Oral Answers to Questions

Robert Syms Excerpts

Monday 21st October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Sir Robert Syms (Poole) (Con)]

21. What steps his Department is taking to (a) recruit and (b) retain service personnel.

[Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con)]

24. What steps his Department is taking to (a) recruit and (b) retain service personnel.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mark Lancaster]

A training ship, Upholder, in Chelmsford is indeed an excellent base for the Chelmsford Sea Cadets. It is right that the sea cadets have a different funding formula from the other two services. They receive a mix of funding from the MOD and other sources. Each sea cadet unit is an individual charity. There has been much debate over the years as to whether or not that is the right way to move forward, but I should be delighted to meet my hon. Friend.

[Sir Robert Syms]

In the past, the MOD has offered a number of bespoke packages to recruit people whose skills they need—for example, qualified doctors when the medical services have been short. Does the MOD intend to offer more bespoke packages to get people with a range of skills into the armed services?

[Mark Lancaster]

My hon. Friend makes a really interesting point. As we move forward there are different specialist skill sets that we need—cyber is an example, as well as medical services—and have to consider whether or not we should look at different models for joining the armed forces. One area that we are looking at is greater use of the reserves for those specialist skills and, equally, whether or not we should have some form of lateral entry, as we do with medical services.