Mr. Robert Watt:

-----procurement on behalf of Departments. There are particular rules for capital spending, for example. Projects costing more than €100 million must come back to the Government, through us. We would be involved in that. It depends, therefore, on the nature of the spending, but the overall system is ultimately one of delegated responsibility. Our system works very well in the main. I have had the experience of working with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in countries that are not in the developed world, and I have seen the challenges those countries have in terms of basic public financial procedures and accounting officers. Our system of delegated sanction, Accounting Officers' responsibility, the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, this committee and the appropriations process means that this process is very well developed. That does not of course ensure there are no mistakes because people are fallible and we live in a world of uncertainty where people make mistakes. The structure is pretty good-----