Mr. Ed Hearne:

Our focus has been on the public expenditure elements of it. These can contribute to competitiveness in the wider economy. In many cases they rely on the private sector to deliver services. Certainly it is very relevant to inform overall trends in the economy. The measures I mentioned regarding how we try to ensure maximum value for money in all areas of expenditure, be they current or capital, will continue to be our focus. It will be very important that as we deliver programmes and improve and expand the type of information we have been speaking about today, we can use the analysis to better inform how we target public expenditure in future and we know which programmes perform, which provide value for money and which, ultimately, will support the achievement of the various public policy objectives we have been speaking about.