Mr. Martin Fraser:

I do not see the minutes routinely. I receive an agenda, but I do not often receive many papers or minutes of previous meetings. The minutes have not been transmitted to the Clearing House Group recently, but I will check the position for the Deputy as the subgroups must have minutes of their meetings. I will also revert to the committee on the issue of the papers from the subgroups and transparency around that issue. I do not remember seeing the minutes routinely, although I see a great deal of paper in my job. I will revert to the Deputy as I understand the point he is making.

On the review reported in the newspapers, no formal decision was taken to carry out such a review and there was no such review. The newspaper reports may have been generated as a result of the Department's decision to publish the minutes and a sense in the industry that things were slightly different. We will try to do some work over the summer in focusing on the job creation aspect of the industry. Given that the Clearing House Group has been around in its current form since 1987, it may be that slightly fresher approaches are available which would emphasise the job creation and economic development aspects of the sector. The new Secretary General of the Department of Finance is keen to work with us on focusing on that end of things. We aim to start work over the summer to refresh how this is done. I understand the next meeting of the Clearing House Group will be held in September. As I stated, the purpose of the group should be to emphasise job creation.