Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Smith Excerpts

Monday 8th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab)]

13. What recent assessment she has made of trends in the number of armed forces personnel.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

16. What recent assessment she has made of trends in the number of armed forces personnel.

[The Minister for the Armed Forces (Mark Lancaster)]

We remain committed to maintaining the overall size of the armed forces, including the Army. A range of measures are under way to improve recruitment and retention, and those measures are kept under constant review. Importantly, the services continue to meet all their current commitments, keeping the country and its interests safe.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mark Lancaster]

As we enter the 21st century, we must accept that the armed forces are about more than simply mass. That is precisely why we are investing in technology, and it is why the battlefield of the 21st century will be a very different beast from that of the 20th. I am concerned about the drop below that figure that we have seen in recent years, but, as I have just demonstrated, we are turning the supertanker around. The size of the trained strength of the British Army can only be increased if it has untrained recruits. As I have demonstrated, we are now seeing an increase in the number of people joining the Army, and that is a positive development.

[Nick Smith]

By when does the Minister think that the size of the Army will reach the Government’s target of just 82,000 fully trained personnel?