31 Approximately two thirds of the Law Commission’s budget relates to salaries of commissioners  and  staff.    The  Remuneration  Authority  sets  the  salaries  of commissioners.    It  has  been  recognised  that  there  will  be  no  increase  in  the Commission’s appropriation until the cash reserves are exhausted, and successive Ministers    have    given    assurances    that    Government    will    reconsider    the appropriation when that occurs.  That point will be reached this year.    32 The budgeted operating expenditure for the current financial year is $3.5 million, which  includes  an  assumption  that  new  appointments  to  the  presidency  and commission will not be made before 1 February 2006.  The budget projection is for cash reserves to be exhausted at  the  end  of  2005/2006  and  the  Commission will be preparing a business case to put to Government before Christmas this year.   If there is no increase in funding in 2006/07, the operation of the Commission will have  to  be  significantly  curtailed  with  fewer  Commissioners,  research  staff  and support staff, and as a result fewer projects undertaken.      33 The Commission’s budget bids are received, analysed and prioritised along with other bids by Ministry of Justice officials, who also facilitate preparation of the Memorandum   of   Understanding   and   receive   the   quarterly   reports   from   the Commission in the first instance. Review of the operation of the Law Commission 34 Commissioners have recognised the need to examine the way in which functions are carried out in order to ensure that  operations are cost-effective, accord with best  practice  in  other  similar  organisations  and  provide  value  for  money  to  the taxpayer. 35 Accordingly  an  external  review  is  underway,  with  a  report  due  at  the  end  of October, to provide guidance as to ways to improve efficiency and to provide a basis for determining the budget levels required to provide the service expected of us by the government.  (Terms of Reference for the review are found in Appendix Five). 36 The   critical   issue   that   is   being   addressed   by   the   review   is   the   optimal organisational structure and processes to enable the Law Commission to continue to make a cost effective contribution to law reform.  This will include identifying the Commission’s critical mass and the requisite number of Commissioners and research staff to justify the infrastructure needed to support them.   Current Commissioners 37 There are nominally five commissioners at present, although in practice there are only four.   · Dr  Warren  Young,  Acting  President:  full-time;  expertise  -  criminal  law; term expires 2/5/07. · Helen  Aikman  QC:  part-time;  expertise  -  public  law,  commercial;  term expires 6/6/08.