Ms Yvonne Cooke:

On the effective measures to retain, through the exit interview process, we have been looking at some of the causal factors as to why people might seek to leave. That is with our occupational psychologist. We are about to roll that out in online surveys as well. That is one piece to try to identify earlier on to see whether there is a way we can support people, where it is appropriate, to remain in the organisation.

The Commissioner alluded to the fact we are currently developing a recruitment and retention strategy, which is being done in collaboration with the staff associations, and rightly so. They have had the opportunity to highlight issues their own membership are raising with them. I mentioned earlier the Durham survey and focus groups following that have assisted in identifying key pieces as well. That will all be put together, complemented with international and national benchmarking we have undertaken, looking at what is happening within the market force and what kind of things will assist in retention going forward. They cover everything from issues being raised by members with regard to salary and pension the whole way through to recognition, supports, leadership support and what have you. There will be a specific strategy that will be informed from the ground up. That is something we will be committing to work on for the foreseeable future.