Ms Mary Higgins:

In terms of financial controls, not having both is not very good. We have been prevented from following up on receipts because of the way the legislation is drafted and the fact that under section 23 we cannot betray a connection between an applicant and us. It has never been possible for us to go to suppliers to get receipts. We are in a situation where the return of receipts is quite low relative to the number of payments made. That has been pointed out by the Comptroller and Auditor General and is something on which we must take action. We cannot ignore it. One of the ways we can do it is by going directly to the supplier where receipts have not been returned. We would not do this in every case and would not do it without telling people that we would be doing it.