Ms Aileen Healy:

Resourcing is always a challenge, to be honest. We had much success in 2018 in getting an additional 42 staff but, to be honest, it took us most of 2019 to recruit those 42 staff. There is always staff turnover, with staff getting promoted or retiring. There is a particular challenge not only in constantly replenishing our staff but also in getting staff with some of the specialist expertise we need. The increasing complexity of our cases means we need more specialist skills and competencies.

For 2022 we get additional funding in the budget for staffing, and that means we will be able to recruit perhaps an extra 30 or more staff this year, and we are in the process of doing that. This week we will have 140 staff and another nine investigators coming on board in the coming weeks. We will be holding competitions to recruit more over the coming months.

This relates to some of the earlier questions as well and what we need to do in the context of the new legislation and the change in our remit we see coming. In the coming weeks we will start an exercise to do a very thorough and comprehensive business analysis. That will look at the work we have on hand, the processes and systems we have to do it, and what we need not just in terms of people and skills but also information and communications technology systems to deal with that future work. We hope to put together some very comprehensive workforce planning with that and we hope it will in turn inform future estimated demands for the new organisation.