Mr. Graham Doyle:

As the Deputy knows, there is at an overall level a multilayered approach comprising public spending codes, requirements for audits, etc. We particularly engage with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform over time with regard to those issues. We obviously talk with other Government Departments at times where it is required in respect of work that is going on with local authorities. Each Accounting Officer in every Government Department has a set of procedures. They are similar in many cases because they emanate from the same structures. Those procedures govern the programmes and the money that is dispersed to local authorities. The public spending code applies to local authorities in the same way it applies to Government Departments. As part of its work on scrutiny reports, the National Oversight and Audit Commission, NOAC, will do a particular piece of work around compliance with the public spending code.