Mr. Robert Watt:

Within ICT, we are trying to recruit people at different levels and grades and invest in them and to try to set out the benefits of a career in ICT in the Civil Service. It is not just about the money because we cannot really compete on the money. It is about the experience of working in Government and dealing with the types of challenges we are facing. We are trying to present ourselves in a different way because we cannot compete on money. The challenges of attracting senior leaders is an ongoing problem that we have. We are investing in principal officers and Assistant Secretaries and are trying to provide more mentoring and support. We are putting in place a talent management programme in which we identify future leaders and try to invest in them. We have two problems. We cannot compete with the private sector when it comes to pay for senior people and people do not want to take on public roles in which they have to deal with the Committee of Public Accounts and other committees. They do not like the treatment meted out by the media on a regular basis so people from the private sector, in the main, are not interested in taking on public roles because they believe the risks for them are too great. I do not know how we should deal with that but that is the reality of it. The pay is too low and the risks are too great for senior people from the private sector. That is what we get-----