The definition of madness is doing the same thing time and time again and expecting a different outcome. So I salute the Government for grasping the issue and looking for solutions.

I remember my early days as a section 151 officer and the anxiety in making sure we got a clean bill of health from our external auditors. Failure raised fundamental questions and it was a source of professional pride. The abject position across the country now means that it is hard to reach views about the financial health of many organisations and, as a result, I sometimes wonder whether I care enough about external audit validation. This is not how it should be.