Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú:

As the Comptroller and Auditor General's report related to second level, the figure has not really grown. It is approximately at the same level and while there actually have been some reductions in the substitution and supervision allowance, we also have more teachers. However, the spend is approximately the same. Arising from the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, we tightened the reporting requirements from schools in respect of both the use of the hours by teachers and the use of the grant by the school where teachers were not opting in to the substitution and supervision scheme. These arrangements have become a lot tighter following the review. Moreover, in the year in which the review took place, the Department had not tightened up on substitutions to the same extent. We reduced the availability of substitution in certain instances. We reduced its availability for official school business, in particular, which has put the onus back on schools to ensure the 37 hours are maximised.