Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has set targets for the recruitment of (a) women and (b) ethnic minorities to the armed forces.

The Armed Forces are committed to attracting, retaining and developing the best talent from the broadest diversity of skills and background, to reflect the society we serve.

A Level of Ambition of 30% inflow of women by 2030 was approved by the then Secretary of State and announced in 2021, building on the content of the previously published Defence Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2018-2030. This is both "stretching and challenging" and a clear statement that Defence wants to improve, recognises the mission critical value women bring and is creating conversations and driving improvement activities.

At this time no equivalent Level of Ambition has been published for the inflow of ethnic minority recruits. However, Defence is undertaking a wide range of activities to increase their recruitment into the Armed Forces, through better understanding and greater engagement with ethnic minority communities, reviewing recruitment processes and more targeted marketing and communications towards potential ethnic minority applicants.