Armed Forces: Recruitment and Retention
Debate between Lord Coaker and Lord Vaux of Harrowden(1 week ago)
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Lord Coaker (Lab)
The Government have increased pay by 35% for new recruits. That increase in pay is one of the ways in which we could encourage direct entry. We should not underestimate the power of the sense of duty among our young people and their desire to serve. As evidence of that, on Armed Forces Day and VE Day, in which the noble Lord and many other noble Lords and noble Baronesses across this Chamber will have been involved, it was remarkable to see the number of young people involved in those events across the regions and nations of the UK. That shows us that putting these careers and opportunities in front of young people is really important. Alongside that, we should never underestimate, however much sometimes we decry our young people, their sense of patriotism and duty.
Lord Vaux of Harrowden (CB)
My Lords, under the Capita system, probably the single biggest difficulty of the recruitment process was actually getting medical records out of the health service. What is happening to improve that?
Lord Coaker (Lab)
We have scrapped a number of the medical record requirements to get rid of some of the silly things—for example, around dental records. Alongside that, we are making sure that, in the recruitment process, there is electronic access to GP’s records. That means that instead of days or weeks or months of trying to get those records, they can be accessed within a few minutes.
Strategic Defence Review
Debate between Lord Coaker and Lord Vaux of Harrowden(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Lord Coaker (Lab)
Some of the timelines will clearly need to be clarified. On the general point, all the things that my noble friend has mentioned are critical to move from the forces that we have to the integrated force that is essential—not the joint force but the integrated force. We need to make that happen as soon as we can.
Lord Vaux of Harrowden (CB)
My Lords, the Minister mentioned the recruitment gap earlier. I had the privilege last week of spending the week with the Royal Gurkha Rifles, and I must say how impressed I was. We take only 250 Gurkha recruits every year, out of 12,500 keen applicants. I suggest that there is a potential opportunity there, and one that the Government might take.