Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 15 of the Government’s Defence Command Paper, what the planned timetable is for increasing the UK’s global network by one third.

We will begin to realise the expansion of the Global Network this year. Thereafter we will grow the network incrementally until the full extent of the expansion, as currently planned, is realised in 2027.

Early gains are to be made in countries where the training burden, particularly the requirement to learn a language, is less or we have suitable candidates with the pre-requisite skills to deploy quickly. The highest priority posts requiring longer training will start to be realised in years two and three, with growth continuing out to 2027.