it is published in the summer economic statement to the budget, given the way it is now undertaken. Unless there is a dramatic change in how it is applied, we do not see the numbers changing.