Thank you for your question.
You cited some very significant figures with respect to spending cuts. Many of these expenditures are in fact transfers, meaning contributions and grants to other sectors. That is not necessarily reflected in the operating costs of the department and has no bearing on our ability to contribute to science.
However, as part of the deficit reduction exercise in the 2012 Economic Action Plan, we had to reduce our envelope by 10%. That measure unavoidably led to staff reduction. We went through the exercise and made the subsequent calculations. In answer to your question, we did not cut back in the scientific sector any more than we did in other sectors.