Value for money and output commensurate with the level of investment is particularly important in relation to capital expenditure. As part of the new expenditure management initiatives, the Minister for Finance intends to agree a five year capital expenditure envelope with each of his colleagues. This will provide relative certainty to Departments in planning their capital programmes going forward. In return, Departments will be expected to identify the project and programme outputs they will achieve for the envelopes provided and to deliver this output as far as possible within both budget and projected timeframe.