Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Johnny Mercer]

I pay tribute to all the groups up and down this country who work tirelessly every day to improve the lot of our veterans, particularly the ones in my hon. Friends’ constituencies. There is a shift in the provision of veterans’ services in this country towards more of a balance between the third sector and statutory provision, but we will always require a blend of the two, and I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for her lobbying for this cause.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

What steps his Department is taking to recruit and retain armed forces personnel.

[The Minister for Defence People and Veterans (Johnny Mercer)]

We have a range of measures supporting recruitment and retention, and continue to refine the armed forces offer. Measures include competitive pay, financial incentives, flexible service, and retention-positive accommodation programmes.

[Sir Desmond Swayne]

What is the Minister’s estimate of the quality of new recruits? Hopefully they are better than we were.

[Johnny Mercer]

I can safely assure my right hon. Friend that standards have risen significantly since he and I were accepted into the military. We make no bones about it: the standards to get into our military are some of the highest in comparison with our peer nations. We employ some of the finest people this nation has to offer, and under this Government we are seeing a conscious shift towards how we look after them and value them as our finest asset.