Ms Maureen Kennelly:

The reason the off-the-shelf option was not considered - the Deputy will bear in mind this was well before my own time - was that it was a more ambitious project. It was amalgamating five systems into one. The initial imperative was the online services, effectively the grant management system. That was out of warranty and was on its last legs. When the organisation looked more widely, it was felt there were efficiencies that could be made, particularly regarding communicating the impact of our work to the public.