Mr. Tony O'Brien:

With regard to the internal audit, I am aware of the newspaper article to which the Chairman referred. Every internal audit report has a set of recommendations and these are coded in the normal way as to severity. These are first processed in their setting and every report is also considered centrally by the national management team in terms of the applicability of what has been found and the lessons to be drawn for the entire system. Also, on an exception basis, reports are brought to the board, depending on their universal applicability. The internal audit function then follows up to establish whether the recommendations are being complied with. As I mentioned in my opening statement, I have taken steps to further strengthen the internal audit function, including the use of outsourced audit personnel, specifically to beef up our capacity with regard to section 38 and section 38 issues.

With regard to the accumulation of surpluses by voluntary bodies, clearly there is room for discussion if the level of funding we are providing is contributing to a situation in which large surpluses are being developed by any voluntary body. We would be obliged to examine the extent to which that should be taken into account in the award of public funding to that body, given the overall constraints that apply to us. This applies to both larger and smaller voluntary bodies.