Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking with the Secretary of State for Education to recruit young people into the armed forces.

Cross-Departmental engagement is at the heart of delivering our mission-based Government, particularly where more support can be offered to enhance the delivery of Gatsby Benchmarks which serve as a framework for world-class careers provision in education.

The Armed Forces enjoy good relationships with schools, primarily in terms of engagement to support Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths curriculum areas but also in careers engagement. The Armed Forces only visit schools when invited to do so, usually in support of career events, citizenship talks, science and maths challenges and other exercises.

The Armed Forces do not target recruitment activity at under-16s, and no visits to schools by the Armed Forces are directly linked to recruitment, other than careers fairs which generally involve a range of employers. Presentations may be given highlighting Armed Forces careers, but no pupil is ever signed up or able to make a commitment to become a recruit during the course of a visit.