Mr. David Moloney:

We deliberately chose a mixed delivery mechanism because, in a lot of areas, the Civil Service and the wider public service do not have the necessary skills to do certain things. They can sometimes be basic things. Some of the money is spent on temporary call centres, for which it would not make sense to hire permanent civil servants. Some of it was to support the digitisation of the public service and such sophisticated types of activity. Value for money should inform how we deliver our services and whether we use external consultants or deliver a project or service using civil servants. The preference has always been to use civil servants where possible. The reality is that, sometimes, the knowledge transfer and access to expertise does not allow that.