Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will attempt to briefly outline what the process is. Health boards are responsible to come up with budgets which are then submitted to the Department of Health and Social Services on an annual basis. Health and Social Services then combine these requirements and goes forward with business plans and budgets accordingly. When it comes to the end of a fiscal year and it appears that there is going to be an operating deficit, there is a policy of surplus retention and deficit recovery.

When a Health and Social Services board can then work with the department and indicate that there were unavoidable, un-projected forced growth issues, then it is possible for a submission to be made to the Cabinet and FMB to accommodate those shortfalls. However, there is also a requirement for the health boards to work with us to help find and identify efficiencies that we may be able to realize cost savings from.

These options for cost savings would then be submitted again to the Financial Management Board for consideration. So it is possible for the board to discuss those kinds of options with the public and MLAs. What is not possible to do is to commit the Cabinet to a position with responses to those initiatives prior to Financial Management Board approval.