Cadet Forces

Peter Swallow Excerpts

Wednesday 29th January 2025 Westminster Hall

[Peter Swallow (Bracknell) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the role of cadet forces.

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. On Remembrance Sunday, I stood alongside other Bracknell residents at our war memorial in the town centre and reflected on the service of our armed forces and the sacrifices that they have made to protect us, including, of course, the ultimate sacrifice. It was an honour to stand there as Bracknell’s MP in my first year in the role. The ceremony concluded, and we processed to the church for a service of remembrance. There were proud veterans and proud military families marching with us, as well as a very large number of young people from Bracknell’s local cadet forces, all turned out in their uniforms on a Sunday morning to take part and honour our armed forces. I know that the picture was the same in services up and down the country.

[Wendy Morton (Aldridge-Brownhills) (Con)]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for bringing forward this debate. I will mention the representation that our cadet forces make in our local communities, because I too see it week in, week out, particularly on Remembrance Sunday. I think of the 1444 Brownhills squadron, the 425 Aldridge squadron and T.S. Vigo in Walsall Wood—there are many of them, but I will mention just a few. As a Member of Parliament, they make me incredibly proud when I see them. I hope that we can continue to support those groups up and down the country as well as all the people who work behind the scenes—the volunteers and the families—to support them in the work they do to serve our communities.

[Peter Swallow]

I will touch on many of the points made by the right hon. Member, but her intervention really shows that the commitment to our cadets and the volunteers who support them is felt across the House.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend for securing this debate on cadet forces. In Slough, we have the Sea Cadets, Air Cadets and Army Cadets, which provide a fantastic development and learning opportunity for young people as well as playing an invaluable part in community events and services. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to ensure that the cadet expansion programme is sufficiently funded, so that more young people can benefit from the amazing opportunities provided by being a cadet?

[Peter Swallow]

My hon. Friend speaks with great weight on this topic as the Chair of the Defence Committee. In that role, it is important that he recognises the huge contribution of not only our armed forces, but the cadets, so I welcome him taking part in this debate.

I will come on to the cadet expansion scheme later in my speech, but it is really important that we think about expanding all cadet forces, not just Combined Cadet Forces, although they are important. The cadet expansion scheme is very much targeted at CCF, so I would like to see it being well funded and looking across the five cadet forces.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Gentleman on bringing forward this debate. Cadet forces have featured very much in my life and in Northern Ireland. I declare an interest as a former solider for the Ulster Defence Regiment and for the Royal Artillery for some 11 and a half years. Across Northern Ireland, some 200 cadets and 50 adult volunteers, representing both the 1st and 2nd battalion Army Cadet forces, marched proudly through the streets of Ballyclare when they were first established back in October last year.

In Northern Ireland, the cadets bring both communities —the Protestants and Roman Catholics; the nationalists and the Unionists—together to serve in uniform. That is really important. We in Northern Ireland are very aware of that far-reaching goal, which they achieve. Everyone should be able to serve in the British Army, the Air Force or the Royal Navy without fear of attack from anyone. The cadet forces play their part in Northern Ireland. Does the hon. Gentleman, like me, very much welcome their reorganisation?

[Peter Swallow]

I really welcome that intervention, which demonstrates the role that the cadets play in every corner of the United Kingdom and shows how important it is that opportunities for young people are shared across our regions and nations.

I return to the Remembrance Sunday service in Bracknell, which I was proud to attend. There I saw young people who had given up their Sunday mornings and woken up far earlier than any teenager wants to at the weekend to do something important: to remember. In October, I visited the Bracknell Army Cadets, alongside my hon. Friend the Minister for Veterans and People and Councillor Georgia Pickering, Bracknell Forest council’s armed forces champion. I hope that the Minister will not mind my saying that he offered deep inspiration to the young people he spoke to, sharing his own personal stories of service, bravery and sacrifice in the armed forces. I hope he will also not mind my saying that I believe that the cadets, in turn, inspired him with their stories, their drive and their thoughtful questions.

In November I was privileged to visit Brackenhale school and meet its combined cadet force contingent. It was a real pleasure to see how staff, students and volunteers are rightly passionate about the impact that CCF has in creating a sense of belonging and teamwork among students, as well as supporting their wellbeing. There is an assumption that only private schools have CCFs; Brackenhale, however, is a state school. To challenge another stereotype, almost half of cadets in Berkshire are female.

It is crucial that the benefits of participation in the cadet forces should be open to all. As of April last year, almost 150,000 young people were involved in the cadets across the country, with 90,000 in the Army, Air, Sea or volunteer Cadets and 50,000 in the CCF. In the south-east, our cadet forces are supported brilliantly by the South East Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Association, or SERFCA. I pay tribute to its outstanding work in supporting the cadets and the community of Bracknell. Its commitment to defence is truly inspirational.

The cadets provide a range of unique opportunities for young people to gain qualifications for CV enhancement, skill acquisition and personal development. For many, membership of the cadets had been a lifeline, providing positive guidance in times of crisis. For others, it is simply a fun thing to do and an opportunity to try new experiences with friends.

[Richard Foord (Honiton and Sidmouth) (LD)]

I received some correspondence from John McMillan from Sidmouth. He and his two brothers joined the Air Training Corps in the 1970s. Two of them went on to serve with the Royal Air Force and John himself went on to become a commercial pilot with British Airways, despite there being no previous connection to aviation whatever in his family. Does the hon. Gentleman recognise the value of the cadets to social mobility and providing opportunities?

[Peter Swallow]

I absolutely agree. In fact, in 2021, the University of Northampton published an independent report into the cadet forces, led by Professor Simon Denny. Based on data gathered from more than 5,500 cadets, the report highlighted the strong benefits of cadet membership, including improved career prospects and, as the hon. Member said, social mobility.

The report stressed that the positive impact of the cadets was particularly strong for those who suffered economic and other disadvantages. Cadets tend to have a higher sense of self-esteem, heightened aspirations, a heightened sense of social responsibility and a higher respect of authority than their peers. Participation in CCF, the Denny report states, is also associated with improved school attendance, preventing serial absenteeism and changing young people’s life outcomes in the long run. It has also proven to boost communication, resilience, leadership and social skills, all of which businesses and employers look for in young people. That, in turn, makes the cadets a wonderful tool of social mobility, supporting children from different backgrounds with different needs, including those with special educational needs, and breaking down barriers to opportunity. The Denny report found that cadets eligible for free schools meals had higher self-confidence than their non-cadet peers.

Crucially, cadet forces ensure that young people, and the country as a whole, are more familiar with the fantastic work of our armed forces. It is important to remember that the cadets are not a recruitment tool for the services, but it is certainly true that, by expanding an understanding of what it means to serve in the armed forces, the cadets give more young people the opportunity to consider whether a forces career might be for them. The armed forces face a recruitment and retention crisis, with targets missed every year out of the past 14. I cannot emphasise enough that cadets are not a recruitment tool, but when we are facing such a significant challenge, anything that can be done to raise awareness of what it means to serve must surely be part of the overall solution.

Whatever path cadets take after they leave their troop, it is undoubtedly a good thing that they have come to understand more deeply the important role our armed forces play in keeping this nation safe. For example, two recent graduates of the Bracknell Army Cadets have gone on to become paramedics, and are looking to come back as adult volunteers after they have completed their paramedic training.

As we recognise the incredibly positive impact of cadet forces on young people, it is also critical to acknowledge the adult volunteers who make the whole thing run. The volunteers are instrumental in mentoring young cadets and instilling in them the values that go on to shape their futures. Their contribution to the lives of these young people is truly invaluable, and we simply could not run the cadets without them. Some of the volunteers I spoke with during my visits to local cadet forces had military backgrounds themselves, but many had no prior experience with the armed forces; they were simply interested in supporting young people, or were volunteering because of the impact that the cadets had had on their route to adulthood.

More than 26,000 adult volunteers work across the five cadet forces. To be an adult volunteer requires a huge commitment, which is too often overlooked. As the Denny report found, adult volunteers each provide around 400 hours of volunteering per year—a total of 10.4 million hours a year for all volunteers. Many of the volunteers I spoke to spend their weekends running activities for the cadets while undertaking training so that they can perform in their roles better. Running regular sessions each week also takes up much time, and many struggle to juggle their commitment to the cadets with their jobs. That is all in the context of performing a highly complex role, working with children, with all the issues around safeguarding that they need to stay on top of.

I ask the Minister: what more can be done to ensure that the valuable role of adult volunteers in the cadets is recognised, through awards, recognition and other policies? What more can be done to ensure that they can more easily balance their work and other commitments with their dedication to the cadets? As I say, without adult volunteers, cadet forces cannot run. In these challenging times, with the rising cost of living, volunteers are too often forced to deprioritise their commitment to volunteering because they are being pulled in too many directions. In CCFs, school staff are already under significant pressure in their day jobs, so what can be done to ensure sufficient numbers of volunteers to support our valuable cadet forces?

The funding of the five cadet forces is complex, and each is independent of the others, but it is estimated that the Ministry of Defence spends around £180 million on the cadet forces annually. The Denny report notes:

“There is no single figure that can be said to identify the return on investment. However, where calculations of financial return can be carried out based on models produced by HM Government, their sum is vastly more than the annual cost of the Cadet Forces.”

The report concludes:

“Spending c. £180 million a year on the Cadet Forces is an excellent use of taxpayers’ money.”

With that in mind, will the Minister set out more clearly how the five cadet forces are funded and to what extent the funding has kept pace with inflation over time? The Department for Education recently ended a £1 million scheme that aimed to support school staff instructors in state schools. What has that funding cut meant for CCFs on the ground? Given the broader context of the funding pressures that have been affecting each of the combined forces over the last decade, will the Minister set out what continued support there is for CCFs? Under the previous Government, much emphasis was placed on expanding access to school-based CCFs. Will the Minister say whether similar schemes have been looked at to support the other cadet forces, to drive an increase in the number of cadets serving in the Army, Air, Sea and volunteer Cadets, as well as in CCFs?

As I have already stressed, although cadets are not a recruitment tool into the armed forces, they are an incredibly important tool for expanding social understanding of the military. Has the Minister looked at the role of the cadet forces in raising awareness of the value of our armed forces and the indirect impact they have on addressing the retention and recruitment crisis? I ask all of this in the context of the review into the cadets that he is conducting. Will he please set out further what the review is looking at, and how it will tie into the strategic defence review? The Minister is a proud champion for the wider armed forces community, including the cadets, so I very much look forward to hearing him speak on this important topic.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Swallow Excerpts

Monday 18th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[John Healey]

Discussions are at an early stage. At present, I am more concerned about the action we can take immediately, which is why I have given my first priority to building relations with key European allies. When I can, I will consolidate those relations in formal agreements, which we already have with Germany.

[Peter Swallow (Bracknell) (Lab)]

T9. As the MP for Sandhurst as well as Bracknell, I am delighted that the first intake of recruits to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst since the general election has hit 101% of its target, despite the wider retention and recruitment crisis. Will the Minister join me in welcoming all the 2024 recruits to my constituency?

[The Minister for the Armed Forces (Luke Pollard)]

I congratulate all those starting their military careers at Sandhurst and across our defence training estate. A career in the armed forces is a good career that supports our national defence, and I encourage more people to look at a good career in the armed forces—whether joining for the first time or rejoining.

Armed Forces Commissioner Bill

Peter Swallow Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 18th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Dave Doogan (Angus and Perthshire Glens) (SNP)]

It is interesting to be taking part in a debate that has such an outbreak of consensus—indeed, it is a bit unsettling in this particular Chamber. However, the Scottish National party will be doing nothing to rock the boat given that we welcome the role of Armed Forces Commissioner, especially their authority to investigate welfare complaints from our armed forces. This has been a long time coming. The welcome superseding of the Service Complaints Ombudsman with a vital element that allows servicemen and women recourse to a functioning complaint system outwith the chain of command is only going to be good news, and will be in step with the ambitions of many right hon. and hon. Members.

I take this opportunity to commend the foresight of my friend and colleague, the former Member for West Dunbartonshire, Martin Docherty-Hughes, who brought forward his Armed Forces Representative Body Bill in 2019. If that Bill had been supported, it would have achieved many of the same aims as this Bill but five years earlier. Nevertheless, a key development now is the ability of the commissioner to visit defence establishments unannounced and commission reports on what they find there. That is a central and vital improvement over the demonstrably inadequate powers of the ombudsman. The reports will face the scrutiny of colleagues in this Chamber and of the Defence Committee, which is welcome. I know that that scrutiny will be applied with rigour.

The Bill should go a long way towards shining a light on the manifold circumstances in which many in our armed forces and their families have been treated poorly by successive UK Governments. Much of that has been caused by disastrous privatisation misadventures pursued for short-term gains at the expense of long-term value; our men and women in uniform, together with their families, pay the price for that suboptimal policy in their daily lives and routines. We should also note that the issues facing armed forces personnel are already extremely well known, documented and understood within and outwith this Chamber. What the commissioner must reveal, therefore, is the depth and scale of these issues. As has already been touched on, that will necessarily make difficult reading for the ministerial team. I salute their ability to leave themselves open to that scrutiny.

A key factor driving the poor experiences of armed forces personnel is the perpetual misallocation of funding and a lack of political will to establish a verifiable balance between the demands of the state on the armed forces to deliver defence and security, and the vote of funding allocated to the armed forces by the same state to deliver against that priority. Everything has an upper elastic limit, and if the Government do not get their act together on allocating 2.5% of GDP for defence, I greatly fear that our armed forces will exceed their upper limit very soon—commissioner or not. From the junior ranks to the Chief of the Defence Staff, they are asking for nothing other than long-term clarity to allow them to deliver long-term stability.

A key performance indicator of any large organisation, especially one with such an unenviable relationship with recruitment and retention, is morale. That is a key reason why people are leaving in such huge numbers, at tremendous cost to defence in financial and operational ways. The solutions to many of these problems are fairly straightforward, but expensive. They include properly maintained housing stock, better mental health support, better support for families when people are deployed, and decent pay—all of which are outwith the remit of any commissioner. The Bill represents a welcome stride forward, but it is no silver bullet to fix life in the UK armed forces.

As we have already heard, almost 60% of personnel report low morale. Only a third are satisfied with the welfare support that their family receive when they return from deployment, and many personnel live in poor accommodation. Perhaps most importantly for the commissioner, only 23% of serving personnel think that leaders will take meaningful action to address issues identified in the continuous attitude survey. That is not a great report card for this or the previous Government, but it is certainly a starter for 10 for the commissioner.

[Peter Swallow (Bracknell) (Lab)]

Would the hon. Gentleman like to welcome the 20 hours of wraparound childcare for service personnel serving overseas that the Government announced this weekend, which will save serving families £3,400?

--- Later in debate ---

[Peter Swallow (Bracknell) (Lab)]

As the MP for Sandhurst, I am proud to represent the home of Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where every British Army officer starts their journey of service; it is important to reflect that in recent years that service has not necessarily been repaid by us. I am alarmed that only four in 10 service personnel are satisfied with service life, and the fact that the armed forces are shrinking due to a recruitment and retention crisis should worry us all.

With that in mind, I warmly welcome the establishment of the Armed Forces Commissioner, as part of the Government’s overall plans to renew the nation’s contract with those who serve us. It is vital that the Armed Forces Commissioner should be independent. I noted with interest the contribution made by my hon. Friend the Member for Slough (Mr Dhesi), the Chair of the Defence Committee, on that point; I also noted the view of my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth Moor View (Fred Thomas) that the overwhelming proof of that independence will be whether the commissioner is in a position to shine a light on welfare matters, to address issues of culture and to raise the quality of service life. The proof, as they say, will be in the pudding. On that note, it is welcome that the commissioner will be able to bring their reports to Parliament for us to scrutinise. It is also vital that the role should be a powerful voice for service families; those who serve are too often constrained by the lack of support for those who support them in their important role. I also welcome the proactive investigatory powers of the Armed Forces Commissioner.

The Bill is welcome, but it is important to note that it is only part of a wider commitment to supporting our armed forces, which includes decent pay rises, with 35% more pay for recruits; £3.5 million more to support veterans facing homelessness; and the expansion of the veterans card as an approved form of voter ID. It will be digitised, too. This weekend, 20 hours of wraparound childcare for service personnel serving overseas was announced, which will save families £3,400. That is important because too often serving members of our armed forces find that their families at home are not given the support while they serve our country overseas. That has to change in a modern world where—in the armed forces, as in the rest of society—two members of a household will often be working. It is important for us to give that support for family care, including to single parents who are serving.

Finally, I take this opportunity to reflect on the grim anniversary that we face tomorrow: 1,000 days since Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. This is an important moment to reflect on the sacrifice and service we ask of our armed forces, as we look to the brave service of Ukrainian soldiers facing up to the aggression of Putin’s illegal war. The world is a more dangerous place. We ask a great deal of those who serve for us, and they do so knowing that they may be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice. With that in mind, it is vital that we renew our contract with those who serve us, so that we serve them. The Bill is an important step in getting that right.

Defence: 2.5% GDP Spending Commitment

Peter Swallow Excerpts

Monday 11th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[John Healey]

The aircraft carriers constitute an important defence programme. We are considering the threats that we face and the future capabilities that we need as part of the strategic defence review, which will report in the spring, and we will follow that within our clear path and our commitment to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence, just as the Chief Secretary to the Treasury told the media yesterday.

[Peter Swallow (Bracknell) (Lab)]

Today is Armistice Day, which provides an important moment in which to pause and remember the huge amount that our armed forces have done to keep us safe. On this day, does the Secretary of State agree that we must not only set out our ironclad commitment to 2.5%, but support the armed forces, their families and our veterans?

[John Healey]

Indeed. The forces families who support those who put on the uniform are too often overlooked, which is one reason why we introduced legislation last week for an independent armed forces commissioner, as we promised to do at the election. The holder of this post will report directly to Parliament, will have access to personnel, sites and information, and will be able to look into the concerns of not just those who serve but the families who support them, in order to improve service life for the future.