Ms Andrea Keane:

As the Chair correctly stated, we have recruited 39 people since our last visit and we are still 120 short. We expect it will be the end of quarter 1, which will probably be March, before we have fully bridged that gap, but we will see incremental improvements, as we saw with the 39 released into service. In terms of our recruitment process and where we stand currently, we can send the information in a more comprehensible format to the committee. We have 229 live applications at the moment, which are being progressed through the system. It is important that I reiterate, as I did last time, that safety is our key priority. Not all of the 229 applicants will commence employment with the company. Looking at our trends on how many of the applicants will take up work, it will probably be one third of them or slightly in excess of that if the current trends hold. The more positive news for customers on recruitment is that the winter recruitment campaign is continuing apace. While there are 229 live applications at the moment, more than 500 pre-registered for the open day to which Mr. Hann referred to earlier.

Not everybody was able to turn up on the day, but they have emailed applications to us. These are being worked through as well. We still estimate it will be the end of March before we have the 120 addressed, but there will be incremental improvements for customers in January, February and March as we bridge the gap.