Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of staff employed by his Department are women.

Defence is committed to attracting, retaining and developing the best talent from the broadest diversity of skills and background, to reflect the society we serve. We are making the step changes required to create a more inclusive environment for all, enabling everyone, irrespective of background, to deliver our Defence outputs, enhance our operational effectiveness and represent the nation we serve. Our Department-wide Diversity and Inclusion Strategy clearly sets out a challenging vision, goals, objectives and commitments of where we want to see change.

Defence is undergoing a rapid transformation. As part of this transformation, in 2020 the Chiefs of Staff set out their commitment to invest in a range of actions to support Defence’s ambition to be a more diverse and inclusive place to work. The interventions will drive change forward, building on the great strides we have already taken to attract, retain and develop the best talent and improve opportunities for women and men, e.g., opening all roles to women, lateral entry, flexible service, Wraparound childcare, Future Workplace Strategy and Forces Families Strategy.

As at 1 April 2022, there were 16,680 female Regular Service personnel in the UK Armed Forces. This equates to a representation rate of 11.3 per cent, an increase of 0.3 percentage points compared with 1 April 2021. As at 1 October 2021, there were 16,730 female civilian personnel working in MOD (Main). This equates to a representation rate of 44.3 per cent, a rise of 2.3 percentage points compared with 1 October 2017.

Our ambition is to build Defence into an institutionally inclusive organisation for the whole force, that is fair for all, and reflective, at all levels, of the diverse society we serve. We have launched the first phase of the Race Action Plan, a programme of work to consolidate all race-related activity across the whole force. This will allow a consistent approach to delivering transformational change and ensure actions are targeted and do not undermine current activities within this space.

As at 1 April 2022, there were 14,110 ethnic minority (excluding white minority) Regular Service personnel in the UK Armed Forces. This equates to a representation rate of 9.6 per cent, an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared with 1 April 2021. As at 1 October 2021, there were 2,100 ethnic minority (excluding white minority) civilian personnel working in MOD (Main). This equates to a representation rate of 6.4 per cent, a rise of 1.9 percentage points compared with 1 October 2017.

Defence publishes biannual statistics on diversity declarations for Armed Forces personnel and civilian staff. The latest editions can be found at the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-index

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mod-diversity-dashboard-index