Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Smith Excerpts

Monday 6th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Johnny Mercer]

I ask the right hon. Gentleman to reflect briefly on whether I would advocate a piece of legislation that would do that. The Bill does not do that. It is clear that we are bringing in various conditions to stop our service personnel and veterans repeatedly having to give evidence in relation to historical incidents or to respond to allegations. It has been a long time in the making; the injustice has gone on for many years. What he is saying is simply not in the Bill. I would be more than happy to meet him and Members from all parts of the House to discuss what is in the Bill. We need to work together to get the Bill over the line.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

What steps his Department has taken to maintain the overall size of the armed forces as set out in the 2015 strategic defence and security review.

[Judith Cummins (Bradford South) (Lab)]

What steps his Department has taken to maintain the overall size of the armed forces as set out in the 2015 strategic defence and security review.

[The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Ben Wallace)]

Since 2015 we have introduced many measures to respond to a difficult armed forces recruitment and retention climate. These include financial incentives, flexible service, the recruitment partnership project, the future accommodation model, and improved childcare. We saw improved recruitment figures of 31% from 2018-19. The size of the armed forces should always be dictated by the threat, UK global ambition, and modern technology.

[Nick Smith]

The Army’s strength, though, is still woefully short of the Government’s target. Those wanting to join our Army were faced with Capita’s bureaucratic processes, which could take up to 52 months. So will the Secretary of State tell us what is the average length of time taken to get through the Army recruitment processes now?

[Mr Wallace]

The hon. Gentleman makes some valid points. However, due to the extra effort we have put into the Army recruiting process, the Army has now in fact hit its recruitment target, and was on target to do so even before covid broke, to have depots full and to deliver an armed forces at the right strength, growing the armed forces, not shrinking them.