Recommendation 17

The Department told us that it has plans in place to fix its recruitment and retention problems. The Department also told us that it has increased its recruitment of engineers significantly in the last two years. It has offered joining bonuses for certain professions and has increased the capacity of its technical training skills to enable more recruits to be trained more quickly. 33 C&AG’s report, paras 2.3-2.4 34 C&AG’s report, paras 2.6-2.7 35 Q 101 36 Qq 101-102 11 To improve retention the Department offered a financial retention incentive for engineers, although this did not cover all supervisor grades where there have been especially acute shortages. The rate at which staff are leaving the armed forces, which was extremely high in 2022, has now stabilised at or below historic norms. However, the Department acknowledges that it takes time to adequately replace those experienced staff.37 Accommodation