Ms Andrea Keane:

What we found is that the vast majority of our current applications are coming through our open days and recruitment fairs, where people are able to interact with us on the day and in person. That is throwing up a significant number of applications. We have 229 live applications that are currently ongoing. I did make the point that safety is the critical piece for us given that being a driver is a safety-critical role, and a highly professional one. What we tend to find is that, on average, we accept just slightly more than a third of all applications, who make it into employment with us. That is to give context to the 229 applications.

I did also advise the committee that we had more than 500 people register for our open days and some of those were not able to attend, but have since followed up with us via email. We do have a good pipeline, but it is an area of key focus and will continue to be throughout 2023.