The Department told us that it expected the recruitment of the remaining officers to be more challenging than the proceeding two years. Firstly, it explained that the final year of the Programme required a greater number of officers to be recruited than in the preceding two. The Department set the Programme a target of 8,000 officers for its final year, compared to 6,000 in each of 2020–21 and 2021–22, although it has been helped by gaining an extra 1,500 by the end of year two. Secondly, it told us that the employment market had changed, with “shifts in the number of vacancies in various different sectors”. Finally, it recognised that the debate around public trust and confidence in policing had made recruitment more difficult than before.37