Ms Helen Hall:

Statutorily, we are the ones who make the appointment, and that is our primary role. We focus as best we can on there being no gaps and I think we have done a very good job of that. For the last five years there have rarely been gaps, whereas in previous times there might have been vacancies for months or years. For example, with regard to the seven assistant commissioners who will be gone, our priority will be to try to get them in place, or at least put a panel together that the Commissioner can have at his disposal. It is about encouraging good workforce planning. A lot of good work is being done but we are not yet there. I can think of a particular example where the Commissioner asked us to do an early appointment to allow for a handover and that kind of continuity. The authority acceded to that even though there were a few months of overlap, because it was important. We try to be as helpful as we can, where it is within our remit.