Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2016 to Question 53656, how has the recruitment campaign been extended; whether those posts have been re-advertised; and how many people responded to the initial advertisement.

We have extended the timing of the original recruitment campaign to take a closer look at the 32 applications enabling us to ensure that the requirements for these key roles are fully met, that we have fully tested the market and we get the best people for the job.

We have not re-advertised these posts.