Beags,
Nobody starts a business to hire employees that don't do what is asked of them. To suggest Ascent are lazy as a company - a company trying to make a profit - does not match up with the experiences of just about all of us who have experience with the private sector.
By throwing spears at Ascent, you allow the government to dodge the issue when it's as clear as day that it was them, as it always is in just about every other department.
I found it amusing when it was claimed that "the RAF had just about caught up with the problem in 2015." Uh, no... the MoD made over half of the student pilots redundant and stopped recruiting pilots for a while. That wasn't them dealing with it, that was mere damage limitation and they had the cheek to invite guys back eight years down the line, who were well in to their second careers. I know of one guy who was offered a fast track return to a frontline fleet with a year's holding first. Just imagine what the normal wait time is?
He told them to sling it.