Mr. Bernard Gloster:

Every time I come to the committee, in fairness to the Deputy, he advocates that position. Part of that is understandable. A share of private homes got an increase of 6% this year. They have also reduced contract negotiation time. Whereas previously they were predominantly two or three years, they are now one-year options. In a public nursing home where a bed complement might reduce because of regulatory compliance or other things, the cost will often stay the same because of the volume of staff and the conditions they have. I made the point to the Deputy at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Health two weeks ago that one of the fundamental differences - and I am not saying it justifies all of the cost difference to be fair to private providers - is that we are, and continue to be, the provider of last resort. In the past three weeks, we have had to step in with-----