You're absolutely right Skipy, I was just offering this as another example of the cavalier way in which they spend our hard earned money, without any real accountability.

When it comes to providing, for example, life giving drugs to sick people they can be very frugal, under an 'efficient use of public money' banner. When it suits them however they can, as you say, pull random, often very large, sums of money 'out of the hat' apparently with little concern for efficiency.

The only consequence then for squandering large sums of public money that could be spent on the NHS or Education seems to be a mild rebuke by the National Audit Office.

Rog.