Mr. Bernard Gloster:

I provided a note to the committee yesterday with a description of this case, and I think I even stretched the boundaries, to be fair, in doing so. When a mediation of this type is carried out, it includes a risk assessment of the alternative, and the alternative is likely to be a combination of two things. One is several years of not working and being paid while litigation goes on, and the other is the risk of the cost of the litigation, which, as the Deputy knows, is significant. Consultant contracts are one of the most disputed contracts in the country in employment law. Most consultant contract disputes are litigated in the High Court and they are very complex and significant. It depends on which of the three consultant contracts the person holds. A very considered view is taken to settle as to opposed to the alternative. The alternative would have been set out in the business case that would have gone to the Department of Health and the Department of public expenditure. It would have been very clear what the options were. Even so, it is very significant.