Last week I put a question to the Privy Council Office, specifically around the Prime Minister's Office, and was told they had a budget, up until last year, for full-time equivalents of 85 and that they are now at 114. That seems like a fairly significant increase in the Prime Minister's Office, and that was a direct request for information.
What I'm concerned about is that we have a fairly significant 20-person increase in one year in the Prime Minister's Office, yet we're having cuts in other offices where we can't find out either through attrition, as you indicated, or through other means, whether we will have an impact on service levels because we won't be able to have the additional employees that may be required.
When you look at the...I'll use the term “puts and takes” in this particular ask in estimates; they're asking for almost an additional $2 billion in spending.
My point is that some of these requests are of interest, and I just want your viewpoint on whether you think they should have been in the original budget. I'm concerned that we're asking for another $2 billion. I need your advice on this. We're being asked to approve another $2 billion in additional spending. I don't know if it's new spending or additional spending in these particular estimates. In my opinion, that's a significant sum of money. Should that not have been in the original budget? Am I correct in that?