Mr. Bernard Gloster:

There are two parts to that. First, we have attempted to address the concerns and give reasonable assurances. Second, we went through a process for about 12 months of rewriting the entire service arrangement, not just for IFMS. The voluntary hospitals and other section 38 providers were fully engaged and involved in that process so they had a lot of influence in what went into those service arrangements to try to ensure there were adequate protections for their entities.

I do not believe a legal agreement is required separately and I do not believe it interferes with their responsibilities, if they are company directors, in terms of company law. I have no basis to believe that. Third, we have no interest in going in and micro-managing the day-to-day spending of a hospital. A hospital could not function if you did that. However, it is a financial management system and part of the purpose of a financial management system is control. I will make no apology to anybody for saying there has to be a control mechanism for public money. Whether you are a voluntary hospital or a statutory hospital, if you are spending it, you are spending public money. If I am the accountable officer for that, I have not only a right but a duty to control that. I do not make an apology for it being a control mechanism.