Ms Ita Mangan:

The question was to whom the CIB is accountable. We are under the aegis of the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, as members know, but are accountable to the Comptroller and Auditor General, who has made it very clear that we need to exercise much greater control and compliance on the various companies. Those companies are entirely State-funded. They are not separate voluntary organisations that raise funds from other sources. It would be open to the CIB to cease funding them all in the morning. We have no intention of doing that but could theoretically do so and transfer their functions to other organisations. That is the reality of life. They are entirely State-funded. However, because we value matters such as volunteers and community ethos and must comply with the compliance requirements of the Comptroller and Auditor General, we have come up with this reorganisation which we believe is the best available option in the circumstances. It is not perfect. I made clear last February that it is not the perfect solution but it is much better than what we have.