Mr. Bob Hughes:

There is a challenge in that the schemes are being rolled out. We only have the current experience, the first big schemes being the courts reporting and local democracy schemes, which, as I said, are oversubscribed. The digital transformation scheme is next and is unlikely to meet everybody's needs. After that will be the news reporting scheme but, as yet, we do not have any sight of how it will be structured or what it will deliver.

On the digital transformation scheme, our members have been told there is no money to create employment as part of it. One of the editors in Local Ireland was interested in this and made the case as part of the consultation that if the money was there, an extra half a position or a full-time position could be created to increase specialist staffing for digital.