Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Crabb Excerpts

Monday 19th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Atherton (Wrexham) (Con)]

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

[Stephen Crabb (Preseli Pembrokeshire) (Con)]

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

[Mr Louie French (Old Bexley and Sidcup) (Con)]

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

--- Later in debate ---

[Dr Murrison]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend and ministerial predecessor. Over the past two years, the Ministry of Defence has put servicewomen at the heart of developing and delivering a range of initiatives, from uniform policies to the provision of accessible sanitary products, mentoring, the introduction of flexible service, wraparound childcare, parental leave, and zero tolerance of unacceptable behaviour. There will be further measures in response to the Wigston review, the Gray review and my hon. Friend’s report. I pay tribute to those who have been driving change, but it is far from job done.

[Stephen Crabb]

The armed forces, including the 14th Signal Regiment based in Pembrokeshire, continue to provide fabulous career opportunities for young people. Does my right hon. Friend agree that, now more than ever, we need to encourage Army visits to schools, and that the long campaign by nationalists in Wales to stop those visits damages social mobility and aspiration?

[Dr Murrison]

I share my right hon. Friend’s enthusiasm entirely. The armed forces are a huge engine for social mobility. In the last year, the Army achieved over 5,000 school engagement visits across the United Kingdom, each at the school’s request. The British Army is the public’s Army. It is important it engages with the people it serves, despite the best efforts of some on the left and the nationalists, to whom he refers.