Mr. Mark Griffin:

It has gone pretty well. When the Government approved the capacity review in the middle of last year, we had 25 staff in the NCSC and the ambition was to recruit 20 this year to bring the total to 45 and to have 70 staff recruited within a five-year period. At this stage we have moved from 25 to 37. There was quite a lot of interest, from both the public and private sectors, in the jobs that were advertised and the process is under way to recruit the additional staff. We are satisfied that the target of 45 will be achieved by the end of the year. We have also made provision in the Vote in 2023 that will allow us to bring forward some of the recruitment that we had intended for years four and five of the recruitment programme. When the Government made its decision in mid-2021, it would have been mid-2026 when we expected to hit the target of 70 staff but we now expect to achieve that by the end of 2024. It is encouraging to see the quality and calibre of people who are applying for these jobs, both from the public and private sectors. It has been quite reassuring for us.