We asked the Department whether it was concerned about retaining new officers. The Department acknowledged that if increasing numbers of officers left the service, this would in turn increase the number of new officers the Programme would need to recruit. The Department told us that it was losing around 9% of new officers, which was in line with its planning assumption that around 1 in 10 new officers would leave in the first two years of their service. This compared to an overall police officer voluntary resignation rate of 2% per year.40 36 Home Office, Police officer uplift, England and Wales, quarterly update to 31 March 2022 37 Qq 19, 34 38 Q 33; Home Affairs Committee Oral evidence: Work of the Metropolitan Police Service, HC 1240, 20 April 2022, Q 2, 16, 23 39 Qq 35, 37; Home Affairs Committee Oral evidence: Work of the Metropolitan Police Service, HC 1240, 20 April 2022 Q24 40 Qq 39–40 The Police Uplift Programme 15 Capacity and capability of policing