Ms Marie Mulvihill:

The focus of the budget oversight group is current expenditure. However, reforms relating to capital expenditure were set out in the context of the establishment of the projects office within the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. There is a project tracker, for example, and revisions to the spending code are to be introduced shortly. There are different monitoring arrangements for capital expenditure. The budget oversight group is concerned predominantly with current spending, with the focus on seeing where expenditure is versus allocations, seeking to realise the savings that underpin the national service plan, and monitoring staff and pay numbers.