Mr. Robert Watt:

As part of the settling of the Estimate, a big element of it relates to the pay bill - as we discussed earlier - numbers, policy and then numbers of people retiring. So when we draw up the Estimate, which we are finalising now as the Deputy can appreciate, all those different factors are taken into account. The Department of Education and Skills will have to form a view as to the number of teachers who will retire next year. For this year they are saying that the numbers are lower than they anticipated. We know now because teachers retire before the beginning of the new year - the September year - so we know. So we are going to save money on gratuities for teachers this year, but that may impact then on next year. We are drawing up the numbers, but that is ongoing discussion.

As I mentioned in response to a question from Deputy Sean Fleming, a big part of our role is marking as we call it with both sections in our Department marking each of the Departments and in detail discussing with them spending pressures and trends in order to draw up the Estimate and to work with them to ensure they stay within the profile of everyone else. That is a significant part of what we do.