Mr. Maurice Buckley:

It is a combination of both. There are a number of steps to consider, the first of which is procurement in advance to make sure the agreed rates are correct and acceptable, and meet procurement guidelines. Then, when the invoice is lodged we check the invoice against the work done. Some of this is quite complicated because there is so much detail involved, as the members can see from figures such as 2,916 stewards. There are many queries, checks and cross-checks until we are satisfied that the invoices can be paid. In some cases we are dealing with multiple small suppliers and the main contractor cannot invoice the Office of Public Works until it in turn is invoiced by multiple smaller suppliers, some of which are voluntary organisations. It can take a bit of time. This is why there are quite a few outstanding invoices. The visit was on 26 August, and even though it is now early December we will get quite a significant number of invoices over the next week or two