You have thrown me slightly by not allowing an opening statement, convener, but I am content to go straight to questions.
Staffing is a very important issue that we in the directorate and in the agency take seriously. First, I will deal with the 30 per cent figure that Audit Scotland has pointed out and explain how it was reached.
The programme reports on the percentage of posts that are filled at a point in time against the projected end-of-year target. In December 2018, which was the month in which we gave Audit Scotland the figure, we had in post 70 per cent of the staff we thought we would need by March 2019. That does not mean that we had only 70 per cent of the staff that we needed at the time. In fact, the only way that we could have reported that we had zero vacancies—in essence, that 100 per cent of posts were filled—would have been for us to have staff in post in December who were not actually needed until March.
It is important to establish why the figure was 30 per cent, and it was because what we were measuring in December was against a projected requirement by March—in other words, three months later. We have made improvements to the recruitment process and, as of mid-April, the rate was 15 per cent. We are continuing to look at the numbers of staff required and to keep a very close eye on our planning requirements and the staffing requirements in that respect.
On the point about staff morale in both the agency and the programme, the staff survey results for Social Security Scotland, which have been published, were very positive on a very high response rate. That certainly chimes with my experience when I have visited the agency, but David Wallace might want to say more about morale and the fact that our staff are well looked after and encouraged.
I have discussed the 2018 people survey with the social security programme senior management. Cabinet Office advice is that we cannot break down the core Scottish Government people results below a Scottish Government organisational level, but I can absolutely say that there is nothing in the outcomes from the social security directorate that causes me any concern—and I do not say that lightly, given that I am surrounded by people from the directorate. Our results compare very well with those of other Scottish Government divisions; indeed, the programme outperforms the Scottish Government average in a number of areas. There is no issue with morale within either the programme or the agency.
The programme is a challenging one for people to work in. They are working exceptionally hard, and I pay tribute to all the staff in the agency, the programme and the wider directorate who have delivered a social security system one year on from the passage of the bill. They can all rightly be proud of the part that they have played.
I do not know whether David Wallace wants to say more about the agency staff.