Mr. Michael McCarthy:

Deputy McAuliffe made some good points. Regarding NOAC itself, the organisation is sufficiently resourced to deal with our statutory function. I acknowledge the support we have received from this Administration and the previous Administration. We sought resources on occasion and we got them, and we really appreciate that. We work in conjunction with the Local Government Audit Service, which does a great deal of work in this area. It is an important role. Many of our interactions at that level colour our work programme. That can be seen, for example, in our interactions with the local authorities. All these good reports are produced, and this could involve scrutiny or validation visits. To pull that information for our reports, we interact with the LGAS, in the first instance, and then also with the data co-ordinators in the 31 local authorities.

On that point, all 31 local authorities have an audit committee. We also have the Local Government Audit Service, the National Oversight Audit Commission, the Committee of Public Accounts and the Minister. Therefore, in respect of a public element of scrutiny, there is a lot there. The question then is whether there has or might be an occasion where we might have a direct request from a particular relevant Minister. In this context, it must be borne in mind that traditionally, if we were to think back to the 1970s and 1980s, we had the county, city and town councils and the parent Department of local government. Now, however, the local authorities do a much more varied amount of work. I am aware I am speaking to two members of this committee who have served on local authorities. They know the full ambit of the services provided to people by local authorities. Therefore, several senior Departments now have an element of the policies under their aegis being dealt with by the local authorities. Equally, in the Act, there is a specific provision that allows a Minister to refer a piece of work to us that he or she wishes us to undertake.