Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Prime Minister’s defence speech in Warsaw of 23 April 2024, from which (a) Departments, (b) arms length bodies and (c) other organisations the number of civil servants will be reduced to help fund the commitment to spend 2.5% of gross domestic product on defence by 2030.

The Prime Minister’s announcement of longer term reductions in Civil Service numbers is a reiteration of the policy announced by the Chancellor in October 2023. The longer term reductions will build on the shorter term headcount cap put in place through to March 2025, and the detail of how individual organisations will be affected by the return to pre-pandemic numbers will form a key part of the next comprehensive spending review.