Professor Frank Murray:

I am not sure that it signs off. I think these are mainly locally appointed rather than centrally appointed. If we think about how consultants are appointed into permanent, long-term posts, they go through a very rigorous process involving either the hospitals, the Public Appointments Service, PAS or the mental health services. People who are appointed to locum or specific-purpose contract positions do not go through that same process. It does not have the same number of steps within it.